There is no single flooring option that can raise your homes value as much as hardwood floors. Hardwood floors have beauty, they can last for centuries, they are easy to keep clean and raise the resale value of any home.
Though hardwood floors are easy to clean and easy to maintain, they can and do get damage from time to time. Sometimes the finish becomes so worn that refinishing the floor may seem to be the only option left. However, refinishing involves removing all of your furniture, sanding the floor creating a tremendous mess, applying a new expensive finish, waiting days for it to dry, and finally replacing all of the furniture.
Refinishing hardwood floors is not a task for the do it yourselfer. It is difficult to do correctly and safely and is best left to professional. Refinishing a hardwood floor can cost a significant amount of money.
What if there was something else you could do to protect your worn floors and add a beautiful new shine to them with minimal effort, no mess, and for less than $20. Well there is something you can do and it’s not anything new. For centuries people have applied a high quality paste wax to their hardwood floors to protect them and to beautify them. The process of waxing floors has been around forever, but in recent years it has lost favor as new, advanced finishes have taken over.
But if you have a worn floor in need of a freshening there still is no easier, cheaper method than waxing your floors. The process is simple, the product is quite durable, and the cost is next to nothing. The end result is a wonderful low gloss sheen and a protective barrier that will extend the life of you hardwood.
To begin you will have to thoroughly clean your existing floor. It’s easily done by vacuuming the floor followed by wiping the entire floor down with a rag and mineral spirits. Once the floor is clean, allow it to dry thoroughly.
The paste wax used for floors is very similar to car wax. It comes in a small tin and has a thick consistency making it relatively easy to work with and very quick drying. Take a large clump of the wax and place it into a folded sheet of cheesecloth. Fold this piece around the clump so that the wax does not make direct contact with the floor. As you glide the cheesecloth across the floor a minute amount of wax will pass through to the floor.
Go over the entire floor with the cheesecloth and wax until every surface is covered. Once completed, take a microfiber cloth and buff the wax and hardwood floor to a low sheen. At this time the finish is completely dry and usable. There is no down time when waxing floors.
Wax is durable but will need touch ups from time to time. Simply repeat the process above on high traffic areas every month and go over the entire floor once a year. This will keep the finish like new and will keep the hardwood floors well protected. The best part of waxing is no mess, little money spent, and no inconvenience to those living in the house.
Enjoy your newly waxed floors for years to come.
