"easttwinlake" wrote

have some 100 year old hard rock maple tongue and groove flooring that I
need to clean up and refinish. What is the best way to clean up the dirt
and grime that has fallen into the cracks and tongue and groove. I have
already taken up the flooring but having trouble getting the right tool
for clean up. Thank

Did that once. I found the best thing was a round boar bristle brush dipped
in a bucket with murphy soap and water. I didnt have a huge batch to deal
with though, just one room of about 11x14 dimensions. Then, after fixing
the sub flooring (reason we had to remove it), we put it back down and used
a commercial grade floor sander (I had 4 other rooms that needed the floors
completely sanded and restained then varnished).

It was a kitchen BTW. Back then, yes wood floors. Original house had a
hand pump for water in the kitchen from a well. It had been capped off but
left under the sink when more modern plumbing was brought in but leaked a
little. Dufus last owner before us tried to 'insulate' by putting plywood
up under the crawlspace then insuation above it which got soaked.

We resealed the hand pump line properly (just a matter of age of the
joinings, not hard), reinstalled it over the sink as the area was somewhat
prone to power and water outages due to storms, and it was pretty neat
looking to see it there with a discrete modern set by it. Actually helped
sell the house! Oh and we fixed the sub-floor situation properly.