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dynobadger t1_iy52nts wrote

Reply to comment by SummitWanderer in Removing mastic while preserving hardwood floors underneath? by SummitWanderer

It's not great, but the varnish should resist water to some extent. And the flooring will dry out after the steaming. If you go this route, be careful scraping wet wood. It becomes very easy to start tearing fibers out of the wood.

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SummitWanderer OP t1_iy55vtp wrote

Thanks! I appreciate your input!

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n0tjamesfranc0 t1_iy6cr2j wrote

Hardwood floor guy here. If you do this with the steamer and it works let the floor moisture content lower back before refinishing it. I'd recommend about 2 weeks to let it dry and reacclimate to the house's humidity.

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n0tjamesfranc0 t1_iy6ddq9 wrote

If you get the heavy chunks of mastic on some floor refinished might be willing to just use a belt sander with a really aggressive grit for the remaining bits. It gunks up the drum and wheels on the sander so many will refuse to do that. I've done it a few times and it worked well, just needed to clean the machinery throughly afterwards.

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WhyKnott2Day t1_iy7b6z5 wrote

No offense, but it is never a good idea to dry sand anything that has even the slightest possibly of containing asbestos, that's how it becomes airborne and gets into your lungs. Always keep anything you suspect that may potentially contain asbestos wet so it doesn't become airborne...hence using a wallpaper steamer and a putty knife to remove the mastic...and then do a light damp sand, wiping down as you go, to make sure you have removed every bit of it before letting it completely dry (a good 2 weeks, or more if it's humid) and then begin your refinishing sanding.

Source: https://inspectapedia.com/hazmat/Asbestos_Wetting_Procedure.php

Edit: added source

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