OCR Text |
Show FIRST-AID AILING HOUSE by Roger B. Whitman ( Roger B. Whitman WNU Service.) Scarred Floor QUESTION: How can I refinish a badly scarred, horribly varnished var-nished and stained soft white pine I floor? Answer: The best treatment for your floors would be scraping with a floor machine. You can undoubtedly undoubt-edly find someone in your neighborhood neighbor-hood who does work of this kind. The machine will not only take off all of the old finish, but will bring the floors to an even smoothness, while the new wood that is exposed can be finished in any desired way. If you cannot have the floors scraped, you can take off the finish with trisodium phosphate; three pounds o the gallon of water. If you cannot get this chemical under its own name, ask at a grocer's for a colorless, latherless cleaning powder. pow-der. The finish will soften and can be wiped and scraped off. Rinse with clear water and allow to dry before refinishing. Sticky Shellac Question: I have an oak bureau on which the old finish was removed with sandpaper, soap and water. A thin coat of shellac was put on a month ago, and since that time the shellac has dried but is still sticky. Is there any finish to take care of the stickiness? Answer: Either the shellac was of a very poor quality, or thinned with poor alcohol, or else the surface was not properly cleaned before shellacking. Remove the shellac down to the wood with denatured alcohol. Wipe the surface with benzine, ben-zine, being extremely careful of fire. Then finish with shellac. Ask your paint dealer to give you the best quality he carries. When using denatured de-natured alcohol for thinning, be sura It is' clean and of good quality. Ceiling Finish Question: A plaster ceiling, about 11 by 25 feet, has had wallpaper removed, re-moved, and has a hard and rather smooth surface. A large space was recently patched. I want to put on a finishing coat of plaster. Local masons doubt that plaster will stay on. Can you advise me? Answer: Instead of plaster, use a kind of plastic paint made with gypsum. gyp-sum. There are several brands on the market. These paints contain a binder that will hold to your old plaster. The paint can be put on with a whitewash brush about one-quarter one-quarter inch or more thick, and can be smoothed with a trowel or a mason's ma-son's float. These paints are intended intend-ed to be used for texturing, but can equally well be given a smooth surface. sur-face. Veneered Surfaces Question: Some time ago you recommended rec-ommended scraping a veneered top rather than using liquid varnish remover. re-mover. Why? I was for many years in the piano manufacturing business and when we had occasion to remove re-move varnish from a case we always used liquid remover. No harm resulted re-sulted by this method. Answer: My reason for suggesting scraping for removal of finishes on veneered furniture is due to the fact that not all veneers are glued with the same type of glue or in the same manner. A poor quality veneer ve-neer on furniture may separate when a liquid is applied. Therefore it is safer to use a scraper, unless the veneer is known to be of high quality qual-ity workmanship and materials. Oil in a Sewer Question: My house is near the end of the city sewer line. It is frequently filled with an odor of gasoline gas-oline and oil, and my neighbors notice no-tice it also. Flushing out the sewer sew-er by the city is of help, but the odor returns. What can you suggest? sug-gest? Answer: Your letter is clear evidence evi-dence that garages are dumping gasoline and oil into the sewer. Many communities have suffered from this to such an extent that it has been prohibited by ordinance. The danger is not only from odor, but from possible explosion. You should report the condition to your local fire department. Leather Club Chair Question: I have a leather club chair, which is near a radiator. The leather is beginning to crack and dry. What kind of dressing would be best to preserve the leather and restore re-store its flexibility? Answer: Leather exposed to high temperatures may be completely destroyed. You may possibly be able to restore its flexibility by applying a leather dressing. You can get this at a large department store, or at a leather goods store. Plaster on Plasterboard Question: Can a thin coat of plaster plas-ter be applied to plasterboard? What is the proper method? Answer: Yes: and it is very usual. Any dealer in plasterboard can give you instruction sheets describing the process. |