What do you use to protect hardwood flooring during a remodel?
We typically use blue tape and rosin paper, and have never had a problem with it except for the rosin paper falling apart.These pics are from a basement job that we are just finishing. The existing prefinished hardwood is ~15 years old and not in the best shape. When our helper pulled the rosin paper and tape off, he found the zebra… We really don’t need a heavy amount of protection. No work is done on the paper, just foot traffic that we want to keep tidy.What would you use in this situation?
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Jon Blakemore
RappahannockINC.com Fredericksburg, VA
Holy smokes, Phillip Morris!I would expect something like that on a newly finished floor less than 30days but a 15YO prefiniished - yikes!Did it really take the finish up or did it grab fifteen years worth of ground in dirt and wax? Try a gentle rub across the stripe with Murphy's oil soap and see what happens.We like to use drop clothes from http://www.dropcloth.com
They have a non skid back and they are washable.
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Jon, please read my post to Piffin near the end of this thread.[email protected]
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Eric,
You're right about the 14 day limit. I checked the roll I used to install the paper, and it is in fact 14 day tape. I found a few sources for 28 & 60 day tape, but it's expensive.
The nice thing about the rosin paper over all the other suggestions is it's the only type that I've found that you can seal tightly to the floor and you can easily sweep.
I like that you can tape it down because I'm always concerned that we will get some grit under a drop cloth or tempered hardboard runner. Throw a little foot traffic on it and you could have a recipe for disaster.
The easily swept benefit is nice for some applications. For instance, if we're doing a room addition that requires traveling through the existing house (the last two did) or a basement with no exterior door in the basement, it's nice to provide a layer of protection that can remain in a semi-permanent fashion. The other options would probably have to be removed at the end of the day in order for the clients to not be tripping over a drop cloth at night.
I think I will order some of that 60 day tape for special occasions, and NOW, I will pay more attention to what we tape down to. The ol' 20/20 hindsight...
Jon Blakemore RappahannockINC.com Fredericksburg, VA
I've never seen that happen. What a bummer. For one job, we picked up a few rolls of a laminate underlayment--don't really know what it was, but it was a green roll, and tacky enough that it wouldn't slide around. It also gave a bit of padding so rocks or something falling on it MIGHT not damage the hardwood under it. 2' wide at the most, ~$30 a roll.
I had this same thing happen on a job where we taped drop cloths down on a hardwood floor. Luckily it was just around the perimeter and I was able to lightly sand the areas back a little ways (to feather in the lines) and recoat it with polyurethane. I would try that method first but you may be in for a floor refinish if you can't get it to match up.. Good luck.
New computer, we'll try this again
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Jon Blakemore
RappahannockINC.com Fredericksburg, VA
Blue tape, the textured stuff. It does that. Try it on a cabinet sometime lol. I know what you mean though. Unless its already happened to you or someone you know, you'd think it was safe. Theres a tiny little warning on the inside of the core that I'm sure everybody reads thoroughly that says something like may not be safe on lacquer or clear finishes . . .
Real trucks dont have sparkplugs
Blue tape, the textured stuff. It does that.
Glad to know that. Would have reached for it.
What do you recommend?The ToolBear
"Never met a man who couldn't teach me something." Anon.
I pretty much dont tape things down unless its on concrete. Go figure. I invested in some of those clean&safe tarps and they're great on hardwood or any hard surface. On carpet, they're a little slick, so I generally just use regular canvas if I think I'm going to be dripping anything. If its just a walking path, self adhesive plastic. Heard of cut to fit masonite before too and like the idea in theory. Havent done it. Lot of work for a small job but might be the cats meow for something you're going to be at long term.
Regular masking wont peel clean, the ultra low adhesion won't hold anything down. Duct tape works on concrete. I just had to find other solutions for other surfaces.
Though I will say a friend of mine had a bad experience with the plastic. I think it had to be a carpet defect but when he pulled the plastic it unravelled a whole set of stairs. Real trucks dont have sparkplugs
Isn't there a green tape for laquer-type surfaces? I'd imagine a good paint store might have some answers too.
I invested in some of those clean&safe tarps
Duh?
I have rosin paper, I have drop cloths, I have felt paper (not for finish floors), I have blue tarps to skid on, but ...
