Cleaning Floorboards with Caustic Soda

[unionworkeruk]

I have sanded, washed, used sugar soap, bleach and white spirit and still my 100 year old newly exposed floor boards look dirty. I dont want to sand any more or it will lose all its character and I might as well buy new boards. I want all the dints, scratches and marks, just not the ingrained dirt.

With old pine doors and a badly stained library chair I sent them off to be dipped and they came back ready for staining, oiling or waxing.

I obviously dont want to take up all the floor boards for dipping so is there any way I can bring the boards up to the same standard myself. I have cleaned all the paint off. It is just the ingrained dirt which I cannot shift.

I have heard that I can brush on a mix of caustic soda and water, leave for 20 minutes, sponge off with clean water then rub down with a white vinegar and water mix and, hey presto, clean looking wood.

Sounds too easy.... Anyone tried it or got any advice ? Thanks

 

[Doggit]

Reading the post, I expected the boards to be absolutely filthy, but you've just got aged boards there, not dirty ones. You'd get a uniform colour from underneath if you hired a sander and sanded them down, but I'd be damned reluctant to use caustic soda on them. Dipping doors takes off the paint, but does little to the doors, as they've been protected by the paint, so you'd achieve very little by dipping them. But if you decided to sand them, then I'd only use a finishing sandpaper, not a starting one, and then apply a mat varnish to keep them looking good.

 

[unionworkeruk]

They were black ! This is after two weeks sanding, washing, bleaching etc. You reckon this is the best I can get unless I sand them and destroy the "character" I am trying to preserve ?.


Maybe I am after the impossible so will try some Fiddes wax/oil on a couple of boards to see how they look instead of "burning them with caustic soda.

Thanks