Help in restoring flaking & varnish covered flagstones

[Charlotte]

The main living room of our cottage (c1790) is laid with large flagstones of various sizes, up to 138 x 89 cms. I don't know what the stone is but they are laid directly onto clay. Previous occupants appear to have applied a thick varnish to them which is now very yellow and coming away in places together with a thin layer of stone, revealing a light grey stone underneath.

We are anxious not to damage the floor any further but really don't know how to set about restoring it. Would be grateful for any advice or to know if anyone has had similar problems.

Thanks

Charlotte

 

[Moo]

Without knowing what sort of varnish it is, it's going to be a question of suck it and see, I suspect.

So - to get the ball rolling, here are a couple of suggestions:

Manufacturers like HG make a product designed to remove their own floor varnish, but it's not cheap, and there's not much else it would be useful for if it doesn't work, so you run the risk of having a can of expensive but useless gunk mouldering in your shed for the foreseeable future.

On the other hand, Nitromors always comes in handy, if only for cleaning rock-hard paintbrushes, so that'd be my first choice. Try it out on an inconspicuous patch first, of course.

 

[Moo]

ps - re the flaking

The varnish must have sealed the stone so that moisture has been trapped beneath it, so the flaking is almost inevitable.
Don't worry about it. Once you've removed its plastic mac, the stone will dry out, and provided you don't seal it again it's unlikely to flake anymore. Ten years ago we, too, found flagstones (on earth) under sedimentary layers of carpet+underlay+lino+red floor paint+cement screed, and quite a lot of it came away; but it's been fine, even though all we've done to it since is walk on it.

 

[Charlotte]

Thanks for the advice. Have been a bit reluctant to try Nitromors in case I caused further damage but now that you've explained that its the varnish thats causing the flagstone surface to crumble I will do as you suggest and try it out.

Thanks