As we toured homes to potentially purchase in Duluth we noticed that many had hardwood floors under old carpeting. In several homes we were able to peek at the edges and see the original hardwood underneath. In the house we purchased, we couldn’t! The carpets were installed well, and there was no way to see.
Are there hardwood floors?
One of the first things we did on the first day we took possession of the house was to pull up the carpeting on the second floor. There were hardwood floors under the wall to wall carpets! Unfortunately, there was also a dark, sticky residue covering each of the closet floors. I’m not sure if it is old glue, or stain and lacquer. In any case we needed to make a decision. Do we reinstall rugs in the closets or do we strip the hardwood?
We think wall to wall carpets are not great
So, I pulled all the carpets out and went to Marshall Hardware, our local hardware store. They told me to use Zip-Strip for the floors. I followed the directions and poured the thick liquid onto the floor and spread it around; making sure it was a thick covering. After an hour, I went back to it and was able to scrape the sticky mess off. The color of the wood lightened a lot, but it wasn’t a perfect color match to each of the rooms. I wasn’t interested in sanding off the top layer at this point- that might have made a difference.
Zip strip was not terribly smelly and I scraped it up with the dark, sticky mess using paper towels and a plastic bag to gather it up. After the initial scraping, I used soapy water to thoroughly wash the floor. After letting it completely dry, I applied two thin coats of polyurethane.
Floors restored
The floors in each of the four closets are now restored! In the future, we will have the hardwood floors in the entire house refinished. Until then, the floors are in good and usable condition.
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