Waxing old floors

[arewedoneyet]

We're renovating an 1870s brownstone and have a lot of old parquet floors as well as a few new floors to seal. We're debating the merits of waxing vs. poly.

- We aren't the most consistent cleaners
- We have two small girls who run around like crazy
- We're not likely to tip-toe around too much

How does it wear?
How hard is the maintenance?

We'll probably pay someone to wax them for us once a year or so.

Does it hold up? Our parquet floors are old and not very thick so we probably won't be able to refinish them again before we have to replace them. Keeping them intact is important.


Thanks for your help.

[downtowndahlgren]

Well, waxing them is certainly less expensive than polyurethaning them, especially if you can't sand them beforehand. You need to clean them first with a good wood cleaner like Preen, then apply a thin layer of liquid or paste wax, let it dry to a haze and then buff with a felt pad followed by a lambswool pad for a higher gloss. The great thing about waxing is that if you get a scratch, you just fill it in with a colored wax stick and buff it right out. An electric buffer is pretty inexpensive, and easy to use. Just make sure your girls don't run on the floors in fluffy socks, unless they like to slide.

[artfox]

Before I moved into my 1935 bungalow six years ago, I had the oak and pine floors lightly sanded, sealed and waxed. They're holding up well and, as mentioned in a previous post, the upkeep as is easy. Street shoes and dog toenails don't faze them and they haven't developed the worn areas that appear on many polyurethaned floors.

[Don M]

My parents house had waxed hardwood floors (before the advent of poly!) and they were waxed once each year; there were no issues and they looked great!

[Luetic]

how do you know if you can wax your floors or if they've been poly'd? ( I assume you can't wax them then?)

[downtowndahlgren]

Actually, I've used liquid floor wax on my poly'd living and dining room floors. Same deal: spread it on, let dry to a haze, and polish with the electric floor polisher. It's helped keep them a little shinier than they were before, and I didn't have to displace the large furniture (or the cats, except for stowing them in the bedrooms.)