When Can I Walk on my Newly Sealed Hardwood Floor

Hello and welcome to another WFR Blog Post.


Today's offering will be fairly short but for you Diy-ers out there its something you should know and act upon.

The question [sent in via email] is "When can I walk on my Newly Sealed Hardwood Floor ? "

If you have applied a good quality flooring lacquer, such as Junckers Strong or Bona Mega, and you have for examples sake finished applying the coats of lacquer in the late afternoon, I would recommend waiting a minimum of 3-4 hours before walking on the newly overcoated floor.

The general rule of thumb is that the longer you leave the floor to dry/cure the better, if you do finish properly applying the lacquers late in the afternoon then I would heartily recommend leaving the area until the following day before you go back into the room to inspect your handiwork, the room will then almost certainly be perfectly dry and ready for light foot traffic.

I realize that this isn't always possible, if for example the area you are renovating is an Entrance Hallway that leads through to other area's of your property where you need access, if this is the case then you really do need to leave the floor for 3-4 hrs to dry properly before re-using the area, but I will say only lightly use the area, and then as little as possible, the last thing you want is an unsightly footprint in the middle of your newly sealed floor.....because if the lacquer is still tacky then a foot-mark WILL show up when it dries.....

Although the lacquer may be dry to the touch it won't be fully cured for between 48-72 hours after the product has been applied, sometimes longer depending on the site drying conditions. Some manufacturers products have even longer curing times than 72hrs, but which ever product you are using do your homework and read through the instructions on both application and drying/curing times for your product......Knowledge is power....

This example is for a Lacquered finish on a Red Oak floor, if the seal you have applied to your floor is an Oil then the drying times are likely to be longer, check with the product manufacturers website for the correct drying times.

Hope this helps......Thanks for reading.

How Clean does my floor need to be before applying floor lacquer

Hello and Welcome to another WFR Blog Post.

Today we'll touch on a general cleanliness question of when a floor has been sanded and properly prepared in readiness for the first coat of seal.

The question I've recently received from a DIYer who has sanded his own floor is "How clean does the floor need to be before I apply the lacquer ?"

Pretty straightforward answer this one, 'As clean as possible'.....the cleaner your floor the better overall it will look, its a very simple equation really, as a general rule of thumb on a standard parquet block floor of say 20m2 we would vacuum the floor probably 5 times over the course of the day.

With floor sanding you really can't vacuum enough, but on occasions no matter how carefully the floor has been hoovered there ALWAYS seems to be the odd bit of debris that is in the way just as you are starting to apply the first coat of seal.

Personally I advocate the use of 'Tack Clothing' the floor just after the final vacuuming has taken place, it never ceases to amaze how much dust and crud the tack clothing process picks up, for a 20m2 room I'd advise using 2 cloths, tack cloths are very cheap and the process is ridiculously easy to do and will take less than 5 minutes for a 20m2 wood floor, it will make a tangible difference.

If there are any Pro's who are reading this thinking 'yeah right'..... just try it once and see what a difference tack clothing makes......I was converted many many moons ago and now make sure we tack cloth EVERY floor we do.....Remember the cleaner the floor the better the finish will be....its that simple.


The proof is in the pudding....well the pudding in this case is the two pictures below, the first is our brand new tack cloth just before we used it on a 10m2 Mahogany Parquet Block Floor, the second picture is just after it had been used on the said 10m2 floor.....PS....The floor had been thoroughly vacuumed with a very powerful vacuum just prior to being tack clothed....Don't they say a picture speaks a thousand words.....I shall say no more....

The Tack Cloth Before Being Used

Tack Cloth after being used......

Thanks for Reading. 

Junckers Ultra Matt Flooring Lacquer.....Before and After Pictures

Hello and Welcome to another WFR Blog post.


Today I'm going to do a 'Show & Tell' blog, that is to show you the pictures from a recently completed project, and to tell you how good the finished article looked.


The seal system we used on this project was 1 x Coat of Junckers base Prime followed by 2 x Coats of Junckers Pro Finish Ultra Matt.


We have used Junckers Pro Finish Ultra Matt lacquer quite a few times before, but for some reason the product looked just fantastic when it was applied to the Oak Strip floor we completed for one of our regular clients this week.


 Wendy [our client] was over the moon with the finished floor, it did look really good i must say, i know i may be slightly biased but come on....how good do the pictures look....Whats that old saying......... 'A picture speaks a thousand words'

I shall say no more on this one....enjoy the pictures.....let me know what you think.

Wood Floor....Rough To The Touch

Not too long ago I had an email from a lady who had recently Sanded & Refinished a Wooden Floor at her home....She had put a fair bit of detail into the email about the processes she had employed in her DIY Floor Sanding attempt.

