LESLIE: Greg in Delaware, you’ve got The Money Pit. What can we do for you?
GREG: Yes, I have a house that was built in ’42 and stuff and for some reason, somebody put those sticky tiles in the kitchen right over top some nice hardwood floors.
TOM: Ugh. OK.
GREG: And so you know, it’s all original.
TOM: Yeah.
GREG: It’s all original and stuff.
TOM: So definitely worth saving.
GREG: How do I get the sticky glue off the wood? I use – a sander just tears the glue on it, tears it up. And I’ve used – I don’t know if I can say the product but I used Goo Gone and it just doesn’t do any good.
TOM: What kind of sander are you using on it?
GREG: Well, I had a belt sander that I had and then I used a palm sander. And I used – tried to use a different grit.
TOM: Alright. So, I would stop right there, Greg. I would call in a professional floor-refinishing company and let them do it with their tools. You can sand that stuff off and their sanders are big, 12-inch-wide belt sanders with varying types of grit on it. And I think if you have them come in, they’re going to sand this floor. And I generally don’t recommend belt-sanding because it takes some of the life of the floor. But in your case, when you have adhesive on it, it’s the best way to do it.
LESLIE: It’s the only thing that’s going to work.
TOM: Yeah. But have a pro do it. They’ve got the right tools; you don’t. And it’ll just save you a lot of aggravation. It’s not terribly expensive. You know, if you want to save money, you could even just have them sand it and not finish it and you can finish it yourself. But their finishes – generally, the pro finishes are better than the ones that you can buy over the counter, so to speak.
So I would trust this flooring job to the pro because it requires their specialized tools. And don’t even rent the tools yourself because you’re not going to have the skills to use it and you could ruin the floor using a tool like that.
GREG: And so there’s no chemicals would pull it up without …
TOM: No. I wouldn’t – no, I wouldn’t do that. I’d just have it sanded off. It’ll look so good when it’s done.
GREG: OK.
TOM: Alright, Greg? Good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
Leave a Reply