Natural Ways of Wood Floor Waxing

Wood floor has a prettier look when good care and maintenance schedules are in place. Minding little about the appearance of your wood floor may diminish its natural elegance due to a network of scratches that may appear on its surface. Wood floor waxing is one of the ways of making wood floors surfaces more water-resistant as well as improving on its luster. With the advent of new technology, many types of floor wax are available for protecting the beauty of the wood floors, but you need to go for the best wax for wood floors. Besides, you should know how to wax wood floors at home and save the cost.

Types of floor wax to apply on your wooden floors

Wood Floor wax is available as either a solid or a liquid paste.

• Solid wax paste: it is usually sold in cans. The paste has more wax and less solvent. The high ratio of wax gives the solid wax a thicker consistency, thus requiring manual application using a piece of cloth. The coat from solid wax requires fewer layers as compared to the liquid wax.
• Liquid wax: It is available in cans or bottles. Due to its higher solvent ratio than wax, liquid wax has a thinner consistency; thus, you can apply it on the floor by a mop in multiple coats.

It is not recommended to buy wax meant for furniture as it will turn into an ultra-sleek surface that may be a death trap for you and any other occupant of the house. The sleek surface in a perfect slip-spot that may lead to severe injury. Therefore, always stick to wax labelled ‘for use on floors only.’

Moreover, avoid using acrylic or solvent-based waxes on hardwood floors as they can damage unfinished hardwood floors by causing a white tinge. Also, look for the wax of traditional origin and one that requires buffing after application.

Wood Floor Waxing

A successful waxing process of the wood floors involves three significant steps, that is:

1. Preparation of the floor surface
2. Wax application
3. Buffing

Step 1: Preparation of the floor surface for waxing

• Clear the floor surface by removing all the furniture and rugs present to provide an ample surface for smooth work.
• After clearing the working area, it would be better if you know how to strip wood floors with wax to make your work easy.
• Using soft cloth damp of commercial wax stripers or mineral spirits, strip old wax by working over two-foot sections of the floor at a time until no more wax residue is present on the cloth.
• Use steel wool to slough off wax built-up on the floor surfaces.
• Using a micro-fibre cloth pad with a dust brush attachment, sweep off the dust and any other loose wax build-up.
• If the floor is not yet clean, use a sponge mop to wet-clean the surface.

step 2: Wood Floor Waxing

• Before you begin the wax application process, always ensure that you’re in the right protective gear such as a dust mask to protect you from wax fumes and gloves.
• Before commencing the activity, Identify your comfortable kneeling position if you are to apply solid wax. In the case of liquid wax, you will remain standing.
• Ensure you have a putty knife and a soft lint-free cloth if for applying the solid wax.
• Working on a width of two-foot sections, apply the wax in the direction of the floorboards until you cover the whole room. Leave it for about 10 minutes. One coat will be enough for finished wood and two coatings for the unfinished wood.
• Let the final coat to dry enough for buffing-up.

step 3: Buffing of the new floor coating

• Using enlisting towel, rub the mop over the width of two feet at a time starting from the same corner in every new trip and move in the direction of the wood grain. If the work is overwhelming, you can rent an electric buffer to speed up the process.
• Leave the floor undisturbed for about 8 hours before replacing the furniture.
• Re-wax your floor at the recommended interval by the manufactures. For solid wax, the re-waxing range can always be between two to five years.