Search the forums

Loading
Home › Forums › House Chat › Building and Remodeling Ideas

hardwood floors

larryhyman's picture

hardwood floors (post #175981)

larryhyman on Sun, 11/14/2004 - 00:25
in

I am recycling 20 year old maple gym flooring. Does anyone have any good ideas on how to clean the tongue and grooves of old urathane(or whatever finnish is used on gym floors)that has dripped down? Thanks

-A +A

I'd like to revive this (post #175981, reply #1 of 3)

by joshua7e in reply to larryhyman [original] on Wed, 03/07/2012 - 07:03

I'd like to revive this post.  I am doing the same job....have a lot of flooring to clean up.  There were gaps between the flooring that filled with grit and whatever.  I've been scraping it with a chisel putty knife, but I'm going through putty knives, and having a hard time getting all the grit, and not hurting the flooring.

Has anyone used a metal detector, then ran a circular saw with a cheap carbide blade down the length along the tounge?  Wire wheel on a grinder base?  What works???

This job sucks.  I need help.

used maple gym flooring (post #175981, reply #2 of 3)

by drllucas in reply to larryhyman [original] on Sun, 05/06/2012 - 13:56

I have the same question. I purchased some old maple gym flooring to put in out cottage. I kissed the surface finish off with my planer -- old poly finish with all the red and stripeing one finds on a gym floor. I am concerned that the red finish that flowed into the cracks of the tongue and groove will show in the final floor unless I clean up those edges in some way. I tried a carbide scraper, but that is tediously slow and if you tip it it messes up the finish edge. T&G router bits? sanding? What is the best way to handle this? I saw a website where a flooring guy simply installed the gym flooring in the house (stripes, painted areas and all) and sanded the finish and paint off after it was installed. Won't the colored finish that originally flowed into the t&g "show" if it is done this way? Looking for help. Thanks. Photos below before and after planing.

PreviewAttachmentSize
used_flooring_1.jpg
used_flooring_1.jpg190.31 KB
photo-1.JPG
photo-1.JPG191.9 KB

I'd install it and sand (post #175981, reply #3 of 3)

by IdahoDon in reply to drllucas [original] on Sun, 05/06/2012 - 17:28

I'd install it and sand afterward - it needs to be sanded anyway.  You have the wood right in front of you - put some pieces together and see for yourself if the red shows through the joints.  I'd probably lean toward using a chemical stripper of some kind to loosen up the stuff on the edges of the boards and scrap with a sharp carbide scrapper - but it's primarily a chemical strip so it shouldn't take all that much work.

 

Beer was created so carpenters wouldn't rule the world.