I have wooden parquet floors in my place that are nice, but would look really great if I could wax them. They were waxed at one time, but that has mostly worn off and the floor looks patchy and dull. I’ve never waxed a floor in my life so I don’t know what to get or where to start. So I guess I’d need to know:
-Prep work (do I have to strip off old wax? If so what do I use and how?)
-Product (s) to use
-How to do it
-How often I will have to wax
I also have a hallway with old linoleum tiles that have no kind of shine at all. Are those also waxable, and with what and how?
-Prep work (do I have to strip off old wax? If so what do I use and how?)
Don’t have to, but it probably wouldn’t hurt. I discovered the hard way (Army days) that cleaning products for NO WAX floors are remarkably efficient at removing wax. Just mix with water as directed and mop as normal. Discard the mop head when you’re done.
-Product (s) to use
If you have a floor buffer (Serious, these give outstanding results and make maintaining the shine an absolute Zen pleasure) a fine product is Johnson’s Floor wax. It’s a paste in a yellow can, and on the grocery store shelf looks like a can of car wax. Absolutely marvelous results with the aforementioned buffer.
-How to do it
Strip (if you want) the floor of old wax.
Mop with clean fresh water & let the floor dry.
Grab a rag you never liked anyway. Don’t use anything nice, an old clean shop towel or wash cloth is fine. Anything you can use to dip the paste out of the can and smear it on the floor. Best not to use your bare hands however, that’s kinda icky. Smear the wax in a thin coat all over all of the floor. It’s easy to use too much, just get a thin layer down, you can always add more later if you want.
Open a beer & drink it while the wax dries. Now, open and drink another. After about 30 minutes of this behavior you’ll be ready to rock & roll with the buffer.
Buff! using a buffer can be tricky at first, especially if you’re drunk while learning. After a couple minutes you can figure out how to control it and then you’ll wonder why you bother with a car for your transportation.
-How often I will have to wax
You’ll need to reapply the wax when buffing fails to make your floor shine as well as it did on the first day. Just apply the wax in the worn areas and buff buff buff. It’s time to strip the floor when you start to notice a yellowy buildup–maybe a year or more.
You can use it on wood and linoleum. I’ve never tried any of the other products (Mop N Glo, etc) the don’t require buffing so I can’t offer any info on them.
Everything2 has a bunch of helpful HOWTOs. This one, called “How to mop a floor” includes advice on stripping and waxing the floor, and is written by a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy. Odds are he’s had to do this several times himself, and has gotten quite good at it. I know the author personally, and I think it’s unlikely that his advice would be misleading. That said, I haven’t actually tried his method, so YMMV.
