How To Buff Clean and Maintain Your Hardwood Floor

Hardwood Floor Buffing, Cleaning and Maintenance: Its All Here!

Buffing



A hardwood floor can be a source of pride for the home owner who manages to maintain its luster. However, you may end up hating your hardwood floor if it has lost that shine that it first came out with. The best way to restore the shine of your hardwood floor is by buffing it. Some people may be tempted to replace the entire flooring all because of some nicks or dents. You don’t have to do that.



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Apart from the fact that re-doing your entire hardwood floor is going to cost you, it may also be a waste of time. Nicks, scruffs or gouges in your hardwood floor can be handled by buffing it. To buff your hardwood floor, you will need a machine called a buffer. A buffer can be gotten from any high quality hardware store close to you. A buffer uses a screen. A screen of about a hundred grit usually does the trick. Before you buff your floor, sand it.



Vacuum your hardwood floor after sanding it to ensure that no unseen particle will interrupt the process of buffing. Before you attempt to buff your floor, test run it across the floor and get used to the feel of it in your hands. Once you have done that, you can go ahead and buff your floor. If your hardwood floor has a wax finish, you should endeavor to remove it before you buff it for maximum results.



After you have buffed your floor, you can wax it again. If buffing your floor is too much of an effort for you or an activity that you cannot perform because of time, you can seek professional help. Voyageur flooring is an example of a flooring service that can take care of any hardwood buffing desires that you may have… although, you can save a lot of money if you do it by yourself.



Cleaning Your Hardwood Floors



Just as a rose garden demands more attention and work from the gardener, hardwood floors tend to demand extra work from the home owner. Hardwood floors basically refer to the use of any kind of hardwood to cover your floors. The most frequently asked question hardwood floor owners ask is ‘how do I clean my hardwood floor?’



There are three basic steps to cleaning hardwood floors. They include;



• Buffing: Buffing is one way to keep your hardwood floor in excellent shape. Buffing is an excellent means of ensuring that the polish on your floor stays intact. In order to ensure that your hardwood floor is properly buffed, you should use a screen with one hundred grit at least.



• Swiping: Water and other water solvents constitute an enemy to hardwood floors. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that water is an effective way to clean your hardwood floor. It isn’t. In reality, water does not do much for them. Instead, water damages them by reducing their longetivity. If you must get rid of water spills or other spills on your floor, use a vacuum (dry) or a wet towel to soak up the water.



• Polishing: Polishing is often done after your hardwood floor has been buffed. Paste wax in an ideal finishing solution for your hardwood floors. You can have a set of sparkling hardwood floors when you take your time to apply the finishing solution. Ensure that your floor is thoroughly dry before you apply the solution.



These are three simply basic cleaning techniques for your hardwood floor. You can’t go wrong if you adhere to them.



Maintaining Your Hardwood Floors



Now that you have had your hardwood floors installed, you may be thinking that you have finally arrived….your work just started. Hardwood floors demand a lot of energy and care. You need to be able to maintain a gloss and shine that hardwood floors come within the first place.



You can start that by taking care of your hardwood floors daily. You can use a vacuum that has a non-reciprocating brush to get rid of dirt, sand and grime. If you have people constantly trooping into your home on a daily basis, this will definitely help to keep it spotless and gleaming.



You should also place rug mats or doormats on strategic areas of your home in order to decrease the amount of dirt that comes in. In the event that something- water or some other solution spills on your hardwood floors, don’t use vinegar. Instead, get absorbant paper towels and soak it up or use a damp towel first to clean it and dry with a moisture free towel.



Water stains and other stains can be removed with a hardwood floor cleaner. If the stain does not respond to it, you can have it taken care of by sanding your floor. Use very fine sand paper with 600 grit or some steel wool to sand it. When you are sanding your hardwood floor, do not go against the grain of the wood or you will risk defacing the floor even more.



Instead, follow the grain of the wood. Once you have succeeded in sanding the stain away, buff it with a clean cloth and wax with varnish to give it that perfect sheen. Taking extra care of your hardwood floor can make it last longer.



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How to Cover Up Raw Plywood Edges

One of the most decorative ways that a woodworker can hide the raw layered looking edges of plywood is with standard wooden moldings that can cover both single edges and corners and are available in various styles, either ornate or plain. These often heavy wood strips are glued and then nailed in place. Depending on your project, they may look a bit chunky, but they stay put.


Woodworking Video from YouTube. Watcha nd enjoy!









