Can we recover our floorboards?

[leonie]

Hi all

We have brushbox floorboards with polyurethane finish. Unfortunately when we didn't know any better we applied a floor cleaning and polishing product that included wax. This created a cloudy surface on the floorboards which we couldn't remove and it still remains there years later. It seems to attract dirt too.

We have realised all this because we were planning on having the floor resanded. However the floor has previously been sanded too low and we've been advised that resanding the floor isn't possible because some of the boards will just split. And we've now been advised that our backup option of buffing and recoating with polyurethane is very risky since it may react with the remaining wax.

Ideally we would like the floor totally redone but if this is not an option we would at least like to try to remove the waxy residue. We've also been given the suggestion that after we remove as much residue as we can we could try a home kit using Gemini(??) which has less risk of reaction with the wax(??)

Any suggestions gratefully received.

Leonie

[Dusty]

All the old stuff has to go for you to have any real and lasting success.

The floor was sanded too low?? Who said??
How many sands has it had??

Is it so badly cupped, or up and down that so much timber would have to be removed, thus making it thin??

[Gooner]

How thick are the boards?

[weisyboy]

it would only need 1-2m reomoved if it is in good condition unless it is badly cupped.

i sugest you get a second opinion.

it would take a lot of sanding to make it to thin. i recon you would hae to expose the toungs befor it was thin enough to cack anyway.

[leonie]

Hi everyone, thanks for the responses.

The advice we got (and these guys were I think very professional) was that the boards seemed to have been laid over an uneven surface (the house is > 100 years old) and then sanded down to make them level. The result is that some boards have been sanded down way too low whereas the majority are fine. They've only been sanded once - about 15 years ago when laid.

For a couple of boards, the tongue / groove is exposed. For other boards - maybe 8-10, the sanding has gone down to so close that the boards have then cracked along the spot where the tongue / groove goes (sorry, I don't know the proper terminology). All the rest are fine.

(Even if further sanding isn't possible I had hoped to find some way to lift the wax without damaging the polyurethane. We used the wax only once, about 8 years ago).

Thanks again.

[Gooner]

Heyya Leonie,

I'm not an expert, but perhaps you can ask the guys you spoke to if it would be possible to hire a buffer and buff the floor using a fine grit paper.

Sanding the floor using a convential drum sander is very hard on the boards and it sounds like your boards are in a fragile state. Buffing the floor with fine paper will not be as hard on the boards, but may take a long time to get a result. You may also need to go through a fair bit of paper as well.

I'm not talking from experience here... just suggesting something I would consider. (I have sanded and polished my floors).

[leonie]

Thanks Gooner. We actually had these guys lined up to buff and recoat the floor but they said that the wax residue might mean that the new polyurethane wouldn't adhere. So we didn't go ahead. Are you suggesting that we could buff it without recoating with polyurethane? (or coating with something else?)

Gee I wish we never put down that wax...

Leonie

[echnidna]

is the original poly coating ok

[leonie]

Hi Echidna,

No, not really. It has quite a few surface marks from chairs, scratches etc. And it is also looking dull in patches (we couldn't figure out whether this is wax or the surface starting to look dull - it is 15 or so years old).

Leonie

[Gooner]

Leonie,

When I sanded and polished my floors last year, I bought a few books on the subject. I will quote a few relevant passages from one of these books "Hard Wood Floor Car & Maintenance" by Grant Aslett. (There are about 2-3 pages on the subject).

"Professional cleaners use acrylic (wax) on almost everything. It is a necessity to keep floors that get hard use lookign good, and we professional cleaners can't get along without it on hard-surface floors in commerical buildings"

... snip....

"The installers and refinishers tell you never to use wax because if they come back to recoat the floor with finish someday that wax can cause adhesion problems. They will tell you that waxing a floor will cause the floor to have to be sanded before it is recoated. This doesn't sound good for wax, but wax does have its place on woo floors."

........ snip....

".....Most of the true experts (who keep floors looking great) use acrylic polish (wax) on 90% of the floors they maintain. Even though acrylic polish (wax) will mean stripping down the road."

....snip snip snip...

"The only reason not to wax your floor is if you are going to recoat it with finish sometime soon. If a floor has been waxed and not properly stripped before recoating, it can cause adhesion problems (and this causes the refinisher sleepless nights when he or she has the job or refinishing your floor).

If I were going to recoat a polyurethane floor, I would almost always use a wax remover/degreaser before I proceeded to screen the floor. Some installers/refinishers don't think you can get all the wax off just by stripping it. I've never had an adhesion problem doing this but maybe I've just been lucky."

Did you use an acrylic wax on your floor?

Hope this helps.

[Extracare]

You'd be best to have a flooring guy or a carpenter get under the floor and work out what would be needed to sort the uneveness of the floor. Then lay new boards in place of the problem boards and resand the whole place.

You'll get the perfect finish you want and it'll last for years more, rather than being a patch-up job.

[leonie]

Hi Gooner, Extracare and all

Gooner - yes we did use an acrylic wax on the floor (Bissell One-step Wood Floor Care). Thanks for the information. We keep thinking that there must be a way to remove the wax without physically sanding and it seems from your quotes that there is some "degreaser" that would do that (though it seems more risky that sanding back).

Extracare - thanks for the thought. Your idea makes a lot of sense since probably 80% of the floor is absolutely fine. Can you recommend anyone in Sydney that would have the expertise to fix the underfloor problem?

Leonie

[Extracare]

Leonie,

sorry don't know anyone to recommend in Sydney. Maybe one of the other guys can help?

Any good carpenter should be able to do it properly.

[leonie]

Thanks Extracare, Leonie

[Studley 2436]

Leonie you might have a try sanding a small bit by hand to see what it does. The Pro's might be saying won't work can't be done because it is a hard job they don't see much money in. Might be.

Poly Urethane is a popular floor finish as it is long lasting and hard wearing. It is also "plastic" in it's look and feel. I'd try sanding but to finish it I wouldn't touch it with Poly. I'd be more interested in stuff like Tung Oil (which usually has some poly in it) or China Wood Oil (ditto) before giving it a buff back and finishing with a wax type finish. Wax produces a really good looking finish and is easily maintained.

Studley