Roger Ballou writes:
I have an on-site conference table strip & refinish job that I started
Friday and thought it might be interesting to show how I do it with
an NMP stripper and waterbase finish.
The tenant has not moved in yet but most of the leasehold improvements
have been completed. The room I'm working in has new carpet, trim and
paint but no furniture. There is no ventilation except for the HVAC.
My tenant bought the 4' x 10' mahogany veneer conference table from the
previous tenant because they didn't want to move it and my tenant needed
a confrence table. Lots of white water marks but no deep gouges.
I arrived at the office on the 16th floor of a downtown Fort Worth office
building at 9:00am, and got started at 9:25. I put down a 30" roll of
sticky film meant to protect carpets around the perimeter and covered
that with craft paper. The trestle base and skirt are not to be refinished.
The stripper I used is a thick (a little thinner than maple syrup) NMP
formulation but not the same as what Seneca Research offers currently.
I poured it on from a gallon container, spread it around and brushed it
on the edges. There is virtually no evaporation with NMP but it tends
to look and feel dry as it works its way into the finish. I added more
as I went along and rubbed it around with a 3M Scotchbrite maroon pad.
When it started to loosen up I used a 3" medium stiff putty knife with
rounded off edges to lift the finish, gathered it up with a 6" squeege into
a 5 gal bucket. Add a little more stripper, rub some more until its gone.
Wiped up the excess with a rag, washed with an alcohol/water/citurs
smelling stuff and I was finished. I checked my watch and it was 11:25
by the time I picked up all my trash and loaded everything on my cart.
Two hours.
Things I should have done had I thought of it:
1. I think the finish was a pre-catalized lacquer and came up a little
slower than I would have liked. I should have gone over the finish
with 80 grit on the ROS to break up the surface.
2. Instead of the floor protection outlined above, I should have gotten
a 12' x 16' 2 mil plastic drop cloth and laid it centered on the top
of the table. Then marked it about a foot in diagonally from each
corner. With sissors cut diagonally across the table making an
"X" cut and work it over the edges to the floor. That way I'd get
protection much further out from the table and it would be faster
and cheaper. I still would use the paper so I could see the
droppings and I don't like walking on the plastic.
3. Mask the skirt.
The pictures show the table with the floor covered and the first few drops
of stripper on the paper. The second shows the table stripped and clean.
The little wagon you see and the trash bag is everything I had to take out.
Nothing got spilled on the carpet.
I used about 7/8's of a gallon of stripper.
That's about $25 landed cost when I buy in 5 gallon quantities.
Next Tuesday I will sand, stain and finish the table and post my results.
Hope they're good!!
Roger Ballou
Arlington, TX
