buff&recoat floor with paint

hi all,

i pulled up old carpet in my living room to find nice hardwood floors underneath (it took me a whole day just to remove the staples that held down the carpet pad :? ); unfortunately before the carpet was put down someone painted the whole room and didn't lay anything over the floor so now there is latex paint all over the floor (some big globs and A LOT of little paint specs) i tried removing the paint with hot water (worked somewhat but very time consuming, even rented a floor buffer and used a red stripping pad to get the paint off with hot water but that didn't work) and even alcohol. i want to try to buff&recoat (screening?) the floor. i am assuming this would take all the paint off right? do i just use a screening pad or do i need to put anything else on the floor (liquid?) in order to get all the paint off? will the old paint clog up the pad? i consider myself an advanced do-it-yourselfer but i've never done hardwood floor before so any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

thanks,

i would try renting a floor sander. some tips on using it. if using a orbital type make sure to keep strong controll of it as there hard to controll. if using the drum type make sure the screws that hold the sand paper too the drum are tight or they will come loose and damage the floor. also change the paper every 20 minutes or so. if you smell it burning or starting to drag replace it or the paper will explode i have seen it happen.

hi,

thanks for the reply; i was planning on using an orbital floor sander with a screening pad (starting with 80 grit, then 120 then 150) was just wondering about the paint clogging up the pad...

you could try paint remover fist if you havn't allready. if the orbital clogs to easly then try the drum type.