A little help with wooden Floor maintenance

4shaneob

Hi,

I recently decided to re-varnish the wooden floor in my converted attic but unfortunately it hasn't been done since the attic was converted over ten years ago.
I'm not even close to a professional and with no experience but had a basic idea of how to do it, 1) clean it 2) sand it and 3) apply new coats of varnish.

So I started off had some dilutable wood cleaner, that i had used before. So I mopped it down, but some of the black marks didn't come off and I noticed that there was a lot small drops of paint splatter from a painter who painted the room about 5 years ago.

So first I tried to clean them off using a concentrated bit of the wood cleaner, It didn't work. I had a friend helping who assured me he knew what he was doing and he advised we use white spirits but mop it on and let it dry, then mop it again with water.
when that didn't help clean the paint, I got some steel wool water and and rubbed it till it was clean. I then lightly sanded it after.

The problem is I there are white patches on the floor where I used the steel wool and even after hours with windows fully open at least 6hrs there is still a strong smell of white spirits.

My question is if the smell and the white patches is normal? or could the white spirits dried into the wooden floor itself?

Also I half assume the white patches maybe from where the old varnish has been cleaned off, and I'm hoping to get hold of a belt sander to test this theory.
hopefully there is a carpenter or someone out there who has done this to give me some advice.

Thanks.

dodzy

The white patches are most likely where you have gone back to bare wood. Ideally, I'd look at hiring a proper floor sander and take it all back, removing all current coating and then reapply new varnish. Prob 2-3 coats.

sky6

Firstly don't worry about the Spots, the sander will take care of that.
Sanding a Floor requires a fair degree of skill and even more patience to get it right. You won't really do it with a hand sander, you need to rent a machine. Ideally if you can rent the square machine its easier to use for a novice. It also get into corners better than the rotary belt Sander.
The rotary machine doesn't get any closer that 150 mm from the skirting then has to be finished with a Hand held belt sander.

You need to start with a heavy grit to get the top surface of the Floor cleaned off. Then a smoother grit working down to a very fine grit. This is where the patience is needed as it's so easy to try and hurry which could lead to disaster.
Used thinned down stain for the first coat building up slowly to the required colour and finish with something like diamond coat.

4shaneob

Yeah ignorance didn't realise I was there was 2 different types of sander. Unfortunately the guy in the local hardware wasn't much help, he was some sort builder by trade and only opened the store, but has very little expertise, and even less stock.
Can you buy thinned down varnish? or do you have to thin it down yourself?

sky6

How big is the area and where are you located roughly.

4shaneob

It's approx a 5ft by 8ft room.

I'm in the donabate area, I went into swords hardware and asked there, the guys there were more helpful said although they didn't have the specific stuff for the job, but that they had Rustin's multipurpose floor finish which would work and they advised doing two coats. Although I mentioned the sanding they never said anything about the difference in sanders, or thinned down finish.

sky6

To get the right Sander you would be better off phoning the Hire companies to see who has them. They shimmy across the floor as opposed to the revolving belt type machines. Which makes them much easier to control.
Most hardwares are hopeless when it comes to any kind of speciality.
I'll pm you a place where you will get the right products.
Also when sanding cover your shoes with plastic bags in order to keep the floor clean as you go.
When finished sanding clean in two directions with white spirits.
When you use the 50/50 solution let dry and lightly sand again as the solution will lift the fibres in the wood. Then A 70/30 Coat and another light sanding.
By now you should free of raised fibres and can now use full coats.
It will probably take two coats plus a two part hard sealer.
As I said it's all about patience and you'll have a beautiful Floor and as smooth as Glass.