Browse Forums General Discussion 1 Sep 07, 2007 12:33 pm I'm going to look at repolishing my cypress floors later this year
They're in really good shape, all very flat and have been beautifully polished a few years ago by the previous owner. They are starting to dull though with lots of little scuff marks in heavy traffic areas. There is no damage to the boards, just the top coat of varnish. What's the best way to repolish/ recoat them? Can I give them a very light sand and add another coat or two of clear over the top? Or do I need to go back to bare boards.... I wouldn't have thought so. I'm hoping its a recoat rather than a full professional repolish needed. All help is much appreciated Re: Repolishing Timber Floor 2Sep 11, 2007 11:58 am Well for anyone who is interested it seems I can happily give my floors a light sand, thorough clean and recoat with easily available products from cabots or similar
I'll do a small test area first I think and leave it dry a few weeks to see make 100% sure there;s no reaction. Then I think I'll apply a polish over top this time as a sacrificial wear layer that I can top up... see about that when I get there Re: Repolishing Timber Floor 3Sep 11, 2007 11:20 pm Do you know what the original coating is.?
Some coatings you can just do the sand and recoat specific areas - others you need to strip the whole lot back or it will not grip/key into the old stuff. Polyurathane being one of the not so easy to recoat ones. That's from what I've read. Personally I've sanded and clear coated 3 houses and they were either from bare wood with the last being poly that I totally resanded anyway. House 4 is bare board right now and soon to be done Once I finished the other stuff!!! Steve Re: Repolishing Timber Floor 4Sep 13, 2007 10:52 am thanks Steve yeah I'm not entirely sure..... hence the test spot
If the test spot works then Iill do room and let use it for a while to see how we go. Pretty safe to say its been done in the last 10 years because it was public housing owned until then when the previous owner bought it privately. Being done in the last 10 yrs it probably is a poly coating I'd say. Re: Repolishing Timber Floor 5Sep 13, 2007 12:37 pm Our old place was a 70s house with cypress boards that were done from new with the old 'estapol' type coating.
I never got to do the whole house, but where I started it was simply a matter of giving it a light sand with the orbital sander (hooked up to the vacuum to minimise dust) and then a good vacuum & damp mop. The floor was almost back to bare timber in the high-traffic spots, and the rest of the room was fairly thin & patchy too, which made sanding a breeze. I didn't remove it all, just skimmed over it. Next day, another damp mop (as dry as possible) then I used a roller & extension to apply a coat of 'sanding sealer' (any good paint shop will have it) The sanding sealer helps to seal the timber so the coating doesn't soak in as much, so you need less coats to achieve a smooth (non sinking) finish. Sanding sealer is a lot cheaper than the coating too! Then I did 2 coats of feast-watson' brand 'floor clear' I think it's called, and it came up great. We went for satin, as the gloss is too shiny for my liking, and looks like it's wet. The smell isn't too bad. We stayed in the house, and just shut the door of an evening, The one mistake I made was leaving the window open overnight on the first coat. We got a cloudy area in the lacquer from the moisture in the night air. I had to lightly sand it back to get rid of it. Re: Repolishing Timber Floor 6Sep 13, 2007 2:17 pm thanks commodorenut! glad to hear it worked out. Did you live with it long after doing it? Just wondering if you used it long enough to guage how it was wearing?
I personally like wet look gloss finish but I'll go for a semi gloss or satin because high gloss will show up any little scratches and look ratty quicker than a flatter one Re: Repolishing Timber Floor 7Sep 13, 2007 2:29 pm We were there for another 6 months or so, and it stayed looking good the whole time. It still looks OK now (we still own the house) so that's about 12 months all up.
Mind you, there was only 2 adults & 1 puppy that walked on it, and we were quite careful anyway. We rarely wore shoes past the front entry. It did scratch a bit from the dog's claws, but you could only see it if you got down on the floor & looked closely. Engineering timber is certainly a less fuss option, times cheaper to supply and install and better withstands humidity. 1 15886 The most likely cause of your timber swelling (parquetry?) is either a plumbing leak or carelessly leaving water on floors after use or both. Without seeing, i am ignoring… 1 3271 Thank you. Do I use timber floorboards for stairs or do people use timber treads? Or is both the same? 6 7257 |