How do I remove bitumen / tar and spots of paint from my wood floor?

I said in my previous post that I returned home to find my eldest son had decorated my lounge whilst I had been away but hadn't had the time to clear up. Well, this is now my job and the first bit I have to tackle is the floor. You already know that we have a parquet floor in the lounge so the first thing I have to do is remove all the bits of paint, etc.

Previously I have told you about my floor and how to remove bitumen, etc..Bitumen/tar is used as an adhesive to stick wood flooring, particularly parquet and similar types of wood flooring. Over time the bitumen seeps up between the joints leaving black marks on the floor.I had this problem on my own floors.

My wife and I decided to replace the carpet from the hall and stairs To make the job easier and cheaper I took up the existing carpet myself only to find a parquet floor. I could also see the floor continued into the lounge. (It turned out that the ground floor of our house is concrete and finished with oak parquet flooring). After much persuasion my wife agreed to not replacing the carpet on the understanding that I cleaned the floor and did all the maintenance!

The floor that was revealed was very dirty and appeared to have a lot of black marks (subsequently found to be bitumen) between the wood tiles. After several attempts at sweeping the floor I managed to pick up all the dust. I then got down on my hands and knees (I could in those days!) and used Scotchbrite (a non scratch scourer) soaked in Heritage Woodcare and "scrubbed" the whole floor. I finished up with a floor that looked really clean and had a slight sheen, I was also pleased to note that all the bitumen that had seeped up between the joints had been removedNow every time I sweep the floor it also restores the sheen and wiping over with my Heritage Woodcare once per month is all that is required to keep my floor looking really good.

So, having already removed the bitumen, all that remains for me to do now is to remove all the spots of paint, etc. This is similar to removing the bitunen and requires the same amount of elbow grease but the paint does come off - eventually!

Heritage Woodcare is available online, visit http://www.heritagewoodcare.co.uk/buy-woodcare