I am trying to clean up some 80 yr old oak floors that appear to have never had any finish applied to them (other than oil or wax). Over the last twenty years they have had a lot of traffic with dirty and muddy feet. Somewhat akin to dumping a bucket of garden dirt on the floor and sweeping it through the house repeatedly.
I am not especially bothered by how they currently look but I would like to clean them to the point that my 9 month old could crawl on them without ingesting this questionable grime. Refinishing is an option but the floors will continue to be subjected to a lot of dirty shoes and I actually like the aged look of them.
I did consider stitching the baby up some coveralls out of swiffer floor cleaning cloths but I want to do something to give him a headstart.
I am ready to rent a buffer, get down on my hands and knees and scrub it, vacuum it or whatever.
Any tips or techniques would be greatly appreciated.
Karl
Replies
karl-
Your post sounds so familiar. Did you recently repost this under a different column heading?
Rez, I did already post this. I don't know where you found this one as I thought it had disappeared into cyberspace and reposted it. The second post got some good replies.
Sorry for the redundancy.
Karl
Karl, We strip wax and clean wood floors with Varsol and burlap sacks and elbow grease. Varsol is a solvent similar to paint thinner. Onece they are clean and stripped apply wax. I reccomend knee pads for all this fun. Jay
Jay, Thanks for the reply. I have so far tried TSP with ok results. On a few bad spots in the pantry floor that were stained black from fruit juice spills I used oaxalic acid to bleach them out. Again OK results, nothing to show off.I will look around for Varsol. These floors have been neglected for so long there is no apparent wax to strip. It is mostly just dirt and filth that is ground into the grain of the wood. Initially I was reluctant to wet mop but after doing the pantry floor with the wood bleach and mopping with TSP I am finding the results were ok. Virtually no raised grain.I havent tackled the kitchen or dining room yet but am leaning towards wet mopping with TSP, drying it out for a week or so and then tung oiling it and waxing. Any thoughts on my ideas.Thanks, Karl
Karl'
I have refinished my own, my daughters and my brotherin-laws floors from a condition such as you discribe by buffing with fine steel wool with a buffer and paint thinner or varsol. Several passes. Changes of pads as needed. Final cleaning with old towels on the buffers brush.
Screed pad is available for buffer and well worth effort after dirt is up. This pad is available from the Janitorial Supply that rents the buffer.
I applied a sealer and then buffed three coats of floor wax (carnuba)into the floors with a lambs wood pad.
All three floors looked great after and require only occassional damp mopping and re-buffing to stay looking good for years. (15 on mine, 3 on brother-in-laws, and 2 yrs on daughters)
I have seen similar pads (used in lieu of steel wool , towels, and wool )from 3-M. Start with the dark green one and polish with a pink one before buffing the wax with a white one.
Warren, Thanks for the tips. I will give it a try.Karl