The ToolBear
"Never met a man who couldn't teach me something." Anon.
http://www.dropcloth.com/
sorry. Link woulda been good huh. I groused a little at first about the cost since they're a little more than canvas but hindsight . . . they are reusable to an extent. I get about 5 uses out of one in "average" conditions. But they stick to hard surfaces, don't leak, pretty much what they advertise. Guess all I'm saying is if you like the concept dont be afraid to go ahead and get a couple of boxes. You wont regret it down the road. Real trucks dont have sparkplugs
I like to use tempered masonite and tape the seams with blue tape. First I lay down rosin paper and then masonite. No tape is adhered to the floor. When the job is done, pull it up and use it on the next job. You'll have some waste but all of the full sheets and any that are cut at the 35" or so that you need in a hallway can be reused.
Edited 3/2/2007 9:53 pm ET by ptp
Just buy more tape, stick it to the entire floor, pull it up. That way you won't have to sand the rest of the floor.
The sad thing is that was one of my first thoughts.Alas, we will be replacing the hardwood in their foyer on Monday while we wait for final inspection. Such is life with remodeling...
Jon Blakemore RappahannockINC.com Fredericksburg, VA
Sorry to see this.
It seems to have left pretty clean lines. Did the tape pull up the finish or react with the finish on the floor?
An update on something recently discovered.We demoed the floor this morning to replace it with a new prefinished floor. When the flooring was removed, it came to light that the finish we pulled off was not the original, someone had applied stain and polyurethane directly over the original factory finish.No wonder the tape pulled it off.We have no idea whether the client was the one who did that, or even knew about it, so it's still a moot point as to if they are charged for the work or not. Either way, I still don't think it would matter. Once we touch it, we own it...
Jon Blakemore RappahannockINC.com Fredericksburg, VA
>someone had applied stain and polyurethane directly over the original factory finish.Interesting discovery>so it's still a moot point as to if they are charged for the work or not. Once we touch it, we own it...I applaud your integrity
You've got the right attitude.At least we all know why now and can rest a bit easier.
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
I'll respond to you seeing as how you seem convinced that Jon discovered the 'why".
I may be mistaken (that rarely happens though) but I seem to recall (after putting on my specs) reading a warning on the Blue Tape concernig it's ability to beging to dis-solve certain finishes, particularly when left applied for longer than the recommended period of 7 to 14 days. Lots of disclaimers as well.
I also believe that their is more than one "type" of Blue Tape". I believe one or the other has a longer or shorter period of time that is allowed before removal.
We are pretty stringent about changing it out on Fridays, so it will never be in place longer than 7 days. Even then we have had some "near" events similiar to Jon's.[email protected]
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We do one of two things to protect floors. Either we put down 1/8" tempered hardboard, with a layer of the foam underlayment (the stuff you would use under a floating floor) if it is getting heavy traffic. The other option we use is the hardwood floor protector product from Protective Products. Both are reused many times and we tape the seams with duct tape.
We also have a "Blue Tape" clause in the contract which the client must initial to accept liability for the tape we use to poly off door openings etc. If they don't accept the liability we don't tape, and try to find alternative methods. (Letting them know that we won't be able to control the dust as well without the tape.)We have had finishes pull off more than once. We instruct our carpenters to tape to the sides of door casings, not to the face.
I am a DIY and have protected hardwood floors in two ways that both seemed to work fairly well. One project used overlapping corragated cardboad, taped together with duct tape, but no tape to the floor. We demolished the plaster walls and celing to the studs, and the cardbard held up faily well. Had to retape a few of the seams. One problem was that the cardbaord seemed to hold onto the debris dust (and drywall dust). Frequent vacuuming kept it fairly clean but contributed to the need to redo the seams. After the project was done, the floors were undamaged in any way. We did not use drop cloths when we painted, and the cardbard seamed to soak up the small spills without a problem.
Another project incolved a lot of painting, all new wood trim, and replacing the drywall ceiling and repiairing severly damaged drywall walls. Here we used hardboard (quarter inch), butted togather, with the seems taped with duct tape. (No tape to the floor). We left about an inch clearance to the wall, so we could install the baseboad. The quarter round eventually covered the remainig exposed floor. A breeze to keep clean and no tape needed to be replaced. The only problem was during painting the hardbard did not soak up the paint so it would have been tracked throughout the house if we did not use drop cloths.
I've been putting down a lot of masonite lately to protect floors from plaster wall rehab. I follow the prescription from FHB by placing plastic down before the masonite. One thing I've learned is that it's critical to seal the gap between the wall and masonite to prevent fine gravel from working it's way under the masonite. That's a disaster, as eventually it gets ground into the floor finish. Big bummer. As the masonite shifts, keep the tape in place and vacuum frequently.