Varnished the floor boards & have locked Inspection hole solid

[Interwood]

Does anyone have any suggestions for dissolving varnish which has caused inspection hole in floorboards to be 'glued down solid'. :mad: I'd prefer to try and dissolve the varnish than make the hole bigger. Thanks in advance.

Interwood

[Harry72]

Heat gun?

[wombat47]

Have you tried cutting through the varnish with a utility knife?

[Gaza]

same thing happened to me a while back, i took off the ring pull latch, then drove a screw into the cover then with a wreking bar bar it out. the second one i drilled a hole a put a bent bolt though the hole and pulled it out.

[MrFixIt]

Does anyone have any suggestions for dissolving varnish which has caused inspection hole in floorboards to be 'glued down solid'. :mad: I'd prefer to try and dissolve the varnish than make the hole bigger. Thanks in advance.

Acetone or Laquer paint thinners will dissolve it. You will need to be careful in applying it as it is very thin, just like water and will spread "everywhere".

I suggest you try "cutting" the surface of the varnish around the opening (with a sharp blade) to let any thinners collect in the cut and dissolve that portion of the varnish.

[Interwood]

After trying many many theories, the boards were loosened. Thank you to Mr Fixit, Gaza, Wombat and Harry72.

The lesson here is remove inspection boards before varnishing floorboards. Varnish the boards making up the inspection 'door' separately. Only when both sets of boards are thoroughly dry ... put the boards back in the floor.

Interwood