With some of the new environmentally friendly paint strippers being able to
remove polyurethane, there is not an awful problem with using polyurethane to
seal residential floors. The problem in the past has been, to remove poly
from a floor meant you had to attack it with a drum sander. This is no longer
true.  Having the right equipment and chemicals available is the trick to
removing finishes without sanding.

B
======

Lawrence Kestenbaum wrote:

> I'm writing to do some reverse constituent service for our Congresswoman,
> who, regardless of what you might think of Congress in general, is a good
> person and friend of ours.
>
> Her house, which probably started as a small Greek Revival farmhouse
> before being moved to a city lot and expanded in the late 19th and early
> 20th century, has hardwood floors in the main first floor rooms.
>
> Due to various causes, ranging from kids to cats to dog to stain removal
> and presumably close to a hundred years of assorted other kinds of wear,
> the floors, though in basically good shape, vary in color and appearance
> in various places.
>
> But the current issue is that some kind of sealer is desired, perhaps to
> slow down the rate of additional staining and bleaching, etc.  The house
> is frequently the site of social events, since our Congresswoman loves to
> cook for people, and when you have guests wandering around with plates of
> food, inevitably some will get spilled.  Plus, there are still the
> aforementioned kids, cats, dog, etc.
>
> She asks -- should I polyurethane the floor?  Why or why not?  If not,
> what other finishing or sealing options are there?
>
> ---
> Lawrence Kestenbaum, [log in to unmask]
> The Political Graveyard, http://politicalgraveyard.com