Help! Wood floor refinishing nightmare.

Oct 31, 2006 10 Replies

Call the company that made the poly, try to remove it before it fully cures.

Hi,



We just had some wood floors refinished upstairs. The job came out ok but we had a big problem where the water based polyurethane that they used seeped through the floor and came down into our basement. It got all over this computer desk and spattered over the monitor and a couple of printers. Nothing is ruined to the point of not being functional, but the desk looks like crap and so do the printers.



Nothing I have tried takes this stuff off. I am guessing that anything that could take it off would also take the finish of the desk off. The desk is a finished piece of white pine we got from IKEA.



Is there any way to get this stuff off of the desk or the plastic printers?



Thanks in advance, Steve



I would try a very mild paint remover, like citristrip, on a sample area.

For the plastic surfaces, you might try VERY carefully slipping a razor blade under the polyurethane spots. In a perfect world, they might come off in chips.

More proof that anything that can go wrong will go wrong. Considering that it had to go thru cracks between panels in the floor and thru the subfloor, this is amazing.

Sounds like they applied it with a fire hose.

It's possible the wood floors ARE the subfloor...mine are.

Jo Ann

Art wrote:

Water soluble

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  1. Try alcohol.

  1. Try the waterless hand cleaner used for removing grease, used by gargage mechanics. Its a paste with pumice. I find that an excellent product for cleaning many things and it leaves a smooth surface too. Its great for cleaning the "cultured marble" bathroom countertops.

Wet sand with 600 or finer. Buff out by hand with Mother's or Meguire's. That doesn't work, spray paint the plastic for a unique look.

For the desk, scrape with a razor and rub with 0000 wool, then either of the auto compounds to bring up the gloss if lacquer. Watco will fix damaged oil finishes.

Thanks for the tip!

Citristrip does the job! It took off the poly but left the finish on the desk in tact. I only let it sit 5 minutes.

YeeHa!

Steve

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