Advice on stripping a painted pine floor

[marc@kentucky]

Hello GJ members-

This isn't technically a garage thread, but as I know a lot of you are experienced in renovation and/or restoration, I thought I would give it a shot.

I recently purchased a restaurant/bar that is in a historic building that was previously a hardware store.

The prior renovation included stripping and refinishing all of the floors except for the bar area in the back. In that particular section the owners decided to use a black latex paint. They were assured that the paint would be durable enough. Predictably, such was not the case.

I am hoping to refinish these floors but am not quite sure on the best technique for removing the paint finish. I have attached a few pictures of the existing paint below. It doesn't seem to be bonded very well. The problem I see with trying to use a standard floor sander from HD is that there are several surface irregularities in the flooring. I worry that the sanding disk will just hit the highest plank and leave the lower sections untouched.

I have refinished several floors in the past, but none of them were old pine and none of them were painted. I wasn't sure whether it would be possible to use a sandblaster with almond shells or whether there is some other option out there to removed the majority of the paint on such a surface.

I'd appreciate any input or advice.

Regards,

-Marc

 

[fat rat 56]

I would imagine a floor sander would get rid of 90% of the paint.

I do furniture restoration for a living. We use a chemical called Metholene Clhoride for stripping most items, including painted pieces. If it were me I would sand off what you can and apply stripper on stuborn areas.

 

[Edger]

Modern equipment now use diamonds and planetary grinders to remove paints without clogging the discs. See http://www.htc-floorsystems.com/en/FloorSolutions/HTCEZwood.aspx

 

[fat rat 56]

Very nice.......I need to get outta the shop more often!

 

[64dragnwagon]

I just refinished an old wood floor in a house of mine and I rented a drum sander and started with about 30 grit paper and worked my way up to 100 grit. The floor had several high and low spots in it and the 30 grit paper took off about a 1/8" to 1/4. It will work but you will use a LOT of paper if you don't remove the paint before you start. My floor had a heavy coat of old varnish and it clogged up the paper pretty quick. It WILL work with a lot of paper and time.

 

[64dragnwagon]

I forgot to mention to be careful on pine, it will cut down pretty fast with 30 grit paper.

 

[pauls340]

Track down a product called Strip This Too. It is a non-VOC stripper that will leave that wood ph neutral. It is used on many historic wood and truckloads at Ft Bragg. spggogreen.com

 

[unknow82]

Floor cutter from Sweden. They don't produce these machines anymore and many professionals do not even know these machines excist. This is my old machine from 1984, but I have one unused machine from 1980's

Örebro GH-10 with two 250mm rotating plades with speed of 3500rpm/min and internal vacuum with 6500rpm (this machine produses A LOT OF MATERIAL) can be run with 220v or 380v system.
This machine can cut 0mm to 10mm with one go and no nail or paint is issue. Floor in this case is 200 years old.
Basicly anything can be made to nice even floor if; You have enaugh wood, floor is not loose, this floor had +/- 10mm, it was planed two times.