Boy, that sure qualifies as a 'happy accident'. Sounds like whatever it was partially dissolved your finish. You could try and contact the manufacturer through email and find out exactly.

Contact flooring places. I think some 'refinishing' products do a similar thing, ie 'dissolve' the finish and respread it around. Won't affect scratches and digs in the wood itself, but improves the look of the finish. So, you know for sure that your present finish is polyurethane?

We just had a great flooring company put new wood floors in our kitchen to match the surrouning LR and DR floors. Before they left, they suggested we rag-wipe our old floors with linseed oil, mineral spirits, paint thinner, or something similar to help get some of the dirt and gunk out. Just make sure everyone else is out of the house for a while, when the fumes are strongest.

What about using Tung Oil? We had our new floors finished with only Tung Oil - no poly, etc.

Allison, we are planning to use tung oil on our new floors and have existing floors that are staying sanded and finished with tung oil. How do you like your new floor? Do you have any pictures?

raehelen--yes, poly for sure. Past owners confirmed that. I think these thermometers are made overseas and it may be impossibly proprietary to find out exactly what's in them.

cate--that's tempting to try. Did the company say if they thought your LR and DR floors were finished with poly or varnish?

Allison--I'll look into that. But I have doubts that it will be OK to put an oil finish over what is, basically, a plastic one.

Also--I'm clearly not a good speller today. Inhaling too many fumes??? :^)

Here's a link to the thermometer. At the bottom of the page are two numbers, the CAS number (for poison control)!

The first one is #CAS 64742-48-9, and the second is #CAS 00112-34-5.

These don't look too harmless, but are clearly good for floors. Good luck.

Here is a link that might be useful: Galileo thermometer

A number of petroleum solvents are used as solvents and thinners for oil borne polyurethane. I suspect, but don't know, that anyone of them are likely to attack the cured finish. Solvents used include mineral spirits, turps, naptha, and other similar solvents.

It's possible to recoat a polyurethane floor, without sanding all the way to bare wood, if the finish is intact. That would solve your scuffed areas.

It is possible to poly a floor w/o sanding -
If
- They are in good condition
- Oil based products have not been used on them (murphys soap, orange cleaner etc)
- Flooring folks rough up the surface - clean then re-coat w/poly - my floor guy recs every 1-2 yrs in our new kit - to keep the finish looking good, once you are into finish flaws you will have to totally sand the floor

Is there any of the liquid left fr. thermom - you could perhaps have it tested - I'd get in touch w/a flooring professional - they may be able to solve it by just looking at the condition

good luck
HTH -

I think it's highly unlikely that there was any dissolving of the poly involved, because the poly would really look terrible afterwards if it were partially dissolved. More likely there was some oil and possibly solvent like mineral spirits involved, so that area of the floor got a good cleaning and oiling in one step.

To test my theory, clean the area thoroughly with some soap or something that cuts grease, and the floor should end up looking like it did before. Some products that leave residues, like Murphy's Oil Soap or Lemon Oil cleaners will probably have the same effect as your thermometer goop.

Those are generally frowned upon for cleaning hardwood (despite what the manufacturers claim) due to the residues they leave behind, which curiously enough is the raison d'etre of those products. Give them a try if you feel like experimenting and see how you like the results.

My DH is a chemist. I just asked him what he thought was the process going on.

He told me the story of he and his brother and the refinishing of the wood floors at their Grandmom's and Pop pop's house in Meridian MS and also his folks house in N.O. This was the early '50's. The boys wore rags soaked in mineral spirits tied to their shoes....they skated all through the house on the wood floors until the floors were clean. Then his Mom and Grandmom re waxed the old wood.

He said the reason your floors look so good is that you were able to clean off the surface film , as chief said, and then you not only cleaned but the paraffin in the solvent base waxed your floors ! So the answer is simple . You wipe the floors ( USE GOOD VENTILATION) with mineral spirits to clean off the gunk of ages past and then wax them.

