What is Cleaning and Recoating?
Years ago, I noticed in some client’s homes that their once beautiful wood floors were begining to have several issues. Some were just in desperate need of a professional cleaning. Now, this may seem unnecessary but the equipment many professionals utilize is far superior than the average homeowner has access to. There were also many wood floors where you could see the stain was beginning to come off and thereby leaving noticeable differences in the floors. Scratches were seen on wood floors with pets or toddlers.
Many homeowners assume their only option is to pay thousands of dollars and be out of the house for a week while their wood floors are either sanded or replaced. Sometimes worse, the homeowner attempts to resolve the issue themselves and are left with a floor that looks worse than before.
There is another option! Cleaning and Recoating.
We get asked often, “What do you mean by cleaning and recoating?” Cleaning and Recoating is a process that involves a thorough cleaning of the floors that removes years of residue buildup, and then a recoating (applying new finish) to the floors. There is much more involved in this process than what was mentioned in the previous sentence and later I will discuss what exactly is involved in our process but first let me give you a brief history of how this process was first started.
In the late 80’s Michael Purser of The Rosebud Company in Atlanta, Georgia developed a passive recoating wood floor system. This was necessary due to him coming across homes where the wood floors were in excess of 100 years old and had been refinished multiple times. Refinishing of wood floors involves sanding and removing layers of the wood. Since many of these wood floors were sanded multiple times already, there was little to no wood left to sand. So, in an effort to preserve the wood floors and yet give them new life, he developed his process.
Fast forward to the present day, our process is modeled after his and Courtney Lee of Truman Hardwood Floors, also in Georgia. As a side note many gym floors do a similar process to their wood floors like what we offer, to preserve them. Our process helps give your wood floors new life and offer protection for years to come. So…what is our process, and will it work for your wood floors?
Let me start off by saying we make it a point to give in person when we are able, consultations. This allows us to see the wood floors up close and test to ensure there are no containments such as acrylic or paste wax on the wood floors and to offer an honest opinion on if cleaning and recoating is the best option for your wood floors.
So, what is our process…? Our process starts off with a thorough cleaning of your wood floors. The reason for this is because we must remove all contaminants from the wood floors, or they could cause issues for the new finish sticking to the wood floor.
The type of cleaning depends on the type of contaminants that we detect. If there is acrylic wax, that will have to be removed via a stripping agent that is safe for wood floors. This is a tedious and slow process. Many times, this process will need to be repeated multiple times before we can even begin the recoating process. Other types of contaminants are residue left over from cleaners that have a high PH or products such as murphy’s soap etc. All these products, if not neutralized, will over time build up residue that attracts soil. Our cleaning process removes these residues and neutralizes the floor.
Once we have safely removed all the contaminants from the wood floor, we begin our abrading process. Now there are other ways to ensure the new finish will bond to the floors without abrading but we prefer this process as it allows us to accomplish other goals as well. Such as, removing light surface scratches in the existing finish, remove most of the old finish, and even out the surface.
Lastly, we will apply two coats of a two-component finish. This will provide superior protection for your wood floors. Remember, your finish is your sacrificial coat to help protect your wood floors. If it is gone than your wood floors absorb all the punishment. If you let that protective coat deteriorate for too long, it will eventually expose bare wood to assaults from doggy toenails, coffee spills, and baby drool. These could cause damage that can only be repaired by sanding the whole floor.
Ok, now the big question. Is this process right for my wood floors? It can be or it may not be. Our in-home consultation will help us see the issues your floor has and will allow us to see if our process will help resolve them. We have helped save many wood floors where the homeowner was told replacing is the only option. We have also turned down some projects due to the overwhelming need for a full sanding. Below are some of the benefits of recoating and the limitations:
· Our process is typically completed in one day. No need to find a place to stay for a week or plan a vacation around it.
· There is minimal dust. Some call this process “dust free” and while it isn’t dust free most of the dust stays below a foot off the ground.
· Most sanding companies will not sand wood floors with layers of acrylic wax. They will suggest they be replaced. We can remove the wax and do so safely.
· We can most of the time remove surface scratches that are in the finish.
· We can do color correction where we can fix areas where the stain has come off and blend it with the rest of the floors to match.
· Recoating is typically half the price of sanding. This saves the homeowner thousands of dollars!
· This process will NOT remove scratches in the wood floor. Although we can fill them and get them to match better. To get them 100% removed the floors will need to be sanded.
· Our process will not remove water or urine damage on the floors. Although we can make these spots look better the only way to remove them 100% is to sand them or replace the boards affected.
· This process will NOT make your wood floors look brand new. Although we have made floors look quite close to new!
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