Clear Out the Winter Grime—Cleaning and Restoring Your Hardwood Shine

Summer is officially here! With it comes the end of winter’s sand and salt and the mud and grime of rainy spring days. The harsh treatment of winter and spring can wreak havoc on your hardwood floors. There is no time like the present to think about stripping all the old, dull wax and replacing it with fresh. While this is certainly a task you can tackle yourself, be prepared for it to be time and labor intensive.

Why not check out ServiceWhale today to find a contractor to restore the life to your hardwood floors?

Why Strip the Old Wax

Chances are, the protective covering on your hard wood floors is a fat product – either animal, plant or mineral based. These fats provide great protection from moisture and damage for your floor, but aren’t very durable and never really dry. Why is this an issue? Well, if the protective layer of wax does not dry, it can wear away, needing reapplication. The wax that remains between layers can end up with grime embedded in it, which results in a cloudy film or residue. After layers and layers are applied on top of one another, you have dull, dingy looking floors. After many layers, eventually you need to strip the old wax away, to create a fresh canvas for the new layer. No one has time for that!

Gather Your Tools

If you’ve decided to go it alone, you’ll want to gather all your tools. You will need a broom, dustpan, mop and bucket to initially clean the floor. When it comes to stripping the floor, you’ll need clean rags — more of them than you think you will — and possibly steel wool, depending on how many layers you need to remove. Your solvent of choice will be mineral spirits.
Mineral spirits can be purchased at your local hardware store. Mineral spirits, closely related to paint thinner, but more refined, is a lot less odorous than paint thinner. Furthermore, a smaller application goes a lot farther than paint thinner.

First Things First

Before the old wax can be stripped away to make a place for the new, you need a thoroughly clean surface. You, or your ServiceWhale contractor, will start by making sure the floor is clean. Sweep to remove all loose debris. Then, a good hot mop will do wonders. This will clean all the dirt and residual grime on the wood’s surface.

Stripping the Wax

When you have gotten the floor as clean as can be, you can begin removing the wax. If you are not using your ServiceWhale contractor, get ready to apply some serious elbow grease. You are going to section off a two foot by two foot square. Using mineral oil, pour a small amount onto your sectioned-off area. Use a soft cloth to work the spirits into the floor in a circular motion. You should see yellow-ish wax coming off the floor onto your rag.

Once you have worked over your two foot section, get a clean rag and wipe off the floor of all mineral spirits and residue. Nope, you’re not done. Now repeat this step (pour a small amount of mineral oil onto the floor, fresh rag, scrub in a circular motion…are your arms burning yet?!)

You will continue working one section until it is as clean as it can be before moving on to the next. You want to make sure that you change your cloths frequently. The last thing you want to do is redeposit the wax on the floor. As long as your cloth is coming up with yellow residue, you have wax on the floor and need to keep repeating this step. If the layers are really thick, you might need to use your steel wool. Or stop and get yourself a ServiceWhale contractor to finish the job while you go to the beach!

At The End of the Day

Once you have finally stripped all the wax from your floor, you’ll want to let it dry thoroughly before you consider applying your finishing product. While your arms and back take a break, take this time to consider having a contractor come out to finish the job, if you haven’t called the pros in already. A custom flooring quote can be found here. You’re sure to receive a no-hassle quote with honest and up-front pricing.