Waxing wood floors...yea or nay?
Question:My wife wants to wax our natural wood floors. Are there any benefits to waxing? Are they harder to clean or easier? When we had the house built 2 years ago they were varnished. Is that an issue? They also have some scratches. Will they show more if it's waxed?
Answers:
we havent waxed ours in years but they do have varnish on them. They look great and you dont get that build up or discoloration.
You will have to remove varnish first for best look.And then you will have to re-sand floors.Waxing is both good and bad.Bad because wax shows every footprint, and marks like crazy.Good because it looks great providing you don't stand on it. Also bad because it makes floors very slippery. Best way to treat these floors,would be to resand them, and spray with clear Polyurethane finish. Good Luck!
just don't use furniture wax- my hubby tried that and landed on his tushy.
Are you sure you had them varnished? Most newer wood floors are sealed with polyurethane, and if that is the case, you really would NOT want to wax them. I would check into specifically how the floors were finished, what the thickness is, etc. In my experience, once you start waxing them, you are pretty much in for a lifetime of waxing your floors, which is a royal pain. Might be worth a call to a flooring store that specializes in your brand of flooring. I'm thinking if it is scratches that you want to diminish, you are better off applying a new coat of finish (whether it is varnish or polyurethane). Once you apply wax, if you want to reseal the floors, you would need to go through the trouble of removing the wax thoroughly before applying a new coat. Some floors need to be resealed after a couple of years of use, but waxing them doesn't really reseal them, it only makes them very glossy (but you have to buff them with a professional buffer), and sometimes slippery.
We just had our wood floors redone and the floor guys used a new kind of polymer that they said should never need to be waxed... But before we saved up the $ to have the floors redone I waxed them regularly and the looked great for a few weeks even though we have pretty high traffic in our house
I have waxed hardwood floors many times and it does make them nice and shiny. The best wax to use is Future liquid wax. It will make your floors gleam, but you'll have to redo it sooner or later. and redo it... and redo it...
There is another solution: Go to your nearest home hardware store. Buy 2 things: 1. Liquid TSP, which will remove all grease and grime. Don't buy the powder kind, which is toxic and harder to mix. You also don't have to rinse the liquid kind. Wash all of your floors with this. 2. A new funky finish for hardwood floors that dries within 12 hours and makes your floors look brand new and will cost a micro fraction of the cost! You'll find it in the floor varnish section. Tell the store clerk that you aren't sanding your floors but just wish to give them a touch-up shine. Use the clear gloss finish. Do your floors according to the instructions on the gallon can. You 'll be applying it with a sponge mop.
Oh... as for the scratches on your floor, you can buy a special wax crayon that matches the color of your floor. Fill in the scratches with this after you have washed the floors and before you apply the new crystal finish. You'll be amazed at the results.
Oh... these wax crayons are great for scratches on wooden furniture also.
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