What the heck am I doing wrong????!!

[Npetersen]

I can not get this wood floor cleaning down!
I scrubbed with the 175 and maroon pad for two
Hours on 400 sq ft.. Then I rinsed 4 times. Then
Let dry.. The finish still would not adhere to the floor.
It looked splotchy and real hazey!!

What in the world am I doing wrong? Its not an old floor at all.. And it's
Not laminate..

 

[Ron Lippold]

What are you trying to put down? You may need to hit it with a 120 grit sanding screen,put screen on floor then white pad on top of the screen and then pad driver, finish off with slam dunk from ultra chem labs.

 

[Npetersen]

Just been using bridge point cleaner and finish..
Where do I get a sanding screen?

 

[Ron Lippold]

Shamrock supply505-345-6977 or any janitorial supply should have them.

 

[Jtuseo]

I can not get this wood floor cleaning down!
I scrubbed with the 175 and maroon pad for two
Hours on 400 sq ft.. Then I rinsed 4 times. Then
Let dry.. The finish still would not adhere to the floor.
It looked splotchy and real hazey!!

What in the world am I doing wrong? Its not an old floor at all.. And it's
Not laminate..

THE FLOORS HAVE PASTE WAX ON THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11

 

[Npetersen]

Will the 120 sandpaper get the wax off? Or is it to aggressive?

 

[Becker]

2 hrs for 400 sq ftt, that is a lot of scrubbing, you say rinse, rinse how?

Is the floor completely dry when you apply finish?

 

[Npetersen]

Rinsed with water and a microfiber mop.. Misted water with a trigger sprayer
Then wiped off with the mop. Did it four times, rinsing the mop over and over!

Looked pretty good until I tried to apply the finish.. Then looked horrible!

And yes the floor was completely dry when I applied the finish.

 

[Mikey P]

pics are oh so helpful at times like theses.


every damn one of you should have a smart camera/phone by now.


USE IT!





btw, I did a wood floor today, all gummed up with moNglow type crap.


applied BASIC intensive hard wood cleaner, white padded/175 and used my hard surface wand/vortex to rinse..



came out GREAT in an hour and a half for $350!

 

[Jamesh921]

I, too think it may have a wax finish on it.

Apply stripper to a small area and wait a couple minutes.
Step on the area and push with your foot.
If it feels extremely slippery, it has a wax finish on it and will need to be stripped.

 

[Zee]

Rub a little IPA on it and see if it gums up. If yes then you sure have wax on it.

 

[Dolly Llama]

couple/few things off the top of my hED ...
highs and lows on the floor can make scrubbing pads skip over spots .(or not clean as aggressively in spots)
The dull areas are the low spots

OR...

an aggressive pad stripped what ever foundation finish (like urethane) off the hi-spots and whatever water based product you're using is penetrating into the wood on those high spots (probably raising the grain too) ....= dull spots

AND/OR...

you're not giving it enough coats to seal



lastly and already alluded to ...some type of natural oil finish was originally applied to raw wood after install ..be it tung oil, paste wax, linseed oil etc .
all penetrate into wood and "cleaning" won't get it out

If the floors were/are stained wood , you better be careful using sanding screens ...or you might end up on the hook for a pro floor refinisher to sand and refinish the whole floor to make it right.
'round my area, that's $3.50 (on the cheap) to $7 sq ft to refinish hardwood


..L.T.A.

 

[mirf]

Paste wax will sometime have a build up in corners or grooves. if it come up with a plastic scraper may be wax.

 

[frresh1]

After you clean and rinse, try tacking the floor with a microfiber mop moistened with mineral spirits.

 

[J Scott W]

There are several possible reason this could happen including ones that Larry listed. The most common causes are either paste wax or some oily product like Orange Glo on the floor. Both are difficult to remove.

 

[Npetersen]

So should I just start over? Clean, rinse then either put mineral spirits
Or a wood stripper then rinse and then put the finish on?

Do I buff the stripper with the 175 or just a micro fiber mop?

I'm guessing that its the orange glo or mop and glo crap.

 

[frresh1]

I would start testing in a small area to determine what will work. You can also try a product called Bona Prep. It is made for preparing pre finished floors for recoating. also you may want to reconsider the choice of finish on this floor. Using a sanding screen may be your only option at this point, but beware screens can take off the high spots on a stained floor and create a whole new set of challenges (full sanding)

 

[Dolly Llama]

I'm guessing .

clearly
and so am I, cause I'm not there and don't know anything about wood "cleaning" ...nor the cRap they're pitching to CC'ers as wood refinish/restorer

I know a little about wood though.
and i don't want to see you get in over your head anymore more than you already are by dumping other crAp on it now.
so lemmie ask, what condition were the floors before you started?
How old are they?(how old is the house?)
any clue what type wood?
is it dark, medium or light?




how many floors have you cleaned before?


