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hi. i know i'm an idiot but i don't have any older living relatives to ask. we bought a 1930 craftsman bungalow. no one has lived in it for about 60 years. i don't think there is polyuerethane or anything else on the floors, just old built up wax. thefloors are in perfect condition but the wax is all cracked and dark. (the house was unheated. it's like a time capsule) how do i remove old wax? is there a solvent, or do they have to be sanded? i also have an old linoleum floor that always looks filthy. i guess i have to wax it but i don't even know where to buy wax. sorry to sound so stupid but i'm from the no-wax floor generation.
Golly, you're being too hard on yourself. Trust me, people who tackle old houses are constantly facing situations where they have no earthly idea what to do next. It's part of the thrill (sort of.)
First, are the floors with the cracked dark wax wooden floors? A lot of those old 30's houses did have wooden floors. If so, you may want to have them refinished; they sand off the old finish and apply a new one. (We restored a 1930's house and tried to do our own floor refinishing...after wrestling a while with the rented floor sander, we decided to let a pro do it.) Maybe if you had a professional floor finisher look at your floors he could tell you if they really need to be sanded down and refinished, or if they could be restored with a gentler method. You could look in the yellow pages under floor refinishing; at least you'd get some opinions.
About the old linoleum (I guess in another part of your house?)... I have not tackled old linoleum myself, but I did find this discussion on restoring old linoleum. Maybe it will help:
[HYPERLINK@www.thriftyfun.com]
Hang in there! Craftsman bungalows can be treasures!
I agree with everything that oldmudhouse said. That was actually what I was gonna say but she beat me to it!! LOL. As for the linoleum, whether to clean it or not depends on you. If you like the pattern and don't want to get rid of it then find a way to have it cleaned. You can try vinegar, pine sol, soft scrub maybe, amonia, and other household cleaners. If those don't work, ask a professional or have it removed. If you end up removing it, check for hardwood floors underneath. In alot of old homes like that you will find the original wood floors. They are not always salvageable but you won't know if you don't look. Hope these suggestions from us help.
we tried sanding the floors when we refinished the bathroom, but the waxy buildup just melted and gummed up the sander. and yes they are wood floors. also there is wood flooring under the linoleum but its in the kitchen and i don't know if thats a really good idea. i like to cook and have people over at least twice a week...lots of children running through my house. (i only have 1 but they seem to be like rabbits. you have one and soon theres 20.)
Hi ericalynne, yes, we found that taking off the old finish ourselves was not easy. And, our floor had already been replaced once since the 30's, so the build-up was not as thick as yours. When the pros do it, I think they use a really course sandpaper to start with...like 20 to 36 grit...which is really killer stuff. I believe they need to start with a very course grit to tear through that old finish. Only problem is, if you're not a pro, you can also do damage to your floors before you realize it when you're those really using course papers.
The size of the sander may also be a factor. The big drum sanders like the pros use are very heavy and powerful. (In fact, too powerful for us to feel comfortable controlling, which is why we finally decided to pay someone to do the floors after trying one of those big rental sanders.)
I did have a wood floor in my kitchen. Mine was pine, but yours may be old oak flooring, which is better, since it's tougher and less prone to denting and scratching. If you like the look of wood in the kitchen, I wouldn't give up on the idea.
I went to a store like Pottery Barn or Pier One (can't remember which) and bought one of their tough natural fiber sisal rugs, with a very low pile (almost industrial looking) and a rubber backing. It was a black-tan speckled pattern, which was great for hiding crumbs. That covered most of the high-traffic area, where the "stuff" lands. I vacuumed that and also scrubbed it with a toothbrush for liquid spills. It still looked great after years of use.
The surrounding bare wood floor I just wiped clean with a wet cloth. I guess wood isn't quite as easy as vinyl flooring, but I really liked how fit the character of our old house.
You can buy a really good sealer for the wood floor in the kitchen that can handle the traffic and spills. Ask an expert for good options. The sisal rug is also a good option.
Our late 30's wood floors were in similar shape when we removed the carpeting installed by a previous owner. We had good results using wood preen cleaner which a neighbor had suggested. You mop it on in a fairly thick coat and let it sit for a couple hours to dry to a haze before buffing (we found the dry cleaning cloths for one of those swiffer mops worked well as it was hard to clean the grime out of spong mop).
I am an expert on old floors, which means I may not know much either. (I have a 100 year old house, and I was curator of an 1830s house museum for some 20 years). It is important to determine if the floor is pine, or oak, or something else. Old pine is very soft and if you use a circular sander on it, you will have ugly swirl marks. If I had these floors, I would not let anyone touch them--"especially a 'professional'.
