We have bought an old house with 50 year old wood block floors they need cleaning how do we get the dirt off?

Question

We have bought an old house with 50 year old wood block floors they need cleaning how do we get the dirt off?

Answer 1

I suggest you check yellow pages for a specialist. It would be such a shame to ruin them by cleaning them incorrectly.

Answer 2

Your local tool hire centre will rent you a Clarkes floor sander which restore you wooden floor to its former glory, be sure to follow instructions and you should end up with a terrific finish. You can then seal the floor or use a twin pack hardwearing varnish. Good Luck

Answer 3

I also have 50 year old floors that my Grandfather made from trees on his farm.  He had them glued to the floor with black tar.  The tops looked hideous.

Finally, I bought a glue from Lowes and glued them down, then paid a professional refinisher $800.

I'm very happy with the results.

Here's a couple of pictures after the flooring was glued down then professionally refinished.  I wish I had a before picture to compare it to.  They were dark brown and dingy...and to think, I almost tore them out to replace them with flooring from Home Depot.  That would have been a tragedy!

http://www.hollymann.com/OldFloorsRefini...

Answer 4

Rent a buffer with a scrub pad, use a cleaner made for a  wood floor. Good Luck!

Answer 5

best thing to do is to hire a floor sander, i've used one myself and they are very effective then you can stain or varnish and it'll all look fab, good luck.

Answer 6

You need to use a large floor sander and a small one for smaller areas , these can be hired but some advice if there is pipework coming through floor to radiators make up little boxes around pipes or tempory fit large blocks of wood to protect pipes and sand these areas by hand I am a plumber by trade and made good money from people who did not do this floor sanders will cut through pipes very easily and machine does not stop immediately so take care !! varnish or polish floor after for best results

Answer 7

The hard way is scrubbing. The easy way is to lightly sand, using a machine if it's a large area, then varnish