How to remove old oil paint splatters from floor boards?

[JenB43]

The house painter we engaged 6 years ago painted the 140 year old stair ballustrades with white oil based paint.  They left splatters on the unpainted wooden floor boards. I want to remove the splatters. Some are blobs of paint and some are smears. I have tried a heat gun and scraper and this gets the blobs off, but only those not too close to the ballustrades (or the heat melts the paint on ballustrades and thats not what I want!).  Also the floor board wood that the ballustrades sit on is quite soft, probably original kauri or oregan pine, so for the paint smears the wood darkens when heat is applied  (also not wanted!) and the scraping removes some of the wood as well (not wanted!).

Any suggestions? thanks JenB

[JacobZ · Accepted solution]

Hi @JenB43,

Thank you for your question and welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community, it is great to have you with us.

I would suggest the best way to remove the paint from the floorboard without causing significant damage to the surrounding areas is to mask off the balusters with painters' tape and sand the paint off using 80 Grit Timber Sandpaper before smoothing to a nice finish using 120 Grit Timber Sandpaper. 

It will require a little bit of elbow grease, but it is the best way to remove the paint and bring out the natural beauty of the timber beneath. By the look of it, there is not a clear coat or varnish so once sanded, the timber should look much better and will tie in better to the floorboards around it.

Let me know if you require any further assistance and keep us updated with the finished project.

Jacob