My husband and I just purchased a home that was completely wall to
wall carpeted. When we removed the old carpet we found lovely oak
floors which we intend to sand and refinish. My problem is with the
oak stairs. The previous owner covered them with linoleum tile stuck
down with black mastic. Both the stairs and the risers were heavily
scored. I have managed to get the tiles and the mastic off ("Foam Off"
worked great) but the gouges from scoring are not sanding out. The
stair feels smooth to the touch but I am left with these black lines
all over the stairs. I have used 50 grit sandpaper and as much muscle
as I can muster and can't seem to sand out these lines. I have used
both a palm sander and have tried hand sanding. Can anyone offer some
advice on what I can try next? I am almost at the point of resigning
myself to having to paint them but it would break my heart to cover the
oak.

"Kelly" wrote in message
worked great) but the gouges from scoring are not sanding out. The
stair feels smooth to the touch but I am left with these black lines
both a palm sander and have tried hand sanding. Can anyone offer some
advice on what I can try next? I am almost at the point of resigning

How thick are the treads and can they be removed without too much
difficulty? First thought that comes to mind is removing them and running
them through a planer. Barring that, you might rent a commercial sander or
perhaps hire someone to remove the gouges for you. Another idea that comes
to mind is an electric plane. Only downside to that is that you can't get
into corners or near edges with one.

"Kelly" wrote in message
both a palm sander and have tried hand sanding. Can anyone offer some
advice on what I can try next? I am almost at the point of resigning
myself to having to paint them but it would break my heart to cover the
oak.

Another idea that comes to mind is *if* you can remove the treads without
too much difficulty, you may be able to just flip them over and get an
unaffected surface.

I had a similar problem with a whole floor that had been covered with
black mastic. I used a heat gun and scraper to get the surface mess
off, then ground a Hyde joint scraper to clean out the T&G joints.
Filled the joints with paste wood filler and after drying sanded the
whole floor with a 6" belt sander.
It was a lot of work, but with a few coats of Tung oil & Shellac wiped
on the floor looked great. Scratches are easily repaired with the
finishing mix.
Bugs

On Wed, 19 Apr 2006 07:35:01 -0400, "Upscale"
wrote:

"Kelly" wrote in message
both a palm sander and have tried hand sanding. Can anyone offer some
advice on what I can try next? I am almost at the point of resigning
myself to having to paint them but it would break my heart to cover the
oak.

Another idea that comes to mind is *if* you can remove the treads without
too much difficulty, you may be able to just flip them over and get an
unaffected surface.


And maybe not. I tried to do exactly that when removing the carpet
from my stairway. Treads and risers were filled with holes from the
tack strips, pad staples and carpet staples. When I got the treads
off found that most of them had flaws on the bottom that were far
worse than the damage to the top. Mostly voids and areas that did not
clean up from the planer.

Ended up filling the topside holes and refinishing. Came out great.
filled areas give the floor an antique look that we like.

OP maybe should finish one and see what she has. Might be OK as is.

Frank

Frank Boettcher wrote:
On Wed, 19 Apr 2006 07:35:01 -0400, "Upscale"
wrote:

"Kelly" wrote in message
both a palm sander and have tried hand sanding. Can anyone offer some
advice on what I can try next? I am almost at the point of resigning
myself to having to paint them but it would break my heart to cover the
oak.

Another idea that comes to mind is *if* you can remove the treads without
too much difficulty, you may be able to just flip them over and get an
unaffected surface.

If there are balusters, that puts the kibosh on the plan, and if the
stair skirt boards sit on the treads, which is the typical situation,
removing the treads could be next to impossible.

And maybe not. I tried to do exactly that when removing the carpet
from my stairway. Treads and risers were filled with holes from the
tack strips, pad staples and carpet staples. When I got the treads
off found that most of them had flaws on the bottom that were far
worse than the damage to the top. Mostly voids and areas that did not
clean up from the planer.

Right. Treads frequently have saw marks and other imperfections on the
underside. It's also problematic depending on the stair construction.
If any of the treads aren't rectangular and uniform, then you won't be
able to flip those particular treads.

Ended up filling the topside holes and refinishing. Came out great.
filled areas give the floor an antique look that we like.

OP maybe should finish one and see what she has. Might be OK as is.

I've refinished more than a few sets of stairs that were in horrible
condition, with much wailing from my muscles, back and knees. Scraping
followed by sanding is the easiest and fastest way I've found to clean
up the wood. The sanding shouldn't be started until pretty much all of
the offending mastic is removed as the sanding will heat it up and
smear it around.

R

Just another look at this problem...

If the flooring was down for some time and it was the old
petroleum/solvent based adhesive (which it sure sounds like) you may be
in trouble. The petroleum stain has no doubt over the years has seeped
deeply into the wood, especially in an open faced wood like oak.

The reason this is a problem is that the foot traffic is concentrated
into a small pathway on the stairs, which constantly grinds in the
ahesive every single time the stairs are used. If by using the term
"scored" you are referencing wear, no doubt the original adhesive
(which can take years to lose all of its solvent) can work its way into
those scored areas making the pentration of the stain very deep.

When I have run across your problem, we do a test tread for the client,
and time the guy doing the prep to see how long it should take. If it
takes more than a couple of hours a tread and riser, my clients have
always bailed out. We scrape first, then add a little acetone, then
scrape some more with a cabinet scraper. When we have everything off
we can get with the scraper, we sand starting at 80 grit with an ROS,
and work up the grits. Corners and edges are done with a 1/4 sheet
square sander.

The last one I did, we painted the treads a soft earthtone, and I came
up with the idea of cutting an oak door skin into strips and tacking
them onto the risers. That way we didn't lose the oak look on the
stair case. Standing in front of the stairs you saw the pretty new oak
risers, and that gave the owners enough to make them happy. The risers
were stained and finished to match the rails and balusters, and after
it was finished it actually looked great.

Good luck!

Robert

"Kelly" wrote in message

Buy a good heavy duty paint scraper, the kind with the replaceable blades,
and have a go with it. You may find this easier, and more aggressive, than
sanding.

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