Re-Painting Stage Floors

[Will_Tech]

Hello!

 

I am currently working in a 1920's theatre in the Nottingham area.

The current stage floor we have was installed in 1985 and structually is in sound condition.

However cosmetically is in a very bad state. I would like to know if anyone has any idea of how to strip all the paint and tape of and take it all the way down to the wood. I thought sanding it would be ok, however I was told the paint will just melt as it is of a special kind.

 

Does anyone have any ideas of how to remove it?

 

Thanks

Will

[andy_s]

hot air paint stripping guns and scrapers.

elbow grease.

and plenty of time.

[Rowan]

Is the floor skinned in anything? A lot of stage floors are skinned with a layer of 6mm hardboard, this is designed to be replaced every few years and is a lot easier than stripping the paint off.

[stagemanagement]

KNEE PADS!!

 

Don't forget the knee pads or you'll regret it.......

[the kid]

KNEE PADS!!

 

Don't forget the knee pads or you'll regret it.......

 

 

Why not just just as roller on a pole?

[MarkPAman]

How does a roller strip paint?

[andy_s]

first remove roller from end of stick.

then attach hot air gun with gaffer. tape mains cable up stick to help cable management when in motion.

then remove second roller from second stick, and attach paint scraper with gaffer tape. no electrical supply needed.

plug hot air stick into long extension lead and switch on to highest setting. Walk slowly across the floor backwards, heating up the paint as you go, with person number two following rapidly behind, scraping and removing heated paint, having previously carefully read all the posts in this thread.

 

On second thoughts, don't bother - get some knee pads.

[pumphouse]

......and there was me thinking that the vast majority of stage floor paint is water-based, not oil-based. In which case, it would be resistant to attacks with a hot air paint stripper. Sanding would possibly take for ever and make a lot of mess.

 

Best answer was about seeing if it is skinned. Ours has 3mm hardboard and it needs replacing now as we think the paint is probably thicker than the hardboard. If your's isn't skinned, then maybe that would be a good thing to do - just lay 3mm hardboard over the top and pin it down. Some tips here..

 

The material is not that expensive and it's probably less work. One nice dollop of black emulsion and you're done with a nice stage.

 

HTH.

 

Jason

[andy_s]

......and there was me thinking that the vast majority of stage floor paint is water-based, not oil-based. In which case, it would be resistant to attacks with a hot air paint stripper. Sanding would possibly take for ever and make a lot of mess.

 

 

HTH.

 

Jason

 

Stick to AV, mate. When reccommending the hot air gun / scrapers, I was speaking from personal experience of removing 10 years worth of paint from a stage using this method, and I can also vouch (as I had put 2 years' worth of paint on there myself) that when we repainted probably once a month on average, it was emulsion paint, usually sealed with a coat of emulsion glaze.

 

An industrial drum sander was a complete non-starter - we hired one and gave up with it after an hour. the floor was planked, (originally beautiful stained maple floor, lovely for concerts, but completely impractical for theatre, so painted black quite early in its life by one of my predecessors) and the paint had built up into ridges in the gaps between planks, so all the sander did was take the very very top of each ridge off at each pass. we could see it taking decades.....

 

the hot air guns were effective, but also slow work - the stage area including wings would have been a bit under 150 sq metres probably, and it took about six or seven days as I remember to get the floor back to a smooth finish, and the scrapings we were taking off were about 3 or 4 mm thick (strangely equal to a sheet of hardboard...) but it looked lovely when finished. We didn't want to skin it, as we liked the planked effect, just not the ridges....This was in the late eighties, I haven't been back to that theatre for many years, no idea what the state of the floor is now

 

we didn't use knee pads, but what a good idea that would have been.

 

of course if the floor is covered in sheet material rather than planks, then a drum sander may be more effective (assuming the top layer isn't sacrificial)

[the kid]

How does a roller strip paint?

 

Entirely my fault, I thought it was PAINTING the floor not removing the paint.

 

Thou shalt read topics more.

[simonwest]

if its the stage im thinking of Will....you'll need two weeks and a team of ten to get it remotely decent. Its knackered and the previous techs painted, repainted, and painted over it again.

 

Over and over and over and over and over, so theres layers of paint from the day it was put in....in 1985. Some of the paint wasn't very good either I remember Steve saying, too thick and used too stick to actors shoes when performing as it hadn't dried in the two days it had.

 

You'll be there for along time, so get a team in with you.............

 

Good Luck! B-)

[adam2]

I would consider useing an industrial sander, not to remove ALL the paint, which as pointed out would be a lengthy process.

Use the sander simply to remove enough paint to give a smooth surface, and then cover with hardboard and paint this as required.

[Will_Tech]

Thanks for the advice everyone.

I had a look earlier this week and the whole floor is covered with a layer of hardboard.

Im still unsure what he state of the floor under the hardboard is yet, but I think the plan is to take the hardboard up and replace it with new hardboard and paint it.

 

Thanks! :D

[andy_s]

Thanks for the advice everyone.

I had a look earlier this week and the whole floor is covered with a layer of hardboard.

Im still unsure what he state of the floor under the hardboard is yet, but I think the plan is to take the hardboard up and replace it with new hardboard and paint it.

 

Thanks! :P

definitely the easy way. Looks like someone had given it some thought at the time....unless it's hiding a nightmare...good luck.

 

the best to use is oil-tempered hardboard, it will lie flatter on the stage. ordinary hardboard can have a tendancy to curl or buckle when it's painted, unless you paint both sides.