Removing Adhesive residue from 70 year old wood floor?

Angie
by Angie

Remove the residue from wood floors that remains after we removed 6 layers of stick-on or glued tiles from a 70 year old home? We are thinking we may have no choice but to cover it with another wood floor. Thank you!

After one trial of removal. Still very sticky and everything sticks to it.

4th time and a zillion hours later.

  9 answers
  • GrandmasHouseDIY GrandmasHouseDIY on Aug 08, 2018

    I would use paint stripper in small areas at a time working my way across the floor. Clean with mineral spirits and then LOTS of sanding should do the trick.

  • Kathy Gunter Law Kathy Gunter Law on Aug 08, 2018

    Have you tried to heat it and then scrape while it is warm? Plain cooking oil may remove the "sticky". It has worked for me before but never on such a large project.

  • Kami Kami on Aug 09, 2018

    Ug! I had the exact same issue 5 layers! Like the comment before heat was amazing then scrape then mineral spirits then scrape. Then sand & finish.We actually attached the heat gun to a pole so our backs would be saved. This is a zillion hour well worth it project. Good luck!!!

  • Angie Angie on Aug 09, 2018

    Thanks!! Great ideas. Going with the heat now to see if it works!!!

  • Kendra Kendra on Aug 09, 2018

    I have this same issue, I was using a craft heat gun. Are there heat guns to rent at home stores?! Also I kept setting off the smoke detector that’s hardwired in. Any solutions?

    • Kami Kami on Aug 18, 2018

      Hi Kendra! We did rent a mega heat gun from a rent a center for construction type tools. We also had to have all the windows opened because our heat detectors are wired with our home security 😬. And we had a big fan that was on. Be really mindful about keeping that heat gun moving, or you get burn marks. We had a team approach one heated and one scraped at the same time that went the best.

  • Kmdreamer Kmdreamer on Aug 10, 2018

    No lightly sand it off

  • Diana Kostelecky Diana Kostelecky on Sep 23, 2018

    Try spraying W-D 40 and let sit. Then scrape off residue.

  • Angie Angie on Sep 23, 2018

    Thanks for all the advice. Heat helped and ended up scraping as much as possible. Spent over 40 hours and gave up. Grey paint looks great!