Sanding loose floorboards

zagmund

I have a stash of floor boards which were removed from a house. I plan on using them in the stove over the next few years, but I would like to remove a small amount of paint/varnish which is on some of them around the edges first.

When I say they are loose I mean they have been taken up and are all stacked, with nails removed.

I was thinking that a belt sander would be good for removing the varnish. The plan would be to get each board, screw it down to a fixed block (to hold it fast) and go up and down the length with the belt sander, unscrew board . . . repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat.

Does this sound like a reasonable approach or is there a better tool or way to do it?

Suggestions welcome.

z

recipio

Its a lotta work to get boards clean. If you have access to a thicknesser I'd take a skim off them back to new wood. OK, they end up about a mm thinner but its way more efficient. Do run a metal detector over them first.

Lex Luthor

an electric planer would be much quicker than a belt sander and a lot less messy

dharn

If you are only taking some of the varnish off, why bother, a hot stove will burn the varnish clean

zagmund

I was operating on the basis that burning the paint/varnish would be not good for the flue and/or environment, along the lines of the way you aren't supposed to burn treated wood for the chemicals it gives off.

I know that ultimately the paint/varnish will end up in the environment one way or the other and that the stove should burn it pretty clean, but I was just trying to head off any possible problems by getting rid of it. I accept it may be a lot of hard work to do this. Most of the wood is plain - it looks like originally there was a carpet or rug in the middle and the edge was varnished, but the centre was left as it.

z

slimjimmc

You might like to think twice about burning them at all. Since the timber is treated (preservative and coatings) it is classified as waste and you could be committing an offence by burning it at home.

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/environment/waste_management_and_recycling/burning_household_waste.html

Burning household waste at home or in your garden is illegal. Examples of where you cannot burn household or garden waste are:
•In a barrel or exposed pile in the yard or garden
•On a bonfire
•On an open fire, range or other solid fuel appliance
•In a mini-incinerator, for example, a home or garden incinerator purchased from a DIY centre.

Waste burners and other devices such as, mini or household incinerators, which may be located in buildings or gardens, are illegal even if they are attached to a stack or flue.

Ihatehalloween

slimjimmc wrote: »

You might like to think twice about burning them at all. Since the timber is treated (preservative and coatings) it is classified as waste and you could be committing an offence by burning it at home.

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/environment/waste_management_and_recycling/burning_household_waste.html

How is it classified as waste??

slimjimmc

Ihatehalloween wrote: »

How is it classified as waste??

The law has a broad definition but basically it includes any waste types listed in the European Waste Catalogue and which are to be disposed by methods including incineration (which is what the OP intends). Many treated timbers are specified in the EWC.
http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1996/en/act/pub/0010/sec0004.html

http://kildare.ie/CountyCouncil/Environment/Burningwaste/

Some might argue he's using it as a fuel but I bet the Environment Officer would see it differently.

Ihatehalloween

Sounds like a nanny state assumption???