Is your wooden floor getting fade? Is it losing its shine? If you are reading this article, your answer would be probably “Yes”. Daily cleaning of wooden floor with water and chemical, floor tends to lose its original beauty and shine over time. Polishing is an important part of maintaining a wooden floor as it adds extra layer of shine, protection to the finish and longevity.
If your timber floor is looking a little worse for wear, then a polish can certainly give it a new lease on life. So’ it is recommended to polish your wooden floor periodically to keep it new and beautiful.
1. Polishing vs sanding vs refinishing
- Sanding and refinishing: Sanding of wooden flooring means removing the top surface (only a thin layer) of the floor with some abrasive material e.g, sandpaper. Sanding and polishing is the only available option when your floor has lost its shine completely. Often Wooden flooring needs sanding and refinishing after 5-6 years
- Refinishing: Refinishing is the same as sanding and polishing. The difference here is, in refinishing some damage boards of floors are also removed and new boards are adjusted there.
- Polishing: Polishing is a periodically cleaning and painting the wooden floor with polish to make it shiny and new. It is done with the help of polish and cleaner. Polishing is a simple task that should be done on wooden floors once in 2-3 weeks. Polishing removes all the scratches, minor damages of the floor.
2. When should you do the polishing of the wooden floor?
Polishing of the wooden floor is necessary to stop it from being dull and ugly. The daily normal wear and tear, stains, gauges on the floor make it look unattractive. Polishing is the way to remove these normal damages done to the flooring. Polishing should be done once in 2-3 weeks.
Daily cleaning of wooden floor with chemicals, slowly removes floor polish and gloss.
If this happens continuously, your floor starts looking old and weird.
Polishing is done to apply the same coating of polish again on the floor. By doing this, the glossy look of wooden flooring can be restored and maintained for the long term. Unlike refinishing that done after 5 to 10 years, polishing can be applied multiple times a year depending on how dull your wood floors look.
3. How to polish the wooden floor
If you have just installed the floor and you want to restore its beautiful look, polishing is a better and cheaper option. All you need is a broom or vacuum cleaner to clean the room, chemical cleaner and polish to apply on the floor. Polishing the wooden floor is easy. But still, some care and must follow things should be done before.
- Applying the polish: The last and main step is to apply the polish on the floor. Use a brush and (readymade) polish to clean the floor. Start from the last corner of the room and apply the thin coating of polish on the floor. Don’t hurry! Do this process with some patience, without leaving any place blank.
Polish the entire floor timber back and forth. When you finish the process, leave the room for at least 24 hours with the door closed. Do not let the dust and other objects to go into the room, because they may reduce the finishing look of the floor.
- Examining the Floor: Of course polishing of the floor is an easy DIY task. But still, you need to check the floor to get an idea about the polish need. You can only apply polish on floors with a protective finish. To know if your wooden floor is made up of protective finish or not, let fall some drops of water on the floor. If water beads on the floor that means your wooden flooring is protective and can be polished easily.
- Cleaning the room: The most important step before applying the polish on the floor is cleaning the room. You can use a broom or vacuum cleaner to remove every dust particle from the room. If you are cleaning the room with a broom then leave the room for a certain period of time so that the dust particles in the air lay back on the ground. Clean the room again to remove this dust completely. After making your room neat and clean, take the chemical cleaner and apply it to deep clean your floor. You can also use Hydrogen peroxide for deep cleaning. The main task of cleaner is to clean every germ and minor dust particle on the floor. If you do not have Hydrogen Peroxide, you can use a teabag too.
- Take warm water in a bowl, dip 2-3 tea bags in this water until the color changes
- Clean the floor with this water.
- Applying the polish: The last and main step is to apply the polish on the floor. Use a brush and (readymade) polish to clean the floor. Start from the last corner of the room and apply the thin coating of polish on the floor. Don’t hurry! Do this process with some patience, without leaving any place blank. Polish the entire floor timber back and forth. When you finish the process, leave the room for at least 24 hours with the door closed. Do not let the dust and other objects to go into the room, because they may reduce the finishing look of the floor
Conclusion
Wooden flooring makes the house look decorative and attractive. Refinishing is costly and should be done only when needed, often it is done after 5-10 years when the floor loses its shine completely. But by polishing the wooden flooring periodically. You may need not to do sanding and refinishing of the floor even after a decade. Prevent your wooden flooring from getting stains, and do not moisture it with water. Your floor finishing will be last longer. Please visit MCL Flooring for more articles on wooden floors, wooden floor repair and wooden doors.
