Hardwood floor cleaners can gunk up your Nashville hardwood floors if the wood floor cleaner contains acrylic wax. I was walking through a supermarket yesterday and glanced down at an array of hardwood cleaners. I couldn’t help to stop and look if any of the wood cleaners had “shine” advertised on the front of the bottle. I was shocked to see most had that most persuasive word. Note: Other synonyms apply: Glow, Polish, Gloss, Rejuvenate, Protects, Revitalizes, etc.
Harwood Floor Shine
While I’m sure it isn’t true for every hardwood floor cleaner, I’m confident it is for most. The word “shine” indicates the hardwood floor cleaner likely possesses a type acrylic wax. Unlike urethane finish, acrylic wax is a soft, short-term hard surface finish that lasts 3 to 6 months.
The best analogy to help homeowners understand acrylic wax is that it’s like a bad addiction; after using it once, you must keep using it until an intervention occurs. That intervention is calling a professional hardwood floor cleaning service such as EverClean. After applying the acrylic finish, the floors look nice and shiny, though it’s really a chintzy type of shine. But after a few months of walking on it, the acrylic looks drab and dull again. This motivates the homeowner to apply more because, well, it’s dull again. This cycle continues until years later the floor is so globby the homeowner breaks down to call a professional hardwood floor cleaning service.
At this point, the customer may not even realize what she’s been doing to her Nashville hardwood floor. We’ve seen a customer apply acrylic wax for laminated floors for 10 years without even realizing the damage she was doing! After a short intervention, denial and final acceptance, we explain that the acrylic wax must be stripped of the wooden floor, which is far more invasive than simply cleaning it.
Removing Hardwood Floor Wax
If you discover your hardwood cleaner, or your maid’s hardwood cleaner has the word “shine” on it, call the company to find out how it can be removed. But take caution, if your floor contains fiberboard or particle board, you may not be able to remove the wax without it getting that wood floor wet. This may cause the particle board to swell causing irreversible damage.
Another option is to have a hardwood floor refinishing company sand the wax off the floor in what is known as a screen-and-coat service. This requires all the furniture to be removed and can get expensive and messy.
Hardwood Floor Paste
Another type of hardwood polish is known as wood floor wax. This product is white paste typically made from carnauba wax. While floor paste restores the luster in a wood floor temporarily, it also permanently damages the floor in terms of its inability to be refinished properly. This is because the cellulose within the wood absorbs the wax. When a hardwood floor refinisher attempts to remove the surface, the wax within the cellulose tubes will continue to reappear, which stops the new urethane surface from properly adhering to the refinished wood floor. If you have already applied wood floor polish to your Nashville wood floor, you will likely need to continue using it until the floor is replaced.
If you have any further questions about caring for your hardwood floor, give us call at 615-DRY-FAST (615-379-3278)