The room was her lounge, and the material of the floor in question was original pine floorboards which had been hidden under carpets for many years. She had used hire shop floor sanding machinery and had been shown [briefly] how to use the equipment. The room was approx 15m2 in size and the Sanding part of the project took her 2 days. The hire machinery consisted of a Main Sanding Machine and an Edger machine.

She had stopped sanding the floor at the 60 grit stage as in her own words she said 'the floor didn't feel too bad' the Edging had been completed to the 40 grit level, and she didn't sand right into the corners as she didn't know how to...The area had been Vacuumed twice before the lacquer was applied.
 

Two coats of a good quality water based Lacquer [Bona Resident] were applied with a paint pad, and the floor was not 'cut back' after the first coat of lacquer had been applied.....The lady was not too happy with the overall finish and asked what i thought the reason for the rough finish/appearance might be.


First of all i have to say that the level of equipment she had used would in my opinion be nowhere near good enough to achieve a professional quality standard of finish, also as a minimum the floor should of been sanded to a 120 grit with the HT7 sanding machine that was used, and the Edging should of been done to 80 grit as a minimum. The corners should of course of been properly sanded and then the whole floor should of been buffed to a smooth 120 grit level with a quality buffing machine such as the Bona Buffer. 


In short I feel that there had been no-where near enough preparation work done before the coats of lacquer had been applied, when a floor is sanded using coarse grit levels, the grain of the wood is opened [widely] and the subsequent passes with the intermediate and fine sandpapers will help to close the grain back up, the process with the buffing machine then helps complete the job....In this case the grain of the wood had not been sufficiently closed before the lacquer was applied, hence the grain 'popping' heavily leaving the material feeling rough to the touch and visually looking poor as well.


I would say that without question the Lacquer had nothing whatsoever to do with the floor ending up feeling and looking rather poor, if the correct amount of preparation work would have been carried out the overall finish would likely of been a lot better......But if you want a professional quality finish....Use a Professional


As i say to alot of clients both prospective and actual....' its all in the prep '


Thanks for reading....


   

From Behind The Machine....Our first post

Hello and welcome to the Woodfloor-Renovations first ever blog post...

Over the coming months I'll be commenting on many Floor Sanding related topics, such as Gap Filling, or whether to use Lacquer or Oil as your floor seal of choice, I'll also be giving you an insight as to my perspective on the trials and tribulations of a professional Floor Sander. 


I'll be trying to answer questions sent in via email on Wood Floor Sanding topics, so if you have any issue's with your project or are just wondering 'How do I' do this or that....email me or ask through the Blog and I'll try and answer the question.

The question I'm most asked is 'should I use Lacquer or Oil on my wooden floor ?'

Its a reasonable question, unfortunately there isn't a straightforward answer....it's mainly down to personal preferences but there are many things to bear in mind before making the decision on which Seal to use on your project.



An Oiled finish can give a greater depth of colour to the floor, while a lacquered finish may leave the floor slightly more pale in appearance, but this can be entirely dependant on wood species... Normally 2 coats of Flooring Oil are applied to a properly prepared wood floor, while most professional Floor Sanding Companies will apply 3 coats of Lacquer as standard. Under normal traffic conditions, an oiled finish should last between 12-18 months before needing more coats of Oil to be applied, whereas Lacquer should last between 3-5 years before needing attention.

These timings are approximate and depend on a number of variables, such as :-the Cleaning regime employed by the home-owner, the volume of traffic in the home, and the type of shoes that go over the floor......


Both Lacquers and Oils are available in different sheen levels, with Lacquers the sheen levels are usually:- Extra Matt, Matt, Satin, Semi Gloss and Gloss, while Oiled Finishes usually come in:- Matt & Satin finishes.


It is highly recommended to always use the proper wood floor cleaning products from the manufacturer of the Lacquer or Oil you have applied to your floor....Why?? i hear you ask.

The answer is quite simple.....the Lacquer/Oil manufacturers wood floor cleaning products are designed to work specifically with the Seal you have just applied to your wooden floor, their usually easy to follow instructions make cleaning your beautiful newly Sanded & Finished Floor quick and very easy, these products are normally cheap and readily available.   


Do a Google search for:-wood floor cleaning kits / you will get many results and varying prices, one of the best cleaning kits on the market is from Bona, and is cunningly named The Bona Wood Floor Cleaning Kit....the kit comes complete with a wide mop, extension pole and the cleaning solution all in the box, expect to pay between £20 - £25 for the kit, now i know this is quite alot of money but bear in mind that the material head of the mop is machine washable and the 1 litre of cleaning solution will last many months before a refill is needed.


Thanks for Reading.....