Water based poly over old finish...oil based maybe..will it work?

[wayneo75]

Long time member, and usually always find the answer i am after....except now.

I have a 1961 built home with cypress pine floor boards. Half of the house has exposed floorboards stained to a Oregon colour (my interpretation as very similar to our Oregon dining table) and sealed with a very hard wearing gloss finish that is more than 8 years old, how much older i don't know. We intend to leave it as it is as it looks pretty good.

The lounge room currently has carpet which we wish to pull up. Under that carpet, investigation has shown that the floor boards are also stained to the same colour as the rest of the house and have also been sealed. This sealer is possibly not the same as it is duller and also has years of dust and other under carpet characteristics. The underlay of the carpet is a corrugated rubber like material, backed by a hessian like material and the rubber material has left a slightly "greasy" print on the floor boards, and has also stuck to it in places when I have pulled up small sections in the corner.

Now for the question/issue. I wish to pull up the carpet, clean the floor, maybe give a light sand by hand or hand held orbital (room only 7m x 3m) to remove any bumps and imperfections caused by the underlay and then use a product such as the water based Cabots CFP.

Will it bond to the unknown sealer on the floor boards?

My concerns are,
- my wife is pregnant and although she will move out for the time I sand/prepare/vacuum/paint I don't want the house to stink upon her return if I were to use a traditional oil based product
- I don't want to use a heavy duty floor sander and remove the stain as rematching it will be hard. Unless i really have to....

Lastly I don't want, nor expect a show room finish. this is a 50 year old house and I want a functional practical finish and don't mind if it doesn't match the rest of the floor so well as long as it’s not a stark contrast.

Have attached a couple of pics which shows what i have described.

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Cheers,
Wayne.873658736687367873688736987370

[Larry McCully]

Hi wayne, yes it will adhere to the old coating, Go for it. Use a fine 220 grit on the orbital. U can use minerial turps to clean the floor first, That should help remove any rubber bits. Get it as clean as you can first before sanding. Dont use a course grit. I would not go any courser that 1809 grit. 180-220 would be safe enough to put on the floor without leaving any swirl marks.

[Larry McCully]

Just a note: Any areas that have exposed timber, sand them and apply 3 x coats on that area first before coating the whole floor.

[Dusty]

Hi wayne, yes it will adhere to the old coating, Go for it. Use a fine 220 grit on the orbital. U can use minerial turps to clean the floor first, That should help remove any rubber bits. Get it as clean as you can first before sanding. Dont use a course grit. I would not go any courser that 1809 grit. 180-220 would be safe enough to put on the floor without leaving any swirl marks.

My @@@@ paper is rougher than 1809 grit...., well at least it feels like it is.

[wayneo75]

Just a note: Any areas that have exposed timber, sand them and apply 3 x coats on that area first before coating the whole floor.

"exposed yimber" what do you mean by that? The entire lounge room floor will be exposed when i pull up the carpet.

[shauck]

I think he means any bare timber. Could result from sanding or other reasons?

[Larry McCully]

Sorry Wayne, i did mean bare timber. I knoticed in the pics that there was a strip of bare timber. Thats the part that needs coating on at least 3 times before putting a coat over the whole floor. The reason is that if you put a top coat over it as it is, then that strip will obsorb the coating and it will look quite different. what you will be doing when you apply 3 x coats on the strip is first of all sealing it, then you will be building the layers to match the height of the existing coatings. So when you do eventually put a top coat over the whole floor, it will blend better and hopfull not notice the repair. It is simular when you fix a dent in your car. Seal and build the layers first.

[wayneo75]

Thanks Larry, all makes sense. For the record though i think the bit that looks bare is actually the section that was under the brass carpet edge strip thingy and just has a heap of dust built up. I wiped away a bit of it but not all of it.

Anyhow i have now bought all teh gear, will have a test this weekend maybe inbetween xmas parties. If all goes well, i'll send teh wife off to the inlaws for the xmas break and do the job in two days and have the rest of the week off by myself........that is untill I realise it takes me the whole week to pull out 500 staples!

[Larry McCully]

Thanks Larry, all makes sense. For the record though i think the bit that looks bare is actually the section that was under the brass carpet edge strip thingy and just has a heap of dust built up. I wiped away a bit of it but not all of it.

Anyhow i have now bought all teh gear, will have a test this weekend maybe inbetween xmas parties. If all goes well, i'll send teh wife off to the inlaws for the xmas break and do the job in two days and have the rest of the week off by myself........that is untill I realise it takes me the whole week to pull out 500 staples!
Staples,UGGGGGGG!!!! i just spent 3 days removing about 1000 or it seems like that many. I found a tool that works fine. its called the extractor.

Thrifty link or Mitre 10 have them. http://www.yorkdaleflooringcentre.com/gallerycontractors/toolsbig5.png