How To Get Tar Paper Off Wood Floor

Move from the outside of the tar to the.

How to get tar paper off wood floor.

Scrape the tar off the wood gently with a plastic spatula or any tool that won t scratch the wood such as your fingernails or a wooden ice cream stick. Once you ve scraped the majority of the paper and residue up dunk your wire scrubber into the bucket of hot water and scrub up the remaining residue. When removing tar from authentic hardwood floor the key thing is to be gentle yet thorough. This hopefully will release the tar paper.

The tar paper will leave behind a thin layer of dark stain on top of the surface of the hardwood that needs to be sanded. Once all the residue has been removed go over the floor several more times with successively finer grits of sandpaper 80 grit 100 grit and 120 grit to further smooth the floors and remove any scratch marks. Use acetone you can also use acetone to remove tar from laminated wood flooring. In those cases you will have to sand the area to get the tar off the wood.

After removing as much of the tar paper or felt as you can with a scraper sand the rest off using a drum type floor sander available at tool rental stores starting with coarse 40 grit sandpaper. If you ever remodel the floor and want to expose the first layer in the future you will need to remove the layer of tar paper off the surface. Mix one part vinegar to three parts water in a large bowl or bucket. It won t hurt you re floor to let the steamer sit in a spot longer than a minute while you scrape and scrub.

Apply this solution to your floor using a clean rag and allow it to soak into the tar paper for several hours. Dab a small amount of acetone on a clean cloth and wipe starting from the edges of the stain and moving into the center to avoid spreading the mess even more. Tar paper and black mastic is no match for a wallpaper steamer and some wood soap. In the end you may have to have the floors sanded.

You can try heating up the spots that won t come up. In some areas the tar just peels up with light pressure from a putty knife. Use a towel to dry up the remaining moisture and residue. Step 2 scrape the wet tar paper using a floor scraper.

You can use the putty knife to scrape the tar paper off sections should come free by hand but there will be areas where you will have to scrape with the knife to cut the paper away from the surface.