How To Tell What Finish On Wood Floor

Brush up on the basics of 8 popular options before choosing yours.

How to tell what finish on wood floor.

Before you restore your wood floor finish or even clean it you need to know what type of finish it is or your efforts could be for naught. T here are many types of wood with varied characteristics but in most cases the wood furniture and surfaces of your home have been coated with some sort of protective finish. When each coat dries sand the floor lightly with 220 grit paper or 000 steel wool. When a wood floor loses its luster the usual solution is to sand it down to raw wood and completely refinish it.

One of the first questions i would ask is about the age of the existing finish. The trick is knowing what finish was put on in the first place. Finishing expert peter gedrys replies. See the chart below to find out just do the following.

If you can feel the wood grain the finish is probably a penetrating finish. If the finish bubbles up it is most likely a surface finish. Renew a wood floor in half the time and at half the expense of sanding. The secret is to screen the old finish.

Select an inconspicuous area of the floor surface and apply a small amount of paint remover. It s the finish on the wood which will determine the appropriate cleaning and repair techniques. Furniture on which there are oil finishes repairs easily. To determine which finish type you have here are a few simple tests.

The process is fairly simple you just have to test in a specific order because certain solvents will dissolve several finishes while others will only dissolve one type. Vacuum up the dust and apply the subsequent coat. Apply the finish with a lamb s wool applicator in smooth even lines while avoiding drips. Identifying the type of finish that is applied to a wood floor is necessary in order to determine the best maintenance procedures.

If the floor was installed and finished or simply refinished within the past 10 years it s probably covered with a polyurethane of some type. But often that s. How can i tell what type of finish is on my wood floors johnathan get out your chemistry set and i ll show you how to determine the different types of wood finish. Improper techniques can damage wood floors resulting in astronomical repair bills.

Run your hand over the floor surface. Hardwood floor finishes have varying levels of ease durability even glossiness. To identify the type of clear film finish on a piece of furniture you test it with solvents. Many finishes take 24 hours to dry.

Read on to see if screening will work for your floor. Certain surface treatments and cleaning solutions will not be compatible with each. Many floors have a polyurethane finish but certain finishes are harder than polyurethane and restorative finishes won t adhere well to them. Knowing this will allow you to choose the proper cleaning chemicals and procedures to use as well as determining a course of action for periodic maintenance of wood floors.