I have a couple thousand square feet of V.G. Douglas Fir flooring available to me if I remove it. I have taken up 200 or so to see how it
comes up, not too bad. It is nice stuff, measures 13/16 thick and most of the pieces are 14-16′ long. My question is how to best remove the 100 yr. old dirt that has accumulated above the tongue? It is harder than the wood. Have tried some 3M Safest Stripper, does the job but will take multiple passes-slow. Suggestions on how to speed this process up? Thanks
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Have you tried a sharp paint scraper? I helped my neighbor clean up a bunch of maple flooring he got out of a local high school gym before they tore it down; that stuff was probably 75 years old, but on a nice summer afternoon in the back yard, fortified with a few beers, we were able to get the gunk out of the grooves fairly easily.
I second that idea.
I did the same thing for a pastor and his wife they tore the maple out of a church building that was being remodeled and I installed it in their house. I removed all the nails, it had finish nails not cleats, then used two weapons a small paint scraper 1" the style that you can reverse the blade on and a 3/8 chisel.
I clamped it in a Black and Decker work mate and went at it. Would of gone faster if I had two work mates since I had some long boards also. I think I put one end in the B&D and supported the other on the deck steps.
Wallyo
I buy a lot of recycled flooring (mostly fir and maple, some oak) from a guy who just takes apart old buildings. He just sics a couple guys on the flooring with the a good carbide paint scraper.
That's what I use when I do it too now because of him. So I third that.
hipaulI think we are up to fourth-ing it on the scraper. Carbide even better when I did it they were harder to find.Wallyo
I recycled a bunch of oak flooring. I mounted a electric motor with a wire wheel that I ran the tounge & grooves down. Used a scraper for the tough spots. Nails that I couldn't get out I just made sure they were set good and used a hand grinder to grind off the ends. Worked for me!