Removing old wax and dirt from oiled floor (not by sanding)... what machine?

[Ric2013]

I have notice there seem to be a community of people experienced with wood floors on this forum and I wonder if one of you may be able to help me find the best machine for this 'little' job.

I have a pine floor, installed around 2016, treated with several coats of boiled linseed oil, and then beeswax polish. Dead traditional.

Every now and then (in theory annually, but life gets in the way), I give it a thorough clean to get off the old wax and any dirt and re-oil and wax. Shoes are not worn in this room and the floor never looks grubby, but once you start to deep-clean, your cloths show there is a fair bit of dirt (or just the old wax?) to remove.

The way I am cleaning the floor is damp but well-wringed microfibre cloths and hand-scrubbing, cleaning the cloths and scrubbing again. This is time consuming, but more to the point, it requires a lot of pressure from my fingers and you have to keep going until you can no longer see any dirt being picked up from where you have been applying finger pressure. Cleaning the whole floor and re-oiling/waxing could be achieved in a day (200ish sq. ft) which I could live with, but my fingers are not up to several hours of this kind of work.

As this is a routine maintenance item, what I could do with is some kind of machine to get the cleaning done with. The machine needs to have a number of removeable cleaning belts, discs, whatevers as I would need to change them frequently in order to avoid merely scrubbing the dirt into the timber. I don't mind it being hard work or time-consuming, I just need something a bit less punishing on the fingers (if I could, hypothetically, fit microfibre cloths onto my 3" belt-sander, that would, in itself, be enough). But I would willingly stretch to something semi-industrial rather than something cheap that won't actually do the job properly.

There must be a tool for the job... but any idea what it may be?

Many thanks....

 

[Wayners]

I guess you read you can buy wax and oil floor stripers.
When I was a kid I've used them helping a relative on wooden school floors using a floor scrubber and polisher.

£45 ish per day to hire.
I've always hired a floor sander and applied varnish

 

[Ric2013]

Hi Wayners,

No, actually. I'm quite ignorant in this matter so any information is good.

If by a wax and oil floor stripper, you mean a chemical preparation, that may work, but I don't actually want to strip the oil out of the wood, just remove the wax and dirt from the surface really. I suppose it would also depend on the chemical as there is no point in using linseed oil (a pure vegetable oil - some brands of boiled linseed oil do not even contain a chemical dryer) and beeswax (dissolved in a solvent, leaving pure beeswax once the solvent has evaporated) if the chemical you are using to clean is then something you don't really want in your house. Do you remember a particular brand or was it long enough ago for this not to be relevant?

I have mixed feelings about varnish. It can look nice, and is easy to clean, but it also is a hard finish which only looks good while it is in tip-top condition whereas linseed oil wears and ages gracefully. Also, having recently spent £170 on two 2.5litre cans of "Auro" varnish, I'm reluctant to sand and varnish floors that are already treated with linseed oil (less than £15 a litre and a litre goes a long way). Plus I'd have to remove, re-countersink, and refit 1300 slotted brass woodscrews, and I'm not willing to do this.

I hadn't really thought a scrubber would do the job delicately enough, though I see Numatic makes some delicate-surface pads, which may be the thing. Sadly I have tried various local hire-shops over the years and they generally seem to stock machinery that is in poor condition and dirty, and staff have not been very knowledgable. If I right to think a scrubber washes the floor and leaves it wet and you follow-up with a wet-vacuum? It may be worth a try...

 

[StephenStephen]

...not an answer to your question, but in terms of not having to strip it back every year, have you considered a hard wax oil like Osmo?

 

[Ric2013]

Dear StephenStephen, I did consider it, but online shared experience seemed to suggest Polyx and similar are not likely to be much more hardwearing than linseed oil and also need periodic reapplication, thus not justifying the cost. Also, having varnished a smaller room with solvent-based varnish, I would certainly want to avoid a solvent-based finish on an area this large. (I did use Osmo UV-protection oil for a shop-front abroad and it seems to work well, but that is a digression).

The problem with comparing experiences of product is that what works well in some conditions (which vary from house to house) works less well in others, and unless you start making test areas within the same room, you can end up with incorrect conclusions, so what I read online may be incorrect. For example, the floor upstairs in my house is treated with linseed oil ONLY, and my stairs are treated with wax ONLY, but the conditions are entirely different. Basically, though, I don't really feel like trying the experiment because what I have is 'good enough' (and, in any case, since the surface is already sealed with linseed oil, it's not really an option now).

