Engineered hardwood floors restoration

6 years ago

last modified: 6 years ago

I have br111 prefinished engineered hardwood floors that are completely worn and dull and all around horrible looking. Several years ago I applied a product that restored the soft sheen and greatly improved the look to almost new. Problem is I forgot what I used. It was a trial and error process back then so here I go again. out of my cabinet I first try the Johnson liquid wood floor polish. Fail. Removed it with water and ammonia mixture. Second I tried murphys wood floor polish. Fail. Removed with water and ammonia mixture. Last came the pledge wood floor restorer. Looked terrible but by now I’m exhausted and so are my poor floors. A week later I removed that the same way. The last possibility was the Johnson paste wax. So I figured that must be it and on a test patch it looked like the answer. So I proceeded to do the entire floor. Horrible terrible huge mistake! I used dawn liquid in warm water on a scrub brush and made a huge improvement but the floors still look terrible. Mineral spirits on a test area seemed a little aggressive. I need serious advice. I fear my floors are ruined. If I manage to completely remove the wax, what do I put on these floors to restore the subtle sheen?

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Comments (5)

PRO
Cancork Floor Inc.
6 years ago
Oh dear. You've done too much to a floor that either needed refinishing or removal. I fear you cannot refinish because of what you have added to the floor.

I would go out and get a bottle of rubbing alcohol from your local drug store. Should be about $2 for 1 quart. You want to work with 70% - 90% alcohol content.

Then take a clean, cotton cloth (can be a rag made from a Tshirt or something of that nature) and apply a small amount to the cloth (PLEASE keep the area WELL VENTILATED). Rub an area with the cloth. The alcohol is safe for the floor.

If you cannot remove the products you put down, you will have to call in a professional hardwood refinisher/restorer. These guys can come in and do an assessment. Please have out all the product you have used on the floor. It is possible they can strip (called a screening) the product from the floor and get you back down to the original finish (marred though it is).

Because of all the product you have applied (that includes the product several years ago), you probably will never be able to refresh the finish. The products you have used are contaminants. They will prevent any finish (polyurethane) from bonding with your hardwood. Even a full sand and refinish could have problems - even if you have the wood to do it.

I would get the wood back to the original - ugly - finish and start planning for replacement. I don't think you can successfully refresh these floors because of the product you used in the past.

This is why wood professionals do not allow these "refreshing" polishes on wood floors. It ruins them faster and it prevents adhesion of new finishes later on down the road. They make for very expensive problems down the road.

I'm sorry you are going through this. Please try the rubbing alcohol. It is cheap, easy to find and won't damage the original finish. Just remember to have the area well ventilated as it can cause headaches and nausea if you are around it too long. Do not use around an open flame. It is highly flammable in liquid and aerosol state.
PRO
Select Hardwood Floor Co.
6 years ago
One minor addition... typically, Br111 products had very thin wear/face layers of actual hardwood in the engineered products, so even though removal all of the "experimental" remedies & application of a coat of surface finish MAY be remotely possible, in the event someone suggests "sanding & refinishing"... they MUST be extremely well qualified to perform such a task, and frankly, most people with the credentials to accomplish that will probably run away like their hair's on fire.

If the floor is at all uneven, the chances of sanding through the top layer multiply, which would obviously become a costly proposition... for someone.

Best of luck.
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PRO
Uptown Floors
6 years ago
What the others have said.

Width will tell the tale here. If it's 6 1/4" (0.5 mm wear layer) you can screen it, but with all that gunk on it you won't get new finish adhesion, unless everything is squeaky clean including the micro bevels.
PRO
Johnson Flooring Co Inc
6 years ago
Oddly enough, of all the products you listed as having used on your floor, the only one that's not a horrible idea is mineral spirits. Use it to clean off the paste wax you applied. Paste wax isn't recommended over urethane finished floor. It can be extremely slippery.

If you're sure you have removed all of the paste wax and various polishes you applied, you might want to consider getting some Bona Refresher. I normally wouldn't recommend it but a former NWFA president I know used it on his home floor and gave it an excellent review. It's not to be confused with Bona Polish which isn't much different from any other acrylic polish. Do a test area before doing the whole floor. Refresher differs from acrylic waxes in that urethane can be applied over it in the future.

Urethane finished floors are usually recoated with urethane once they've somewhat worn. This is best done by a professional. It's not rocket science but there are a number of pitfalls that can make a recoat go south. Before recoating I would clean the floor repeatedly with Bona cleaner. The floor should be abraded or screened and treated with an adhesion enhancer before urethane coating.
PRO
G & S Floor Service
6 years ago
You will need to call a pro to come in and do a deep clean to remove a ll the residue. A few passess will be needed. You will need a horizontal scrubber to get in the bevel. Then you wil need a mechanical and chemical bond to get a fresh coat of poly to adhere to your prefinished floors. A stand alone mechanical bond will not be enough.

Engineered hardwood floors restoration

Comments (5)

Cancork Floor Inc.

Select Hardwood Floor Co.

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