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.

Pine Floorboards Restored, Sanded Stained Refinished in Oxton, Wirral

This video clip is of a recently completed and very difficult floor sanding project we undertook. The bitumen residues around the perimeter of the room was a nightmare to sand off, when i looked at the job initially it didn't look too bad...but when the floor sanding operations started it quickly became clear this wasn't a straightforward sand off.

The bitumen was thick and clogged the abrasives we were using quite quickly, rendering the  24 grit 750 x 250 sanding belts useless after only sanding off a few m2 of the room.

Thankfully after much hard work and toil we got the job done and had happy clients and a great looking living space. 

Can Engineered Wood Flooring Be Sanded and Refinished ?

Hello and Welcome to another Woodfloor-Renovations blogpost.


Today we'll be touching on a subject that many end users are unsure of.


The question I have recently been asked is:- "Can my Engineered Wood Flooring be Sanded and Refinished ? "


This lady had contacted us with regards to having her floors restored, but had heard from someone she knew that Engineered wood floors couldn't be sanded and sealed.

So she got in touch with us and asked us to quote for the restoration works. On our site visit I was able determine that her Engineered Oak strip flooring was in fact more than good enough to properly sand off and refinish.


The single strip flooring did have a 4mm wear layer which hadn't been sanded before, so even though our sanding processes took off about 1mm of material, there is plenty of oak material left on the wear layer for at least one more sand off.


The floor overall wasn't in too bad a condition, and didn't really have bad gauges in the floor, more small scratches and indentations in 2 or 3 high wear areas of the two rooms that we restored. The trouble is with some Engineered floors that the wear layer may only be 1 or 2mm in thickness, and the indents and gauges are literally scratched through to the plywood core of the material.


This is when trying to sand off an Engineered wood floor can be problematic, because if you sand through the wear layer to the plywood core then the floor would be ruined, and almost certainly the floor sanding contractor would be liable for the damage.


So in answer to the original question...Yes an Engineered Wood Floor can indeed be Sanded and Re-Finished, but who ever is doing the works must be completely sure that the wear layer of the floor is thick enough to be able to take a full sand and seal.


Hope that helps anyone who reads this blog...Forewarned is forearmed.


Thanks for reading - Regards Gary

How Many Coats of Primer Do I Apply on a Wooden Floor ?

Hello and Welcome to another Woodfloor-Renovations Blogpost

The question asked today is: "How Many Coats of Primer Do I Apply on a Wooden Floor ? "

The person who asked this question didn't say what type of primer they were using, but whether or not the primer in question was a Solvent based primer, an Oil based primer or a water based primer you only EVER put on one coat.

Obviously the wood floor you are applying the primer to needs to be properly prepared before application, the primer seals the timber floor in readiness for the subsequent coats of finish which will be applied to the floor.

If you are using an oil based primer then you must only used an oil as the next coat.

If you are using a water based primer you must only apply a water based lacquer as the subsequent coats, never use an oil over a water based primer, it WILL fail - Oil and Water don't mix.

If you use a Solvent based primer the strong likelihood is that you can use either a Water Based finish or an Oil/Waxoil to finish your project.

If you are un sure of any of the information in this blog always read the product manufacturers instructions.

Hope this helps.

For more floor sanding and sealing information visit our website at Woodfloor-Renovations

Thanks for reading

Wood Floor Sanding - In The Corners

Hello and Welcome to another Woodfloor-Renovations Blog Post


Today I'll talk about a subject which I frequently get asked questions on, the question is :- "How Do You Sand Right into The Corners ? "


There are several different ways to accomplish this element of the floor sanding process, the one most frequently used tools used by professional floor sanding companies will be the oscillating multi-tool.


There are many models made by many different companies, which are basically all based on the Fein Multimaster which was brought to the market 6-7 years ago.


We have three of the Bosch PMF 180e multitools, they are all used almost daily and are without question excellent tools for what we use them for, which is sanding out the wooden flooring material in the corners of rooms, or sanding around radiator pies
 [see picture]

If you use the correct abrasives this is a pretty straightforward process and each corner should take no longer than a few minutes, in this example the wood is unfinished and doesn't need much sanding to get the area round the radiator pipes as smooth as the rest of the floor.


Always move the tool up and down the grain of the wood, if the material is proving stubborn to remove then go across the grain a few times, but then make sure you go over the area again moving up and down the grain to remove any of the cross grain marks and indentations made by the machine.


When you are trying to sand out the corners of an old pine floor, for examples sake where there is bitumen residues everywhere and it's proving very difficult to sand off with the Bosch Multitool and the abrasives are only lasting a few seconds before they clog up, this is a sure sign that you may just need another hand tool to make things a little easier for yourself.

When the going gets really tough on the corners of the floors we are renovating, we reach straight for the Linbide scraper, this is a fantastic little tool which will quickly scrape off any crud and residues that the Bosch multitool is struggling with. You may need to scrape the corners several times to remove old layers of paint or polish but the Linbide scraper will certainly do the trick for you. 


You can also use a sharp chisel to scrape off any old residues, but be careful not to allow the chisel to dig in too deeply and gouge out too much material.


Hope this article helps you in some way - Thanks for reading.


For more relevant Floor Sanding related articles - Visit the Woodfloor-renovations website

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