Another way to conceal the edge is to create a raised lip. With this approach, a straight wooden strip conceals the edge and then triangular strips or molding blends the plain lip with the slab of plywood. One trick here is that if you make two rabbet cuts in the strip you intend to use to cover the edge, such that the strip resembles the letter "T", and a groove in the plywood edge, you can then have that one strip piece do the work of two. Just router the lip to the angle you would like it to have.





Yet another way that the plywood edges can be concealed is during the actual construction by using solid wood stock inserts at the corners where the pieces meet and hide glue blocks behind the corners to give them support. However this requires some pre-planning since the inserts take up space and may change a project's dimensions, and solid wood is often more expensive than plywood, especially for the more exotic species.





And then there is the relatively easy way to conceal edges by using wood tape products, which are suitable for use on all natural finishes, not just plywood. These wood tapes, also called "edge banding", come in rolls that are actually flexible bands of thin veneer, either real wood, or simulated wood grain. More and more colors have come on the market so you should be able to find a match for just about any species of wood that has been used as a surface veneer on plywood. These wood tapes are thin enough that you can cut them with a knife, yet strong enough that you don't have to worry about breaking them.





Along with the array of different colors and grain patterns are different types of application methods. Some are self-adhesive; others are applied with yellow or white carpenter's glue or with contact cement. If you work with yellow or white glue, it is best to apply thin coatings of the adhesive to both surfaces and wait for the glue to become tacky before putting the tape in place.





If you work with contact cement, follow the instructions on the container. This adhesive is a bit trickier because you must make sure the initial placement of the edge banding tape is correct since contact cement bonds immediately on contact with itself on the other surface.





There are also edge banding tapes that use a factory applied thermal setting adhesive. One of them is a veneer that is 1/48th of an inch thick and very easy to apply. The heat needed for the application of the edge banding is available by pressing the tape with an ordinary household iron that you use for getting wrinkles out of clothes. The tape comes with a paper backing that you peel off before use, but dont strip off long pieces of the paper backing in advance. Instead, remove it little by little as you go long. This tape is sticky enough so the tape holds on its own, but the bond will not be effective or permanent until you run over it with an iron set at 400 degrees Fahrenheit, or the usual setting used for cotton.





Be sure the panel edges are square, smooth and free of sawdust no matter what tape you decide to apply. It is not necessary to fill the plywood edges, but you should plug any large cavity that might cause a hollow to form when the tape is applied.





Thermal set edge banding can be worked on as soon as it has cooled. Those that have been applied using contact cement are ready to work on right away, and those that use yellow or white jobs require the correct amount of set time after clamping before you can work on those edges.





Carefully and lightly plane off any tape overhang on the edge or use a razor knife to carefully, and smoothly cut the overhang off if your plywood edge was narrower than the tape used. You can sand edge banding wood tape as you would any veneer, but you need to be aware of their thinness. All are quite smooth, so minimum sandpaper work is needed.





However, be aware that even though the veneer tapes are the easiest to apply, sooner or later the tape may chip or fray.





Make Your Own Edge Banding Tape Aligning Roller





There are special little roller devices that can help you align the edge banding tapes perfectly on any width of plywood as well as apply pressure during gluing, or you can make your own.





Using 1/4 plywood, cut 2 rectangular pieces, 7.5" x 2" ; one piece that is 3/4" x 7.5"; and a 3/4" roller cut from a 1 inch hardwood dowel. This roller will ride on a nail or bolt axle. In fact, you can make a little tape roller for any thickness of plywood you need.





Align the two 7.5" pieces and cut a 45 degree angle into one of the 2" sides. With them still aligned, drill a small hole for your nail or bolt that is 1-inch in from the longest side and 1-inch down. This will expose half of the radius of the roller. Drill a slightly larger hole in the center of the roller so that it will roll smoothly on the axle. Insert the nail through the 2 sides and through the roller.





On the short side, place the 3/4" piece of wood between the 2 larger pieces and glue or nail it in place. This will keep the 2 sides separated and give you a place to ride your thumb on as you roll it along the edge of the plywood.





On the longer side, use a scroll saw or bandsaw to shape it into a long, gracefully curved handle that is comfortable for your hand to grasp, and voila! You now have your own tape roller.





Incidentally, an added bonus of these veneer tapes is that they may be used as inlay strips or for marquetry because they cut so easily with a knife or shears. This is especially true of the multi-colored, multi-species veneer edge banding that you can purchase in a myriad of intricate patterns already "inlaid" for you.

Mark Dunne is a successful freelance writer providing advice on your a number of topics like
Concrete Articles and Drywall Plaster if you have time drop by his site for some tips and information. http://www.diystuff.com

how to refinish hardwood floors: how to sand hardwood floors

how to refinish hardwood floors: how to sand hardwood floors

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