In defence of the linseed oil I am currently using, it also lasts well (I haven't touched my landing, for example, for years and years) and it is not the oil that I need to strip back, but any wax and dirt that is on top of the oil, and my intuition is that I'd need to do this with any finish. I'm considering trying a damp microfibre cloth in my orbital sander [edit: finishing sander, not a random orbital] as it would cost me nothing to try and if it worked, then it wouldn't be entirely stupid

 

[foxhole]

Cleared a waxed floor with paint stripper and white spirit, worked well but slow .

 

[StephenStephen]

Just to add as info, the floors I've sealed with Osmo 7 years ago don't attract dirt, an are easily cleaned with a mop...

 

[Ric2013]

Just to add as info, the floors I've sealed with Osmo 7 years ago don't attract dirt, an are easily cleaned with a mop...

Hmm. I think I'd better show a picture of a part of the floor that hasn't seen much love in two years (maybe six, except the bit in front of the black sofa) as I seem to be giving the wrong impression. As you can clearly see, the floor does not look to be at all dirty and it is only when you really scrub it with a microfibre cloth and see what the cloth is picking up that you see the dirt. So I would not say that what I have attracts dirt and I can also mop it without it seeming to cause any apparent damage. I hope you will understand why I would need a lot of persuading that Osmo would be a better finish.

This is a part of the floor in question. To remove the existing oil, I'd need to sand out the surface because the existing finish would let very little new oil soak in, and I'd need to re-countersink all those screws to sand, so changing the finish is not an option anyway.

So basically, I am 100% happy with the solvent-free linseed oil. I do not use much beeswax polish, so the small amount of turpentine involved seems to be a reasonable compromise. Generally, it is easy to look after, and the maintenance is not excessive. My ONLY issue is the deep-cleaning, and I think, given the technology available, I shouldn't need to have to use my fingers for this task.

 

[Ric2013]

For sake of comparison, I've just scrubbed the area between the two bits of purple paper and shown the dirt picked-up on the cloth (microfibre cloth, wetted with water and very well wrung out). You can see the floor looks significantly cleaner.

If your Osmo floor is also pine, I wonder if you would be interested in comparing? - I would certainly be interested in seeing if there is much difference or not as I am working on a house owned by a member of the family and would want to use the best products there.

 

[Ric2013]

Sorry about these photos: the colour match is far off especially in the second one (which the photo shows as pinkish whereas my eyes see it as yellowish); the floor actually looks better than the photos make it appear, but I'm hoping some useful information is conveyed.

 

[StephenStephen]

It sounds like I'm not offering anything useful to you - I don't think there's a way we can compare the difference between osmo and linseed&beeswax in how they pick up and retain dirt without it being on the same floor with the same use and cleaning regime - I think all we'll learn is that life's too short for me to be scrubbing the floor with microfibre, so any comparison will just show how much less cleaning I do!

I'm not sure I can see a difference in the photo in the board between the purple paper and the boards to the left of it...
I wish you luck in finding a less laborious process.

 

[Ric2013]

It sounds like I'm not offering anything useful to you - I don't think there's a way we can compare the difference between osmo and linseed&beeswax in how they pick up and retain dirt without it being on the same floor with the same use and cleaning regime - I think all we'll learn is that life's too short for me to be scrubbing the floor with microfibre, so any comparison will just show how much less cleaning I do!

I think that's a natural limitation of this kind of forum: we are all relatively happy with the wood-finish we are using and almost nobody wants to set-up test patches in his (or her) living-room.

What doesn't help is some of us are chemical-averse and will prioritise that aspect, arguing any natural finish is inherently superior, 'My floor never gets dirty, and if it does, dirt is good for you and adds to the natural patina.'. Others want a maintenance-free finish, prioritise that, and claim the chemicals aren't too bad (and, in fairness, probably ANY hard-floor is better than the average carpet). I'm being difficult in that I'm going for a low-chemical approach and want to keep it looking brighter than it would otherwise end up.

You say that even if you did scrub a small section of your floor, any dirt picked-up would also show if your floor is generally kept cleaner or dirtier than mine, and I'll add we don't know whether mopping tends to grind-in dirt or not). I suspect you are also, understandably, reluctant to test-scrub a small patch because the risk is ending up with a small cleaner bit in the middle and it would look odd.

I'll try to remember to come back here when I've tried the finishing-sander/cloth experiment. If that doesn't work, I'll have to try a scrubber.