How can I remove bitumen from my wood floor

I am still getting comments on removing bitumen from wood floors. This is a problem I had myself. We (my wife and I) took the carpet up in our hallway intending to replace it. To my surprise, a beautiful parquet floor was revealed. After much persuasion, my wife agreed to not replacing the carpet but I had to agree to keeping the floor clean.

After years of being covered by carpets, the floor really needed a thorough clean, there being years of dust and grime and, in places, the bitumen used to stick the wood tiles down had seeped up between the tiles.. My first job then was to sweep the floor in order to remove the years of dust. My second job was to sweep the floor (again). By this time the floor was looking much better although still needed cleaning.

To do the cleaning, I got down on my hands and knees (I could do that in those days!) and using Scotchbrite (a non-abrasive scouring material) soaked in Heritage Woodcare scrubbed the floor, following the grain of the wood tiles. The scrubbing not only cleaned and polished the tiles but also removed the bitumen and the odd paint spot. The Scotchbrite needed to be reasonably damp so had not been wrung out and the floor was left quite damp so I buffed up using kitchen towel. This left the floor looking really good with a sheen rather than high shine.

To keep the floof clean and polished now, I use a squeegee mop (kept specifically for the floor), soaked in heritage, and just wipe. I need to give the floor a few minutes to dry thoroughly before walking on it. The floor looks really good after using my Heritage and needs only a sweep in between polishing to retain the sheen.

Heritage Woodcare can be obtained online, visit www.heritagepolish.com/shop/heritage-woodcare/cat_2.html