Thicker baseboards and how to remove tar paper

[oaktree]

I did this much yesterday. An old heat gun definitely helps when you hit an area that doesn't want to budge, but it also makes the tar a little more smeary. This is a lot of work...

I can't believe how much junk was on top of this wood floor....two layers of plywood and three layers of flooring. My rooms are so much taller! And now all my doors are too short!

[raine]

since your spending the whole day at this try the hot water soaked towel and leave for an hour trick to see if it will work in your particular situation. No big investment , just a towel.
I really appreciate your house ( 1860 ) and that you are there to maintain it. Cant wait to see more pics.

[oaktree]

I read hot towels help a lot...I just have no stove or microwave there yet! Maybe I can borrow an old microwave and try it.

Thanks, Raine!

[Mick_VT]

I'm speculating that if the towels work well steam stripping might also be an option.

[phil]

mine was like that. it was a lot of work but what I did was put water in a squirt bottle , make a pool on the floor , put an old iron on top. let it sit oh maybe a minute or 30 seconds.. then remove the iron and scrape where it sat. as you get better at it you can kind of move the iron in front of you as you go. The water only stops the tar from re-sticking, it doesn't dissolve it. For the iron I just picked up a couple of old ones at the thrift. I used a putty knife not a scraper and just kind of got it between the wood and the tar.
hard on the knees a kneeling pad or knee pads are a must.

[kelt65]

mine was like that. it was a lot of work but what I did was put water in a squirt bottle , make a pool on the floor , put an old iron on top. let it sit oh maybe a minute or 30 seconds.. then remove the iron and scrape where it sat. as you get better at it you can kind of move the iron in front of you as you go. The water only stops the tar from re-sticking, it doesn't dissolve it. For the iron I just picked up a couple of old ones at the thrift. I used a putty knife not a scraper and just kind of got it between the wood and the tar.
hard on the knees a kneeling pad or knee pads are a must.

Oh good heavens the heat gun is so much more effective and easier than all this craziness.

[oaktree]

I have been using a very hot, older heat gun, which does work pretty well.

I also today tried mineral spirits (not combined with heat gun!), which really does soften up the tar, but I was getting worried that I was discoloring the wood underneath. I might switch back to heat gun.



Both methods are still very time consuming, however. Agreed, knee pads are definitely a must! And sharp scraper blades!

[phil]

I did one floor with paint stripper and lacquer thinners. i just bought a stack of towels and ripped them into a foot square pieces, dumped a bit on the floor and swished it around and fired the rags out onto the lawn. It is a bit dangerous so far as fire is concerned. It did work, bit that was on a light colored mastic that would dissolve.

heating the tar makes it gummy but then you have the problem of it re-sticking stinking, and going down into every crack and pulling the hot tar off your scraper.. but use the method that works for you I would be tempted to try the wire cup on a router method as it sounds fast but you'd have to experiment. Id just try to get most of it off then let the sandpaper do the rest. You could lay a new floor easier but then it would be a bit higher plus you'd have to pay for the material. or you could flip them over , but I think you are doing ok i is just a nasty job no matter how you go.

[oaktree]

Thanks, Phil!

I agree it's quite nasty...I'm motivated to do it because so much of the original character of my house is gone.

Lacquer thinner worked quite well for softening the tar, but I thought I'd go with the mineral spirits because they are less nasty. The goo I'm removing is black...I am worrying that the black is dissolving into the solvent and absorbing into the wood... I might go back to the heat gun because I'm nervous about it. I had hoped to do a natural finish on this wood because the living room wood is so pristine. The goo is in the kitchen, which connects with the pristine living room flooring. This might not be doable, but we'll see.

I think all previous owners thought they could lay a new floor easier, and that is why there were so many floors. Probably one of the best things I can do for this house is removing instead of adding...

[phil]

I don't think you are going to "drive the stain into the wood" when you sand you will take off at least a 1/16th or 1 to 2 mm or so ( thickness of a coin) and that will remove any trace of the tar except what is in the cracks and in cracks in the boards. It is black so not particularly offensive. with the floor I had with white mastic I found myself with a pick because white shows so much. Is some black tar between the boards going to bug you? you may find tha tthe boards are cupped a bit so you'll need to sand enough to get an even color consistency. 1/2 mm won't do it.

often when you sand floors the cracks between each board become sharp corners, sharp like an ice skate or in other words a sharp right angle on each corner. To fix that you can putty the cracks or sand them round or you might find they hook in your socks, not fun.

You really shouldn't fill every crack to allow the floor to expand and contract through the seasons but generally wood shrinks across the grain never to return to the full dimension it was at 100 years ago when the floor was laid. so you can fill some of the offensive ones. It looks like your floor is pretty tight and I'd try to see if you can just leave a little tar int he cracks because cleaning every crack is lots more work.

while you are down there set any nails you find they will tear your paper and slow you down and you will find your self setting them while you have the sander rental otherwise.