I’ve torn out old wall to wall carpeting and uncovered an oak floor with shellac finish. I don’t want to lose the color created, I suppose, from the shellac and age, so don’t want to strip it. The floor has a texture or film on it from the padding which had sat on it for many years. What can I use to clean the floor prior to a few top coats of shellac? I’ve searched old threads here on related topics, and while most seem to say poly for floors, I’ll likely go with shellac anyway, knowing I may be touching up from time to time. Sorry to be bringing back a covered topic, but I didn’t find anything on cleaning or prepping the floor prior to shellac. Any advice? Thanks.
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Minwax makes a wood Cleaner. There is a rinse solution to buy also after to clean the residue.
but there is a good chance that things will end up mottled loking. That rug backing will be worse in areas of more foot trafic that back in the corner behind the table or whatever
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Thanks for the reply. I just checked the Minwax site and, unfortunately, they don't recommend their cleaners on shellac because of the possibility of wax. I'm assuming I shouldn't use something with much or any water. How about Murphy's oil soap? Is there actually oil of some kind in it? Maybe some solvent. Would mineral spirits eat the shellac?
Naptha is a cleaning agent.Try various thingsin small out of the way locations first.
last year we did a lot of this over stained, oiled, and misused floors.
Plaine old Turpentine on a rag with plenty elbow grease was the secret for most. But I don't know hjow that would work over shellac. To remove shellac, sometimes denatured alchohol works, but you don't want to remove it...
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Don,Mineral spirits won't harm your shellac. Naptha, like Piffin mentioned, is just a "lighter" cognate of mineral spirits (shorter molecules, evaporates faster, less oily residue) so it also won't hurt the shellac. Detergents can damage shellac, ammonia will strip it off the wood, and alcohols will dissolve it. Acetone and lacquer thinner will also dissolve shellac. Plain water left on too long can diffuse into the shellac, leaving it cloudy.A quick wipe with a water-dampened rag followed by cleaning with naptha is a good idea. The water gets the gross soils, and the naptha will remove wax residues and greasy dirt. Bill
Thanks for the replys. Looks like I'll probably try the naptha or mineral spirits.
Incidentally, from what I remember, Murphy's is called "oil" soap because the soap in it comes from saponified oil instead of saponified fat, as in most soap. It is no more oil than the fat in soap is fat.
I just did the same thing on about 2000sf.of oak that had carpet on it for 20plus years used a product called crud cutter and a semi stiff bristle brush worked great
There was a resent thread on cleaning old woodwork.
Waterless hand cleaner seemed to be a winner.
Naptha is another.
But you are really cleaning the residue from the foam so you will need to experiement to see what works.
Many times the pattern left by pad will actually be etched in the finish..Don't be surprised if you can't get rid of it without removing the old finish...(don't ask how I found that out LOL)
Bud