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Pine floors with 'lumpy' Bona floor polish

5 years ago

I stored my Bona floor polish in the cottage over winter [first time], cleaned the sealed pine floors with the Bona cleaner as usual, shook my polish as directed, but found the liquid that squirted onto the floor lumpy. I should have stopped there [or read other posts] but instead, spread the polish. Much of the lumpy residue blended and did no harm, but some places remained lumpy. I am finding it impossible to remove these lumps that have given the floor an uneven finish, particularly in the kitchen where I started.

Apart from this, I've been very happy with the Bona Floor Polish, having used it for about 3 years.

Bona does sell a product to remove the polish, but it is not sold in Canada and needs to be applied to the entire floor. I called the company and suggested they post a temperature warning on the label.

Has anyone had similar problems? How do I solve this one ... we do not plan to refinish the floors in the near future [open concept plan].

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Comments (3)

SJ McCarthy
5 years ago
Sigh....yes most of these water based products (Bona polish is actually a POLYMER finish that is short lived...like 6 months) have temperature issues. All the water based products I know of (yes...I'm including the polish as a finish because that is what it is) have temperature limits. These limits are commonly +5 C to +28 C.

I've seen this lumpy thing happen to other products. The temperature causes a chemical event where the STRINGS of polymers start to form...because they start to 'cure'. I refer to it like thousands of spiders spinning webs in your bottle of finish.

The Bona polish can be removed with OTHER companies' "floor strippers". It is my understanding Armstrong and Bruce produce these types of strippers (easily available at an HD, Lowes, Rona, Canadian Tire, etc).

And just for a bit of context, the Bona Polish is something that NEEDS to be stripped OFF the floor every 5 applications or so. Which means it is a good time to find out where to purchase a stripper and how to use it.

The good news is, these types of polishes can be "knocked down" by renting a buffing/screening machine. Using a 'red' or 'maroon' pad will do the trick. In essence you want to scrape off/down the lumpy bits of cured polymer (plastic).

And Bona stripper can be had via Amazon as well. That shouldn't be an issue if you wish to use the correct bona product to correct the bona product.
PRO
Johnson Flooring Co Inc
5 years ago
SJ is correct in that once you get a buildup of Polish, it needs to be stripped. It's like the old days when people regularly waxed and stripped their vinyl floors. I wouldn't recommend you use a buffer unless you have some experience and using the wrong buffing pad will have unintended consequences. Buy Polish Remover online, strip off the Polish, then clean the floor with Bona cleaner. If your floor needs cosmetic help, consider Bona Refresher. It's a much better product, but it's permanent.
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You can rent a square buffer to strip the polish. It will take longer compared to a rotary buffer. Use green pads.

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