Sanding glue off hardwood floor?

[Stillgottimefor1]

The vacation rental house (1950), had two layers of carpet in the living room and it smelled musty, so I pulled all that out yesterday. Nice looking floor to my eyes, but the first layer of carpet was glued down. Rented a pretty good size orbital sander and plenty of various sanding pads and implements of destruction and was warned not to hurt the floor...after five hours I’m not 1/3 done on a twenty by thirty room. I figured I would have the thing finished in ten hours...any advice?


Sent from my iPhone using Garage Journal

 

[The Cobbler]

is the glue dried out & hard or is it gooey?
good sharp paint scraper would work to hand scrap the bulk of it off

 

[Stillgottimefor1]

Very hard. Fifty years old. I tried a putty knife and it was too flexible but I figured trying to chisel or scrape would be bad because of scarring the wood.


Sent from my iPhone using Garage Journal

 

[The Cobbler]

I would get about a 2" pull type paint scraper, sharpen it up real nice & try that . hold your palm on the end to put downwards pressure and pull with your other hand in long firm strokes .
that's a nice looking floor, cherry?

 

[Stillgottimefor1]

Thanks for the advice, Cobbler. I don’t know what kind of wood it is at all, but the red part you see there is old varnish. After sanding it looks like pine to me..very light color. .?


Sent from my iPhone using Garage Journal

 

[mitusa]

Is that an orbital sander or a vibrating sander?

 

[Stillgottimefor1]

Is that an orbital sander or a vibrating sander?

It vibrates, my bad. I was warned not to use the bigger one that uses round pads, guess THAT one is orbital. Funny thing is people keep saying I risk hurting the wood...hell I’m not even through the dang glue in most places!!


Sent from my iPhone using Garage Journal

 

[mitusa]

It vibrates, my bad. I was warned not to use the bigger one that uses round pads, guess THAT one is orbital. Funny thing is people keep saying I risk hurting the wood...hell I’m not even through the dang glue in most places!!


Sent from my iPhone using Garage Journal

I have used both....the orbital with 80 grit should make quick work on that....then use the vibrating to make it smooth. Follow with polyurethane....

jmo

 

[Stillgottimefor1]

I have used both....the orbital with 80 grit should make quick work on that....then use the vibrating to make it smooth. Follow with polyurethane....



jmo

Thank You, that’s the answer I was hoping for. I really appreciate the help.


Sent from my iPhone using Garage Journal

 

[The Cobbler]

I think maybe you have white oak

 

[Stillgottimefor1]

I think maybe you have white oak

I hope you are right. As for the long handle scraper idea, I hope it doesn’t come to that because nobody out here in the boondocks has one. I will return the machine in the morning and deal with the floor next week, prior commitments and etc. thanks!


Sent from my iPhone using Garage Journal

 

[Kaizen]

My experience with those four pad orbitals is that they don’t remove enough to get down to wood. Especially if the floor is not flat. I also spent like four hours in a 8x8 room and spent like 50 bucks on sand paper.
A drum sander at an angle will do a better job. Make sure you work through 3 grits no matter which you do


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Stillgottimefor1]

Thanks!, and anyone laughing because I didn’t remove the baseboards yet, that is her call. I will convince her in a couple days...


Sent from my iPhone using Garage Journal

 

[rlitman]

I would get about a 2" pull type paint scraper, sharpen it up real nice & try that . hold your palm on the end to put downwards pressure and pull with your other hand in long firm strokes .
that's a nice looking floor, cherry?

I have a few scrapers. I agree that hand scraping is called for here. For this much, it really pays to buy a carbide one. My local Ace carries something like this:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000I1QGL8/?tag=atomicindus08-20

I think maybe you have white oak

Could very well be. The grain looks right to me.

My experience with those four pad orbitals is that they don’t remove enough to get down to wood. Especially if the floor is not flat. I also spent like four hours in a 8x8 room and spent like 50 bucks on sand paper.
A drum sander at an angle will do a better job. Make sure you work through 3 grits no matter which you do

Pad orbital sanders are the definition of SLOW. I have a 4-pad random orbital U-Sand sander. It's also super slow and easy to control, but is way faster than the big rectangular orbital finish sanders. I'll start out using 24 grit to get through the urethane before stepping up through a series of grits to remove the scratches.

Pros with a drum sander can make quick work of a floor, and it often looks good. But I can always spot a drum sanded floor by the traces they leave at the edges.

 

[jbwilkins]

1950s build means you're probably dealing with a 1x3 T&G floor (i'm guessing Oak too).

You're not going to 'hurt' it unless you sand an entire inch, which will take forever. A belt sander is the way to go, it will remove the material the quickest. You just need to be prepared to refinish it when you're done (stain/poly).