How To Identify Hardwood Floor Finish

Improper techniques can damage wood floors resulting in astronomical repair bills.

How to identify hardwood floor finish.

Many species such as oak pine and fir are easily recognizable. You often can tell what kind of wood your floor is made from just by looking at it. How can you properly clean hardwood floors without knowing the finish that was applied. Found on prefinished solid hardwood flooring surface finishes such as polyurethane form a protective layer over the floor and are some of the most common finishes in use today.

You can however learn techniques to identify a floor finish. If the finish dissolves congratulations you ve got a waxed floor. Learning how to refinish hardwood floors involves taking care during the sanding process and the application of finish. This time apply a small amount of denatured alcohol to the finish and do the same process.

Knowing this will allow you to choose the proper cleaning chemicals and procedures to use as well as determining a course of action for periodic maintenance of wood floors. If nothing happens move on to the next test. Successfully refinished hardwood flooring can bring a new shine to your old floor. Unfinished solid hardwood flooring has a penetrating finish which does as the name implies.

Because this type of finish is applied at the factory it s thicker and harder than a on site polyurethane finish. Identifying the type of finish that is applied to a wood floor is necessary in order to determine the best maintenance procedures. In order to clean repair stain or treat the wood flooring you will need to correctly identify the type of hardwood under your feet. How to find out what type of wood floor you have.

When it s not hardwood it may appear rather sturdy but just because you ve found a gorgeous wood floor in your living space doesn t mean it is hardwood. Test 2 is it shellac. Need help identifying a tool or material for refinishing hardwood flooring. If the finish dissolves this time then you can be assured you have a shellac finish.

Find products fast with image search in the home depot app. Assuming there is no stain finish or preservative on or in the wood quickly sand saw or otherwise machine a section of the wood in question and take a whiff of the aroma. Although new scents can be very difficult to express in words many times the scent of an unknown wood may be similar to other known scents. It is absorbed into the floor and then topped off by a coat of floor wax.

Finishing expert peter gedrys explains how you can test you floors to determine the finish used.