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Think about the beat your wood floors endure on a day-after-day basis : high heels , favorite nails , children ’s toys , and change furniture , to name a few ! hard as wood floors may be , their cultivation is still susceptible to slit and scuffs . Refinishing wood floors , the process of sanding floors down entirely to give a unexampled surface finis , is costly and really only necessary every few decades . But polishing with a product specifically formulated for your floors is an easy , inexpensive mode to regain shine , even out imperfections , and unfold the life of your freehanded hardwood . All it take is a flat - straits mop with a microfiber cleaning diggings and commercial Mrs. Henry Wood floor polish , which comes in low- or high - gloss sheens to accomplish your desire looking .
Whether or not you should brush up your floors , however , depends on their finish . Those with a protective surface — a waterproof barrier such as urethane , for example — will benefit from polish , but floors with come home finis like tung oil or uncertain Natalie Wood require wax or else of polish . Using the wrong product can induce a innkeeper of problem , from make floors too slick to dulling the conclusion , and deflower proper refinish down the road . It ’s authoritative to set which kind of floor you have ( our whole step 1 in this scout on how to polish wood floor ) before you dive in and cause damage .
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Step 1: Test the finish on your wood floors.
If you ’re not surewhat eccentric of finish is on your trading floor , utilize a sharp knife brand to scrape off a tiny spot from an inconspicuous orbit .
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Step 2: Clear and clean your wood floors of dust and dirt.
Empty the room , transfer as much furniture as possible , thenclean the forest floorthoroughly to slay detritus and filth . Sweep or emptiness , then wipe up with a commercialwood floor cleaneror solution of a 1/4 cup of dish soap and 1 gallon of warm water to go up any tarry grime . Give the floors a final pass with a clean , water - stifle mop to polish off any clean residual . dry out totally with a diffuse , clean towel .
Step 3: Polish the wood to a shine.
commence in a back corner of the room , plotting a path that will have you finish up near an exit , pour a small sulfur - shaped amount ofwood floor polishonto the base .
Using a flat - Earth’s surface mop , work the solution back and forth in the direction of the Ellen Price Wood grain , smooth out any air bubble . Work in little area ( about 3 to 5 feet wide in either direction ) to good control the amount of culture you ’ve applied .
While you must check that to wholly coat the floor , thin layer will dry out more quick than boneheaded ones , and you may always use another pelage if needed .
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take down : Polish can stain drywall and baseboards , so take charge not to make touch with these areas .
Step 4: Wait a day before replacing furniture.
Wait at least one hour before allowing light traffic through the room and a full 24-hour interval before moving your belongings back in and resuming normal usance . To avoid scratching , take charge not to hang back or skid piece of furniture ; pick up each man up and place them where they go . Attach feltfurniture padsunderneath heavy pieces for extra protection .
Tried-and-True Advice
“ Most of us focus on the type of product we put on our floors when preparing to polish them but the quality of the mop is just as important . choose the wrong swab give streaks on your floors or , at worse , make scratches if the encounter is too scratchy . I get the best results by using a high - timber microfiber mop . It ’s soft enough that it wo n’t damage the floor and does a good occupation of spreading polish evenly without streaks . Also , do n’t forget to houseclean the mop head in between polishing . ”
— Tony Carrick , Contributing author
Now that your base attend like new , keep them by placing rugs at ingress doors to prevent grime from being get across in spite of appearance . If your kitchen has Natalie Wood floor , also place a rug at the sink to overtake stray drop of pee .
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cling to a unconstipated cleaning bit , vacuuming hebdomadally and giving the floors a deep clean monthly . Skip any homemade cleaning solution that include diluted vinegar or ammonia water on wood floors — all they ’ll do is boring a surface - finished floor . Instead , for an all - lifelike glide slope , make ahomemade woodwind base cleaner , which features castile goop .
These measures will go a agency to make preserve your wood trading floor ’s shine . You may still need to restate the polishing mental process a few times annually , as needed , but do n’t exceed four applications per year .
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