ammonia fumes

[CJ]

I have to strip my kitchen floor after delaying for months because of the instructions which require the addition of a cup of ammonia to a 1/2 gallon of water and 1/4 cup armstrong Cleaner.

you have to do a 3'x3' section at a time, letting it stand for 3-5 minutes before scrubbing and rinsing. It will take 1 1/2 hour for the whole process. This sounds like a lot of fumes Just the cup per 1/2 gallon is probably enough to make ME keel over.

The tank is one floor below and adjacent to the kitchen with no doors in between just the staircase. Will ammonia fumes rise or fall?

I'm assuming I would stop the skimming and cover the tank. I also plan to turn on the stove fan full speed. Will this be enough to protect the tank?

Randy, do you know of anything which would be less problematic than ammonia and still strip my floor?

Thanks

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I don't know much about floor stripping. IIRC, there are some professional floor strippers around RC. Maybe they can help.

Ammonia gas is lighter than air, but will, of course, diffuse in all directions to some extent. I'd recommend putting a fan in a window in the tank room blowing in, with the windows in the stripping room open and blowing out.

[CJ]

Thanks for the advice Randy. How much damage could the fumes do, any idea? I might just break up the job into several sessions to limit the amount of fumes.

I also have to paint the house next year, this all makes me very nervous. I use latex paint for the white trim and water based polyurethane for the floors. How dangerous are those for the tank?

The tank has been up for three years and I haven't dared do any maintenance since. The house is beginning to look shabby, BUT the tank does look GREAT. LOL

I'll try a call to the floor strippers on the general forum.

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

OK, I found who I was remembering:
Marc Levenson
aka
melev

Here's his web site:
http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com/oanda/

Ammonia will be attracted into tank water that it comes in direct contact with. If the fumes are high enough around the tank, it might be an issue. Trace smells are not likely enough to be a problem.

[CJ]

Thank You

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

You're welcome.

Good luck!