Things To Know About Hardwood Floors

Hardwood floors provide a thing of beauty to any home. Maintaining these floors is no easy task. If you want your floors to last, you need to take care of it.

Before you go out to the market and buy the first type of wood floor polish you see on the rack, it is important to first find out the type of finish that your floor has. If you are one of the lucky ones with a new floor, then most probably you know the type of floor finish your house has. It is imperative that you find out your wood floor finish before the application of a wood floor polish.

The common wood floor finishes are wax finish, varnish or shellac finish and surface finish. Years before the mid-sixties, shellac or varnish wood floor finishes were the typical flooring in the household. Distinguishing your floor finish whether it has a shellac finish is easy. Use a coin or anything that is sharp and scratch it on the surface of the floor. Make sure you do that on the surface area where it is not obviously seen. If it results with the finish flaking, then it is probably shellac or varnish finish. The latest wood floors do not use shellac or varnish anymore as finishes. If you have a shellac finish wood floor and you want to replace it with a surface finish or wax finish, you need to sand the whole floor thoroughly to remove the shellac or varnish.

To test the floor for a wax finish, locate an area that is barely noticeable, either on the corner or behind a door. Then, apply two drops of water. After ten minutes of applying, check if white spots appear unde
eath the drops of water. Your wood floor has a wax finish if white spots appear. After testing, the white spots can be removed by gently rubbing it with a #000 steel wool dampened with wax.

After you have tried the scratch test and the water drop test and results are negative, you have a surface finish type of floor finish. When you have a surface finish wood floors, maintenance should be done accordingly.

Make sure that you check on the soundness of your floor's finish. Locate the most worn out area of the floor and apply some few drops of water. Your floor finish is sound if the water drops becomes globules and remains on the surface for several minutes. The right wood floor polish to use with a sound floor finish is those that are water-based.

The effect of an unsound floor finish when you apply drops of water on the surface is either the water drops gets absorbed by the finish or they darken. In this case you should not use a water based product to polish your floor. It is best to buy a suitable wood floor polish for your floor finish to achieve magnificent results.

If you're looking to buy a bona hardwood floor cleaner, take some time to visit www.safehomeproducts.com. You'll find a lot of for renewing your floors.