..L.T.A.

 

[Npetersen]

Yeah im in over my head..
To answer your questions, the floor was in pretty good shape just dull in some areas.. The house is
Probably 8 years old and the wood is pretty dark.

I don't think I want to mess with screens if its gonna mess it up badly

Would mineral spirits take all the finish off? Cuz I know this finish stuff I have is just a top coat, not to be put on bare floor.

 

[Lyman]

It might be a pre finish hard wood(bob villa 50 year ), that kind of finish is rock hard.If that is the case you just bought a new floor for someone. If it is wax, just use your pocket knife and scrape it a little to see if wax comes off. I have tried that kind of refinish product with bad results every time. My wife has a dance studio. The finish wouldn't last 3 months. now I sand and poly every 3 years. The cleaner and maroon pad are suppose to chemically etch the floor finish. We need pics to help.

 

[ACE]

The guys telling you wood floors are a easy money maker just want to line their pockets. They will equip you with enough knowledge to have a false since of confidence. What would you think if the customer told you my hardwood floor guy is going to clean the carpets?

If the floors have a orange hue it could be shellac with a wax base. If that is the case, it needs to be screened, and striped with alcohol if tacky and shellacked some more.

 

[Dolly Llama]

Yeah im in over my head..
To answer your questions, the floor was in pretty good shape just dull in some areas.. The house is
Probably 8 years old and the wood is pretty dark.

flyin' blind now, cause I don't know what's in the chems ... so take it for what it's worth..

I'd expect the floor has some kind of factory poly finish .
which means as long as it wasn't worn off, it "should" of cleaned up pretty easy
i don't know how agressive a maroon pad is
but two hours of scrubbing on 400sf seems excessive for a floor in good shape ...donno if it rubbed it raw in spots or not

are the dull spots the same ones that were there when you started?
Or are there new ones now too??

I don't think I want to mess with screens if its gonna mess it up badly

i don't think you want to either
sand paper (which is what those screens are) aren't for inexperienced operators

Would mineral spirits take all the finish off? .

probably not as a practical matter cause the dwell time needed to soften cured poly would be lengthy .
sanding is how you remove poly finish


is the home owner on your azz cause she thinks it's worse now than before you touched it?
and is this your first floor??


.L.T.A.

 

[Dolly Llama]

I The cleaner and maroon pad are suppose to chemically etch the floor finish. .

what kind of horseshit are they selling you guys?

might be one thing to clean a beattofck crappy spruce floor in a sandwich joint or pub like Mike
quite another to do fine hardwood floors in many homes


where Sweeny at?
he sells flooring too...he might be able give us better guidance on the Chinese wood finishes (where most of those floors are coming from)

and what kind of CRAP the distys are slingin' that they call cleaners/restorers ?
are they all water based?


..L.T.A.

 

[Npetersen]

Ive Taken several classes and I've done 5 floors.. All practice floors and all came up fine now my first paying job
Is screwing me..
The owners come home Sunday so ill be over there all day tomorrow
Trying to remove wax and getting the finish to adhere.

The dull spots are in the same place as they were before.. It's just more smeared then anything and the new finish isn't
Smooth..

I'll post pics tomorrow.

It doesn't look the wood has been rubbed raw, it looks more like a hazzey build up.

 

[frresh1]

Here is a full sand and finish gym floor I did this summer. It was defiantly not a candidate for a screen and re-coat, going all the way down to bare wood was the only way this floor would look new again.

Sanding- 100 gt-200 gt-400 gt - then sanding screen to blend drum marks. same grits for the edger.
vacuum and tack with mineral spirits with micro mop head.
Sealer- t-bar applied oil base Bona Seal 2 coats. maroon pad in between coats vac and tack with spirits.
Finish- t- bar applied Bona Traffic 3 coats. maroon pad and vac and tack between coats. 2 coats per day depending on humidity.
We did this 1500 sqft floor in 4 days, 2 days sanding 2 days finishing.
I hope this gives a general idea of the process it takes for a complete restoration. Some floors can be recoated but only if the existing finish is prepared correctly. For a finish to stick to another finish it needs to be abraded to create something for the polymers to grab on to. The maroon pad is not enough to abrade todays aluminum
oxide finishes.
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