Wax can be cleaned with a steamer, such as the Euro-Pro Steamer which is available on HSN.com. It is going to be messy, so you will need something to soak up the gook, such as old rags, diapers, shop cloths etc. you dont mind throwing away. If there is a residual after the steam cleaning, you can use paint thinner (originally turpentine) to wipe down the boards.
If you are seeing a black color, you may be looking at oxidized shellac. This can be removed with denatured alcohol. The floor should be beautiful by now. If you want a finish on it, I would use shellac--not polyurethane. Shellac is infinitely repairable, and it produces a soft finish--the color of violins. If you want to wax and polish it, which is a lot of work, you can use beeswax, or butchers wax which you get at a woodworkers supply. Oh, I hope you enjoy those floors and dont let anyone sand them away, then polyurethane them.
gloria125: to clarify: are you saying wax can be removed from a wood floor with a steamer? i live in a 1930's house - carpet was removed - the floors look good (i believe they are oak) but need more protection. i'm trying to avoid sanding, but don't know what type of finish is on them - I assume it's wax. would steaming hurt in any way if it's not wax?
I would test the finishes to see what is there. How long have the floors been covered. Before, the use of polyurethanes? or later?
Test: Wax will come up with turpentine or paint thinner.
This should leave the shellac if there is any. Steam may cause the shellac to turn white. You can rub off the whitened shellac with denatured alcohol. Most old floors were scraped rather than sanded. If you try to use a mechanical sander, this is could leave swirl marks in the floor, and it can break the tongues on tongue and groove flooring.
If you need to sand in some areas, you can use some garnet sandpaper (80 -100) which is very soft just wrapped around a board. Sand with the grain. This will leave a very silky finish.
If you have a high traffic situation, you may decide to go with a urethane, but these finishes are very hard and will look scuffy when exposed to traffic. In the museum, where we had a lot of traffic, the orange shellac on heart pine floors wore very well. If it gets worn through, you just sand with garnet paper, and finish with some more orange shellac--maybe one or twice a year if there have been a lot of scuffeling 4th graders trudging through.
Thanks for the info! I'm betting the floors were covered sometime in the 70's (orange shag). I'm going to work on an out of the way part of the floor and see what happens using turpentine first and maybe some steam. Is shellac applied the same as polyurethane? I do have some high traffic areas and I also have animals (dogs) - will shellac stand up to dog feet?
Shellac is applied with a natural bristle brush. I usually use the cheap "chip brushes". You clean them in denatured alcohol.There is white shellac - which is a sealer, and orange shellac which is used on floors and french polished furniture. French polish is a highly specialized technique used on furniture and musical instruments where you rub on the shellac, with oil, and alcohol using a saturated pad. You probably wouldn't want to use it on your floor. If you have a dog like my greyhound puppy who likes to bury mystical bones in the corner of the stair treads, you may need to touch up your shellac finish.
Just mix denatured alcolhol and shellac 50% to 50% and apply with a chip brush in whatever width you like to use. It will dry in about 20 minutes. Actually, shellac is more like wax than other finishes because it is infinitely renewable. Oh yes. You would want to sand out the dog scratches before you flow on the shellac.
I would definately agree with gloria125 and never, never entrust my 100 year old yellow pine floors to a 'professional' for sanding, etc. I removed old 1930's linoleum in the uptairs to reveal unfinished pine flooring. I spent considerable time researching what to do and elected to wipe the floors by rag/hand with mineral spirits to remove all the black residue left behind by the linoleum backing. I did a little touch up sanding by hand with the grain to even out a few color variances and rough places left by wood putty used in cracks from years ago. There is quite a bit of space between some planks so I would NEVER use a polyurethane finish on this type of floor. I chose to apply a boiled linseed oil finish cut with turpentine and I get awed compliments on how beautiful that floor is.
Mmm. I love the smell on linseed oil and turpentine. Some people cut wood splines and push them into the spaces if they bother you. Also, I think there was a method of soaking twine in linseed oil and stuffing it in. Like shellac, the oil is infinitely renewable. urethane, once chipped, is a total redo.
The twine you're refering to is called oakum, and it IS possible to repair a chip in urethane. It's a good thing that shellac is infinitely renewable, because if a beer or wine spills on it, it needs renewing. It might work great in a museum, but I sure wouldn't use it in a kitchen or a bathroom.
The wood floors in my 1920's house are four inch wide Douglas Fir. (red Pine?) They are great except one area that had old linoleum. I have tried mineral spirits to get the glue off. I am still unable to get the very fine final coat all the way off. I do not want to sand. Any suggestions? Also what is the best finish for this wood? It will be in the kitchen. I have sanded and used urethane on this type of wood before but have been disappointed with the color. And I have used it in my kitchen and it hold up well with the urethane finish.
