Hello,

I currently have Harris Tarkett Longstrip Oak flooring installed in my home. The flooring has long been discontinued by the manufacturer. The flooring is 10+ years old. I have never refinished it or sanded the floor and really do not want to. I want to clean the buildup off of the floor and recently bought a gallon ACETONE from home depot for other projects. I decided to try it on a spot and it cleaned it NICELY, but I am not sure if it is safe to clean the floor with this then ofcourse follow up with a regular floor polish/cleaner for maintenance.

Does anyone know if acetone is safe to clean the floor with as a ONE TIME stripper/cleaner just to remove the years of buildup and grime that is deep seated? I have read that white vinegar and water is not a good idea on urethane finished engineerd wood.

If not any suggestions would be great

Thanks

I would not use acetone on the floor. I think it would be too strong and could possibly damage the floor. Maybe consider a screen and recoat. This would get rid of the build up, bring back the shine, remove surface scratches, and add a layer of protection to the floor all in only a couple of hours.

I know you said you didn't want to but it is probably best if you sand it and refinish it. It is not that tough of a job with an electric sander. You may be able to get it done for a reasonable price by a discount flooring company or hire an individual. The trades businesses are slow right now so you might be able to get a bargain.

If your flooring is a float system, not all sanders are able to sand this without the risk of chatter marks that will show up when the new finish is applied. What is the build up on the floor, there may be much safer things to remove it than acetone?
When washing down a large area of floor with such an explosive chemical, there is a high risk of blowing yourself and your house up, not a great scenario. Simply turning on a light switch while there is a concentration of fumes in the air could cause a flash fire so I would advise against your idea.

I appreciate the responses. The floor is not a float floor but engineered oak glued down with adhesive. The residue is from years of using the wrong cleaners and ontop of that fogging my house for bugs annualy.

I know all of you are against acetone, but believe it or not, it is the best thing I have used so far. I have tried many cleaners, homemade stuff, scrub brushes etc and NOTHING works like acetone with minimal effot. I followed up with up with a mop on wax that sits for 2 hours and the floor looks FANTASTIC!
As you can probably guess, I have done some cleaning trials and found this is what I am going to do.....I understand about LEL's and fuel concentrations and plan to have plenty of ventilation and all of my appliances are electric with the water heater being in the garage......

I know you all think I am crazy, but shy of sanding the floor (which I refuse to do) this works pretty damn good....don't knock it until you try it I say....and it works.

Thanks for the help.

Then you go to claim your warranty because your flooring three years down the road is messed up...The rep says "looks like you've been using acetone on this floor to clean it, sorry we can't replace this floor"

There is a reason for most things we say. Most of our info comes from the NWFA.

I understand.....but like I said in the beginning.....the floor no longer is made (discontinued), been down for 13 years and there is no warranty my friend so in reality worse case I dont like the way it comes out I can guarantee it will look 100 times better than it does now........ and if it gets worse I'll sand it and refinish it.

Like I was explaining it actually cleans it very very nicely....did a bunch of trial spots and refininished them with leave on refinisher and it looks awesome.

More power to you, If you dont have a warranty, do what you gotta do, and if worse comes to worse....You got the right idea.....

Can anyone share...what is a screen and recoat?