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Sat, Mar 24, 12 at 12:11
| We moved into a house with pine floors. I need to clean up some of the floors.
I would like to steel wool and then reseal these floors. Can I use Shellac over the Polyurethane? Really I'm not that sure if poly or shellac are on the existing floor. Is there a way to tell? Thanks |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by Jumpilotmdm (My Page) on Sat, Mar 24, 12 at 15:39
| Shellac will always dissolve with alcohol, meaning that if you can soak a rag in denatured alcohol and rub off the finish to the point where it changes the sheen [dull] than it's probably shellac. If it's poly I suggest staying with poly. It might also be old style [oleoresinous] varnish, depending on the age of the finish. Does it scratch easily? If it has maintained it's shine pretty well it's probably poly and i would test a spot before shellacing the whole floor. |
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| Jumpilotmdm Great advice - Thank you Archie |
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| The problem is that denatured alcohol will also disolve water based finishes and many floors are being finished now with water based topcoats. It will take a bit more elbow grease though to dull the sheen of a water based finish though with alcohol. I think it is highly unlikely though that your floors are finished with shellac unless it's an old finish. Also, why use steel wool? Just sand it. |
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