Okay I'm a newbie but need help bad. My wife is a wedding and event planer and just took on a 10,000 square foot upper level of a old factory. Over the last month I've pulled all the glue down carpet off of the 3/4 tongue and groove osb and then pulled the osb up to reveal the original wood flooring.(BTW-ever tried to find screws under commercial carpet glue?) Now the question, how and what type of sander to use? First I should tell you what we want, this floor does not need to be perfect. Actually an old worn look would be fine as it ties in with the theme of the place. It already has small metal plates covering some holes which my wife thinks are pretty cool. But back to the question, theres some paint near all the support beams from overspray which needs to come up and just I guess an overall sand and reseal? The natural color is fine so no need to stain, just something to protect. I'm sure many drinks will be spilled during events. Any help is greatly appreciated! I could post pictures if needed.

In this case, I would not sand it. You don't own this building, right? So whatever you do needs to acceptable to the owner. If you are just looking to temporarily spruce it up and have it be a little more resistant to spills, then I hate to admit it but this sounds like a job for Orange Glo.
http://www.orangeglo.com/c-woodc-3-8.html

Or you could use BONA Refresher.
http://www.bonakemi.com/shop/shopexd.asp?id=6

Thanks Gary but what about getting the old paint up around all the support beams. Probably a 12 foot diameter around each beam.

How thick is the paint? It could have lead in it. Not a good idea to sand lead paint. Soybean based paint remover. A non-toxic method of stripping.
http://www.franmar.com/index.php?cPath= ... 10a36f99d9

Gary-from the looks of the website the soy product takes up the entire finish on the floor. Has that been your experience? If thats the case it will cost around 2500 bucks to strip the floor with this product. The next question is there a cheaper product to strip the floor without sanding? Or is there something to clean the paint off the floor without taking up the rest of the finish? The orange glo actually takes up the paint but it's some MAJOR elbow grease. I'm not affraid of work but c'mon it's 10'000 feet. BTW-thanks

I don't want to sound like an asshole, like I usually come across as, but here it goes..


From your posts, you don't have the budget to do anything you wish. I take it from the last post, you can't afford to even put the labor in it yourself, as you sound overwhelmed. Yes, it is work. Flooring work is hard, and sometimes very messy. There is no easy way out. Your best off just leaving it alone.

I budgeted 8 grand but why spend 2600 when you could spend less? I own a plumbing company so I don't think the work is the problem it's the fact that I don't wish to hand scrub 10,000 feet of overspray with orange glo. The floor will be fine once I get the paint off. I'm just asking how.

Have the paint tested for lead. If there is no lead in the paint then sand it off. You said the paint was sprayed on. Most of the lead paint we find on floors was not sprayed on or there from overspray.
Just a thought.

You could just paint the floor. Many decorators are doing it. You can't get any more opaque than a good semi gloss enamel .... I'm just sayin'

Will

Have you tried using a rag dampened with lacquer thinner to remove that paint? Ive used this method to do a recoat on a OMU floor..Just don't soak the floor with it,make sure you don't leave the can of thinner on the floor(set it on a piece of cardboard)or it will eat through the finish.

Can you post the pictures you mentioned earlier. I'm curious to see what the floor looks like.