How do I remove asphalt tar sealant from wood flooring?
Answers:
You'll be lucky to remove enough of it to save the floor beneath it. This is bad news. The commercial stripper is time-consuming, but it is the better option if you're even considering trying to rehab the wood floor.
If the wood floor is not that great of a concern, cosmetically speaking, you have at least one other option, but it is no less back-breaking or time-consuming than using chemical stripper - heat stripping. Use a heat gun to loosen the tar sealant and scrape off the wood with a steel putty knife or tile scraper. Try to scrape the loosened sealant in the direction of the wood grain as much as possible.
There are several risks involved with this method, the most significant being fire. Improper use of a heat gun can set fire to the sealant and/or the wood beneath it. The best way to guard against this is to work in small areas, scraping what is completely loose before moving on to another patch of floor. Never put the heat gun directly on the surface of the floor, no matter the surface covering. The other, less deadly, risk is the chipping, gouging and scratching the wood floor itself endures from the scrapers. Most light surface damage can be sanded out, but gouges are forever.
If you've already made the investment of time, energy and money to remove the tile from your wood floors, I'm guessing that you're up for the challenge of restoring your floors. I hope this alternative method helps and wish you good luck in pursuing the results you want for your home.
Other answers:
there are two things to try first use a heat gun with your stripper if its not flame able second try gas with windows open for gas will dissolve the tar for the fact that they are both from the oil field;try and let people know.
there are two things to try first use a heat gun with your stripper if its not flame able second try gas with windows open for gas will dissolve the tar for the fact that they are both from the oil field;try and let people know.
you could try a stronger solvent like paint thinners or petrol!otherwise heat from a heatgun or hairdryer should help to soften the stuff so you can remove it easier!
This is insanely hard--here's the three techniques I've used. Usually you have to use a combination. All of these will leave your floor in need of sanding and re-finishing, but it prob. needs that anyway.
If it's actually just asphalt tar, you're lucky--it should dissolve with mineral spirit. But every floor I've seen where old linoleum or tile is removed and there is this problem, the "tar" is actually the bottom layer of the lino, and there's still a layer of glue beneath that. It's the glue and lino remanents that are the pain to remove. To get of that, try:
1)Boiling water. Get a backpacking stove or hot plate. Keep a good-sized pot of water boiling on it, down on the floor next to where you are working. Pour boiling water on a small patch of floor (about a square foot at a time), give it a minute to work, then scrape with a pull-type paint scraper. Be careful not to gouge the floor. This is about the only thing that works for heavy tar areas, but it's slow. A tiny (<100 SF) BR took me about 12-16 hours.
2) Rent a drum sander and use the coarsest grit available--20 or 24 "open coat." Get plenty of sheets--even tho it's open coat, it will clog in no time.
3) To minimize clogging the sand paper, either bust up scraps of drywall and scatter the gypsum powder from inside over the floor before sanding (helps keep tar/glue from sticking to sand paper) or scatter fine sand over the floor before sanding (does the same thing). You'll have to empty the bag on the sander a lot, since you're picking up more than just saw dust.
Good luck--this is the hardest job in floor refinishing. But the results are worth it if you take your time.
Im not sure about floors but my dad is a roofer and he uses that citrus degreaser to get tar off. You can get it at any auto parts store. Its worth a try.