# getting hardwood floors to shine...again...



## MTTMATSUA (May 23, 2007)

Hi all;

This may seem like a no-brainer....but apparently, mine has taken a mini vacation! We have 50+ year old hardwood floors. They were covered over with carpet for about 30 years. The carpet was awful, to say the least, but kept the floors in actually pretty good shape! Just a couple spots look 'dry' or 'worn'. We need to shine 'em up...but not slick shine~we (and by 'we' I mean 'me'!) are clumsy and have a 15 month grandson that is new at the whole walk thing....just want them to look pretty again!

thanks in advance for any advice and such!!!

=)Bonnie


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## pheasantplucker (Feb 20, 2007)

My wife and I put down beautiful hardwood floors and mopped them for some time using PineSol, but found the floors becoming dull...so we now use a product made by minwax...I can't recall the name of it. You just squirt it on and take a wet mop and pick it right back up with it...Much better. (comes in a silvery gray plastic squeeze bottle)


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## olivehill (Aug 17, 2009)

I like Method's wood floor cleaner. It, too, comes in a squeeze bottle. But the worn spots may have to be refinished...


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## Evons hubby (Oct 3, 2005)

I would hit them with a light sanding and a couple coats of satin polyurethane.... over the whole floor. Yeah, I know, its a lot of work, but the beauty lasts for a long long time.


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## grandma12703 (Jan 13, 2011)

Like pheasantplucker said Minwax makes a product and I can't recall the name either but it is great. Made ours look awesome.


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## unregistered29228 (Jan 9, 2008)

I use Orange Glo on my floors when I want them to shine. It will build up if you use it too often, but if you clean with vinegar and water, or swiffer liquid or whatever every few days (ok, it's once a week for me, I'll admit it) and just use Orange Glo to shine things up once in a while it's great.


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## Ozarks Tom (May 27, 2011)

If you can run a floor buffer, Dura Seal (same company as Min-Wax) has a product called "Renovator". It contains a solvent and a wax that blends in worn areas. It's not sold in retail stores, so you'll have to get it from a place that sells to the wood flooring trade. Use a fine steel wool pad under the buffer. I've done acres of wood flooring with it. Just make sure to dispose of the pads and any rags in water. Spontaneous combustion is exciting!

If anyone has used wax on the the floor over those past 50 years, it would have to be sanded back to raw wood before you can put polyurethane on it. Wax will keep if from bonding, and after a short period of time the poly will peel.

The best cleaner for a wood floor is: 1 part white vinegar, 5 parts water, on a DAMP mop. You can buy a whole lot of vinegar for the price of those commercial cleaners that contain the same thing plus lemmon essence to keep you from smelling the vinegar.


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## barnyardgal (Sep 21, 2009)

Something simple i would highly recommend is called-Quick Shine-floor finish-its in a white bottle & sold at Walmart & other places~works very well with shining wood floors & i know several gals that use it & like it-it does not make the floors slick either-but makes them shine & last a while to~

Best to mope the floor & clean it well with vinegar/water first~let dry then use the Quick shine~


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## starlady (Sep 9, 2009)

I use Orange Glo 4-in-1 Hardwood Floor Cleaner on my yucky old wood floors (unfortunately I rent or I would refinish them - they're gorgeous under the years of abuse and neglect) and it works really well. You do have to be careful to put it on evenly and with the grain or the mop marks will show. Every few coats you need to strip it off with ammonia and start over but this is maybe once a year (or even longer for me).


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## solidwoods (Dec 23, 2005)

Wood floors must must must have a topcoat in tact.
If it doesn't and you use a water based product it will just soak into the wood and swell the wood causing the wood to expand.
If the topcoat is worn off. Its not hard to rent a vibrator sander with med grit paper to sand the floor, vac it, and apply a topcoat.
For topcoat I like water based finish because you can put on 2 coats per day for 2 days and be done. It also doesn't have the oily smell of oil based topcoats.
Do the work to apply a new topcoat and the "dull easy to get dirty" floor problem will be gone for years and you can move on to bigger probs.
jim
(makes flooring from the log for a living)
Feel free to PM me for my phone # and I'll help any way I can.


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## MTTMATSUA (May 23, 2007)

hey!

Thank you all so much for the great products. We do already use vinegar on them...I add bergamot ess. oil sometimes (it's my favorite!!) We are going to wait til spring has truly sprung here~a wee bit damp to want to re-do anything!! 

Thanks again!!
Bonnie


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## huntress4203 (Feb 21, 2006)

barnyardgal said:


> Something simple i would highly recommend is called-Quick Shine-floor finish-its in a white bottle & sold at Walmart & other places~works very well with shining wood floors & i know several gals that use it & like it-it does not make the floors slick either-but makes them shine & last a while to~
> 
> I just used this today on our wood laminate and am very pleased with it.


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