Ours is 150 years old. The floor was painted in the master bedroom only! Thank heavens. I showed every floor guy that the floor was not lead. No one wanted to sand it, too much wear on machines, sand paper, etc. Latex gums everything up. I finally asked if I stripped it, would they sand? 1 guy said yes, if I would sign a disclosure that I pay even if it's not perfect.

I used the orange stipper and scooted on my backside for a month. The paint was 12 to 14 inches wide in a 17x20 perimeter of room. I can't imagine doing a whole house.

Maybe you can pull the boards up and plane them? DH and I did that with paneling in another house. We were careful, very little patch was needed.

Yes im leaning towards strippers after doing some research. It's only 4 small bedrooms and a hallway. So one room at a time.

The planing idea sounds like it would labour intensive for our house.

A heat gun can be less messy than using stripper. It should be able to get off enough paint that you can then sand them down.

Neat! I had no idea. Thank you.

You have to experiment a bit because you don't want to burn the wood, but I've used them successfully several times. Aim the gun, wait until the paint bubbles, and scrape. It's quite a bit easier. If you need stripper to get into deeper grain, it will be a lot less. You're welcome!

I’ve sanded painted pine floors several times with no issues at all. I’ve done it myself in three houses (I was younger then) and have had it professionally done countless times. I’ve never had a complaint from the flooring professional, I’m sure they charged a bit extra for the hassle but one hit with 36 grit paper and it’s gone.

Three rooms worth of paint is a lot of work to remove. The issue isn't really with the paint, though. It's all the hidden fasteners that wears out the paper, damages the machines and waste a lot of time from having to stop and set it. Which means cost to refinish is higher.

If, you strip the paint and expose all the nails. The flooring contractor will have no problem sanding the floors. You can paint the floors with a non-toxic stripper and let it sit overnight. Come back the next day and scrape everything off.

There are buffing drivers out there designed to remove the paint, which helps save money on damages to the sander and sandpaper. It is an investment. The floor guy will need to do some investigating on it.

I think you need to have a local floor contractor come out and talk with you about sanding that all off. It seems like the most straight forward option. PLUS the floors will have a nice new top that you can finish however you like. Pretty much going to look like new.

Stripping your floors will be a whole lot of work but will be worth it. Your house is old so original wood floors will be a selling point and will be appreciated by future owners. I’ve stripped paint from a staircase in an old home and the result was stunning. The work was slow and hellish but worth it. Get yourself a heat gun and try a few different chemical strippers to figure out what works best for you. Try sanding at different stages to see if you can speed up the process. Good luck!

Thanks for all the advice! I decided to go with the heat gun. It is a slow process but is looking goodso far. Will sand next.

I hope you'll post both in progress and finished pictures!

"There are buffing drivers out there designed to remove the paint, which helps save money on damages to the sander and sandpaper."

Rent a buffer and a Diamabrush. We just finished a job where the owner spent a day stripping and scraping paint and got about 1/4 of a living room partially removed. We buffed it with the Diamabrush and six days later it's complete. If you go this route, try it on an inconspicuous area first.