Bona Traffic HD Wood Floor Lacquer Review

 Hello and welcome to another Woodfloor-renovations blog post.

Todays subject matter is a review of a new product from the mighty Bona stable of world class flooring lacquers.

We are proud to have been asked to test and evaluate the latest version of the rather superb Bona Traffic, the new product is called 'Bona Traffic HD' and is an updated and harder wearing version of the best selling Bona Traffic.

We have written a comprehensive review and evaluation of Bona Traffic HD, which is available for viewing on our website.

We also used Traffic HD on a relatively small entrance hallway which had a very nice Douglas Fir parquet floor which we restored, checkout the video clip below of the completed project.

Hope you enjoy the review...Regards Gary.

Whats The difference Between a Hire Shop Sanding Machine and Your Bona 10 Inch Sander ?

Hello and Welcome our latest Woodfloor-Renovations Blogpost.


This post is our first of 2012 and I'd like to wish all our readers the best of luck and good fortune for the coming year.


What I'm going to write about today is something I get asked quite alot, todays direct question is "Whats the difference between a hire shop floor sander and your Bona floor sanding machine ? "


This question was asked by a client we very recently completed a floor sanding project for, and who had sanded and refinished their own floors 8 years ago. In all honestly the columbian pine parquet block floor was in a relatively poor condition overall, which is pretty typical really when people use hire shop floor sanding machinery and tackle the job themselves.


Many people think that all floor sanding machines are all alike and do the same thing....but when it comes to getting a top quality finish on your pride and joy wooden floor then i'm afraid the quality difference between a battered and misused hire shop sander and a top of the range professional floor sander is quantum.

 

The two pictures directly above this text are both wood floor sanding machines, the picture on the left is an almost new Bona 10" belt Sander,[my own] and the one on the right is a typical hire shop model which i think is a HT7 or HT8. 


I won't go into all the technical differences between the machines as I don't want to be writing for another 2 hours, but I'll just mention the fundamental difference, which anyone who has ever used a hire shop floor sander will know all too well.


The main difference is Dust, professional floor sanding machines genuinely capture around 95% of dust particulates created during the floor sanding process, while the hire shop floor sanders will collect precious little dust, from what I have seen of these machines the dust spews out at a quite ridiculous rate and can quickly fill a room with dust to the point of hardly being able to see where you are pushing the machine....This I have seen myself at first hand.... 


There are many other differences between the two machines such as the ease of changing a sanding belt, changing the machine settings while running....I could go on and on and on, but as a floor sanding professional my allegiance is firmly entrenched with professional quality machinery, it really is in a completely different class to a lot of the hire shop equipment.


Although that being said you can hire professional quality machinery, but it will be more expensive, but if you want a top quality professional finish on your wood floor then you either do your homework and hire the right equipment to give you the quality finish you require, or you get the professionals in to do the job properly for you.....

That does sound a bit harsh I know, but in reality those are, in my opinion the best options  for someone looking to do the best quality job they can on their wooden floors.


The images below are direct 'before' and 'after' pictures from the floor sanding project where the client asked the initial question, a bit of a difference wouldn't you say :-)

I have recently written a comprehensive article on the Bona Belt Floor Sanding Machine at  the Woodfloor-Renovations website.

Hope this article has helped you in some way, Thanks for reading.......Gary

My Wood Floor Looks Orange.....Why ?????

Hello and welcome to another Woodfloor-Renovations blog post.


Today we'll talk about another question i've been asked many times, the [full] question is:- "I've got a Maple Strip Wood Floor and it looks almost Orange ? It was only sanded and finished 3 years ago...Do you know why my floor has gone that colour ?? "


I've seen countless wood floors that have turned orange in colour, usually only a couple of years after the floor has been refinished, the culprit is merciless in that it doesn't care what the species is, or whether the floor is Parquet Block or Strip Flooring, the end result will always be the same...in that the floor turns Orange in colour.


The guilty party is almost certainly a floor seal called 'Bourneseal' this product was used very widely in the floor sanding industry for many years as a flooring lacquer, and is still available today, but is no-where near as popular with flooring contractors as it once was.


I don't know the technical details as to why Bourneseal turns wooden floors an orangey colour, the lady who sent in the question mentioned that the floor seal had looked clear for at least two years and then started to slowly turn orange during the third year.


If you want the floor to look clear again i'm afraid the only thing you can do is to have it fully Sanded off and Re-Sealed, as far as i know there is no other way, but if you do have the floor fully sanded make sure your contractor uses a modern non yellowing seal from a reputable manufacturer such as Bona, Junckers or Lobadur...


There are many other Lacquers out there from excellent manufacturers, which will do the job very well, but as I use lacquers very regularly from Junckers, Lobadur [lecol here in the UK] and Bona, I know these products work extremely well and WILL NOT even go yellow, never mind orange.


Hope that helps, thanks for reading.


Regards Gary

Bona Novia...Is it any Good ??

Hello and welcome to another Woodfloor-Renovations Blog Post.

This post is about an enquiry I received a few weeks ago, the person was wondering because this product was at the cheaper end of the flooring lacquer scale that it may not be up to much.

The direct enquiry was "Bona Novia...Is it any good ??" 

The quick answer to this question is YES, it is a good product, in my humble opinion a VERY good product.

Bona Novia is positioned at the 'Budget Sensitive' end of the market, or in easy to understand language the cheaper end, just because the product is relatively cheap by comparison doesn't mean it isn't any good, quite the opposite really.

Novia is from the mighty Bona stable, a Swedish company renowned for it's high quality products for several decades.

I can speak with a little authority on this because in October 2008 I was invited, along with around 25 other Wood Flooring professionals from the UK on a 2 day visit to the Bona HQ in Sweden...

At this time Bona Novia was just about to come to the market, and we were lucky enough to be given a tour of the Bona laboratory where all the formulations are made. It gave us all a fantastic insight into the thoroughness and incredible amount of work that goes into producing a wood flooring lacquer like Bona Novia.

Now I might just be a little biased when it comes to Bona Novia, but after seeing first hand what goes into that product that's hardly surprising news...

I personally have used Bona Novia on many many projects and have nothing but high praise for the product, from a professional perspective its very easy to apply to wooden floors, looks fantastic and has good wear characteristics and given its relatively low price point its good news for the end user of this product.

I have written a more comprehensive product review of Bona Novia which is available for viewing at the Woodfloor-Renovations Website

Hope this helps - Thanks for reading