Testing Hardwood Floor Finishes in an Old House (part 2 of a few)

For part 1 of this series, click here . . . and I am sorry I broke my promise to post the next day – Things have been quite busy around here.

. . . aka In the Closet via the moxieCam — Segment 1

So I found myself in the closet . . . . I knew pretty well that I did not have varnish on my floors.  I remember this coating from my grandfather’s boat, on and around his basement bar, and probably on a few other things that survived from his day – so shiny, you could see your reflection in it — or at least that’s how I knew it.

And the species of wood?  In a house that contains everything from cherry to cypress (I think; and fairly uncommon in my region) to things that smell of fir . . . the truth is, I just don’t know.

For now and for this post, we will call it an oak floor with a walnut inlay (though maybe something slightly different in the closets).  Very popular throughout the houses of my region . . . this configuration — and I do not have a great guess on when it was installed.  But how it was butted to certain wall surfaces, and what was in those walls makes me think that it went down in or around the 1960s.

This floor is installed on a sleeper system, and is definitely not similar to some of the southern yellow pine floors I have seen around here. Oak, but it is soft, and has many dents, dings and scratches to prove it.

The second floor’s floor has some wax on it, but applied only over a more original finish.  I believe this because water when dripped on it will pale the surface to a sickly off-white.  This condition does quickly subside - and a goldish brown does ultimately return.

The finish is generally consistent insofar as it is inconsistent throughout the house.  Since there are no signs that these floors had ever been covered, the assumption has always been – stained (maybe), with coats of well-worn and time-darkened polyurethane over it.

Enter the moxieCam (hrrmmm 1st Segment)

The video below will show you what I know.  It will not show you that I first used water to test for the soundness” of the floor.  And while I am pretty certain that some locations have a thin layer of wax on them – I do also believe that these floors, and definitely in this closet here, had some sort of solvent-based sealer applied to them.

I tested for shellac, varnish and lacquer.  These tests, advised by multiple resources and documented in the preceding post, left me, well . . . a little perplexed.  All the literature made it seem just that slam dunk  The assumption – acetone thinning varnish and not any other finish, etc.  But who knew. . . .

For Take 1 of this segment you may click back there.

What I found was that all three solvents selected – lacquer thinner, denatured alcohol and acetone thinned the floor’s finish with little or no resistance.  In other words, these tests did not really reveal anything in particular.  Each of these three solvents can aggressively clean and/or even strip (down to the bare wood) this floor finish.

Callin’ in the Pros

So . . . then somewhat befuddled – I first rang up second generation floor man, Daniel Manger at Danzco Floors. On explaining to him all of what I had found, he said – Polyurethane really didn’t begin to replace other finishes until the ’70s.  But still  . . . I would expect your floor to have a coat of urethane on it.

And I told him more, and the conversation moved this way and that until he said – Sounds to me like you might be looking at lacquer.

Only after research and later did I learn that lacquer can be colored.  (I had always associated lacquer with the spray on clear coat for furniture and/or cabinets.)

I finished by telling Daniel that I did notice more of a tackiness when using the acetone, less with the denatured alcohol – and instead, just straight easy removal with the lacquer thinner.  “Lacquer” — he said, and then he proceeded to mention some products that I did not recognize.

(In the spots seen in the upper frame of the video – I actually poured out a small amount of the lacquer thinner (and well acetone in another location), wiped it on and later finished with mineral spirits.  Both of these tests pretty well removed the finish.)

Turning toward Part 3

So . . . here I am — a partially stripped floor, still not completely confident that I know what the finish is — and I wonder if it is really all that important.  With the closet almost finished, I turn my thoughts to how I might move forward to correct these, now, and other issues.

Dean Morgan, Fells Point store manager and the resident stain matching expert at Budeke’s Paints, maybe puts it about perfectly when he says, “I don’t know what you have there, but you are going to have to test new finishes using a combination of stains and polyurethane.”  And as if I knew it before he  said it, It is going to take a lot of trial and error.

Wish me luck, thanks Daniel and Dean, and you’ll know more when I know more.