Would really love to see those floors. CAroline

So, how much do those thermometers cost?
Maybe you could buy a few more and smash them on purpose just to use the insides, without having to find out what's in them!
Carla in Sac

Pam - Sorry, I don't known if my floors are varnished or polyurethaned. I would have said poly'ed before, but now I'm just not sure. :(

Thanks--you're all great for taking the time to think on this. There's a general consensus here.

Caroline, this is not the first time you've helped me. I'm going to carefully try some mineral spirits, then a little wax. I'll bet that will do it. Please thank your DH.

Sautesmom--LOL! At $59.99 for two cups' worth, that's more money than any overpriced stone sealer I've ever bought! But much less than the miracle wrinkle cream that seems to be much less effective, so I guess I should put my money where it works! :^)

Pamela...glad to be of service...not sure when the other times were ??!!

DH says send a plane ticket and he and his old shoes and rags will be on your door step post haste ~ LOL. Brother is in FL and is not available to skate your floors.

Have wanted to see your new "old" space since you moved. If you have time please send pics. c

um...
don't try the mineral spirits in place of the wrinkle cream!
;-)

Let me see if I can remember this right. Take a few white rags and these solvents and rub a little area with a solvent-soaked rag. Do it in an inconspicuous area and have good ventilation and for goodness sakes, don't be burning candles or smoking! Do it in this order because the solvents cannot hurt anything higher in the list, but they can all affect the ones lower in the list:

Rub on some denatured alcohol. Rag dirty with dissolved finish? You have a shellac finish. If not dissolved, move on.

Rub on some lacquer thinner. Dissolved? If yes, you have lacquer finish. If no, move on.

Rub on some mineral spirits. Dissolved? If yes, you have varnish. If no, you have polyurethane. Nothing dissolves cured polyurethane.

Caroline, can you check this out with your DH, the chemist? I think I remembered it right, but I am not certain.

I had shellac on my 1950 era floors. I did not know the dangers of Murphy's and used it to scrub the floors clean after pulling up the carpets. I let it dry a few days and then re-shellacked. I ended up with an orange-peel effect from the Murphy's. I had to wear a respirator to do this job because I am allergic to hydrocarbon fumes. That meant I did as little as I could get away with. If I had help, I would have done a wipe-down with the rest of the denatured alcohol in the can. But with just me there, I could not do that and not end up in the hospital with an asthma attack. The darn respirators never fit right and really work best when you are standing still and not wiping down floors. Plus, wearing a respirator meant my glasses set funny on my face and I could not really see what I was doing anyhow! Hire this stuff out, if you can!

Might want to read this link. I believe that it was mineral spirits in the thermometer and paraffin as that is what the link for them that was posted stated. Also DH said it is a solvent for sure considering what it did to the floors. The likely hood that it is poly on the floors is almost 100 %. I would use the min.spirits . Good air is the most important. I think my IQ has dropped from all the lead dust and petrol fumes in the past couple years LOL...sorta.

Here is a link that might be useful: stripping wood

Fascinating, Nancy. I've never heard that. I suppose the test works for old furniture also.

Caroline--Tomorrow I'm going to try to treat a small area of the floor that will be hidden by the cabinetry.
I'm about four weeks away from finishing the kitchen. I'm excited by all the good stuff I've found to put in it. I will post photos (as well as photos of my previous historic kitchen I always promised photos of, but never delivered!)

FYI, you can buy low-odor mineral spirits. The danger of the fumes are probably just as bad, but at least it doesn't stink.

Pamela...I am going to hold you to it , I have wanted to see pics of your kitchens for a long time. Be careful and let us know how it does.

Chief...did't know that was out there. Thanks. c

If you look at the cans of products designed to clean up but not strip old wood furniture, I believe you'll see they contain mostly mineral spirit.

(I haven't done this in years, so my memory is a little hazy, I can't remember the product names or lines, but they're easily available at the big box stores in the paint department. Maybe it's all those years of inhaling those VOCs!)

As I recall, it took off dirt, and a little bit of shellack or varnish off (good if you wanted to smooth out a badly alligatored finish, but still leave some patina). Don't use it on a painted surface, it'll damage it.

I'd go read the cans. (You don't have to buy the product necessarily, but you can read what it's supposed to do, how it should be applied, removed, etc.)