John
Leeke's Historic HomeWorks™
Issue #31
Copyright 2006 John Leeke
Stripping
a Wide Board Floor
I want to
remove paint from my old wide pine floors. I understand that
historically most of these floors were painted, but I'd prefer to
go with an unpainted butcher's wax finish. The main considerations
are maintaining the integrity of the wood, keeping costs down, and
doing it myself if possible. I have learned about four methods.
Sanding. the floor guy wants to sand them and refinish them. I'm
against this, particularly because they are bumpy and sanding
would remove a substantial amount of wood to ensure paint removal.
Not only that, but they would look "new" which I don't
want.
Chemical Stripper. Peel-away seems like it may be effective, but a
little messy and expensive. I have heard conflicting results, from
works great to stinks. I am a little interested in this because I
have been told it does not remove the patina like sanding would.
Steel wool and mineral spirits. Wet and scrub, using 000 steel
wool. Seems very time consuming and not necessarily going to work.
The finish would be applied butcher's wax, which intrigues me.
This seems like too much time, however, especially given the size
of the rooms and thickness of paint.
Steam removal. It seems like this might be the one. I just read
about steam at the
Historic HomeWorks Forum but I didn't see anything about painted
floors. I particularly like the idea of removing the paint but
keeping the patina. I also like the idea of doing it myself and
not paying to have the four 20’x 20’ floors refinished.
Which of these methods would be best?
--Sean in
Salem
,
Massachusetts
Sean, you’re
off to a good by start considering several methods.
The first thing to consider with any old-house paint removal
project is the lead-health issue. Paint removal from older
buildings (built before 1980) is likely to involve paint and other
materials that should be assumed to contain lead. Lead-Safe work
practices are needed to manage the lead health risk of any paint
removal method. Any work done on older buildings is likely to
produce lead-containing paint chips and airborne dust. These
lead-containing materials can easily enter the body causing health
problems, particularly for workers, pregnant women, infants and
young children.
My own rule of thumb on all projects, large or small, is to
protect people and the environment by preventing the spread of
lead to the rest of the building and the environment with the
following guidelines:
You can learn how to do this by reading, understanding and
following the Lead-Safe work practices described in the
publication: "Lead Paint Safety, a field guide for painting,
home maintenance and renovation work." You can find it or
other publications at your local or county health office. Or,
download it at the Historic HomeWorks website:
http://www.historichomeworks.com/hhw/education/WindowsHandouts/leadsafetybk.pdf
Then pick out
at least two paint removal methods and try them out in small
areas. I have done many, many paint removal projects over the
years and I still test out 2 or 3 methods at the start of every
project. Why would I bother doing this? Because pant types and
buildup conditions vary so much that it cannot be predicted which
removal method will work best, but one removal method is bound to
be more effective than another. It might even be different from
one floor to the next in the same building. Testing pays off
big-time by the end of every project because it assures the most
effective method is used.
Learn more
about working on your old home at www.HistoricHomeWorks.com
Contact Leeke directly for answers to your questions and
more information on techniques for restoring and maintaining your
historic building. Write to John Leeke, Preservation Consultant at
26 Higgins St.
,
Portland
ME
04103
, 207 773-2306; or by E-mail at johnleeke@HistoricHomeWorks.com
or visit his Internet Web Site at www.HistoricHomeWorks.com.
Live Video Conferences &
Replays:
http://historichomeworks.com/hhw/conf/vidconf.htm
Historic HomeWorks Forum:
http://historichomeworks.com/forum/
© John Leeke
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