finally getting around to the floor sanding/shellac-varnish-poly project i posted about a few months ago. rented an orbital style floor sander for first half of the house and will rent again next week for the other half f the house.
the sandpaper discs for the floor sander are loading up fast with the current shellac and possibly wax. i’m considering trying to strip the floors chemically before the next time i sand, but i’m not sure what’s on them over the original shellac. i am fairly certain it’s not polyurethane. but alcohol or tsp, as suggested in another thread, aren’t touching this stuff, so i’m assuming that possibly there’s lots of wax on top. what’s your favorite product for cleaning off old wax?
Replies
I hate even say it, but a sharp scraper will get most of the old stuff off, and making sanding a LOT easier. I avoid strippers when possible, ( both kinds) LOL.
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
(shudder)- the idea of sitting and scraping is indeed daunting. do you mean scrape it dry? with nothing to soften the floor coating? i was hoping to hear about something other than a commercial chemical stripper, like possibly gojo or something...
I find dry scraping actually easier. Instead of a gloppy mess, you have a vacuumeable pile of shavings and dust, and no residue to neutralize prior to finishing.
The key is a seriers of different types of blades to find what works best for you and SHARP,SHARP,Sharp.
A RED DEVIL twin blade ( two hooked edges about 3" wide) and a 6 or8" flaat file and you'd be surprised how fast it can go. Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
I like Sphere's recommendations for scraping off the wax. I was going to recommend a solvent used in preparing automobiles for painting, but a solvent would dissolve the wax and maybe let it soak into the floor, which would make things worse. Plus it is dangerous and smelly and messy.
Edited 10/5/2005 7:04 am ET by Danno
On woodwork, I wipe with mineral spirits to remove wax and any grime before applying another coat of shellac. That is after cleaning with GoJo and steel wool.
Do you have a small area you could try? Of course scrapping is going to get you further, but maybe mineral spirits would get you far enough?
mop with TSP, repeat until water is clear, sanding wax doesn't work, it just melts it into the new wood ...