Hardwood Floor Polish Tips

Keeping your floors looking as nice as they did when you laid them is a job for hardwood floor polish. It will not only help preserve the warmth and beauty of your flooring, but it also helps to protect them as well. Here are some basic tips for using hardwood floor polish.

Naturally, knowing the type of finish on your hardwood floor is critical. Some finishes should never be polished or waxed, and you need to know that before applying any polishes.

Basically, there are four types of finish; Tung oil, polyurethane, shellac and wax. Polyurethane is generally the most common and easiest to work with. But, you should always be sure you know the finish that you have.

When To Polish

Are you sure your floor needs to be polished? A good tip to find out is to take a drop of water and let it fall to the floor. What happens? If it beads up then you know you have a good finish on your floor. But if it soaks in you need to refinish the floor before doing any type of polishing. You certainly do not want to use any kind of water-based polish on the surface as well.

How To Apply

There are really only two ways to apply hardwood floor polish or wax. One is by using an electric floor polisher and the other is by hand. It's sort of like waxing your car. Using an orbital buffer is the quick and easier way. Either way works equally as well. Just be prepared for a little elbow grease if you choose to do it by hand.

You want to be sure you don't overdo applying the polish. Too much floor polish can make the surface react like an ice skating rink. You'll be slipping and sliding all over, making for a potentially dangerous situation.

The best tip you can keep in mind is to follow the manufacturer's directions for your particular floor. Then you will know you're doing it right and will not be causing damage to your wood floor that will require refinishing.

To keep your floors clean after waxing you should sweep and mop them on a weekly basis, more often if you have high amounts of traffic. This alone can make your polish last for a much longer length of time and reduce your time and effort spent on having to go over them constantly.

Hardwood floor polishing does take a little bit of work, but the results are magnificent. Done twice a year you can expect your floors to look just like new.