How To Wax Your Wood Floors To Preserve Their Beauty

Classic, durable, and perfect for sliding in stocking feet, "Risky Business"-style, wood floors will always be the right choice for a home. Just like anything else in life, there are some essential tasks to ensure that your floors live long and prosper. Sealants protect the wood and enhance its appearance. There are scores of ways to bring old hardwood floors back to life, and waxing them may be the right choice for yours. Waxing your wood floors protects them from spills, fills in scratches, and can shield a stain from fading. It's not the easiest DIY in the world, but the results can be worth the effort.

However, for existing floors, it's vital to know what your floor is already treated with. If your wood floors are coated in urethane, wax isn't for you. Are you unsure what your floors are treated with? In a hidden corner, lightly rough up the floor's surface with a piece of steel wool. If there's a waxy, gray film on the steel wool, you're dealing with a waxed floor. You can also wax floors that are bare or have been treated with wood sealer, shellac, lacquer, oil, or varnish.

Here's the nitty gritty on waxing your floors to a glow. Once you've sprung for the best product for your surfaces, here are your steps: clean the floors, apply one or more coats of wax, and buff. Depending on the state of your floors, you may have a few other tasks tacked onto each step.

Start by choosing a wax in liquid or paste form; each form requires slightly different applications and will give you different results. You'll need to apply wax paste with a cloth by hand, whereas you can apply liquid wax with a sponge-head mop. Wax paste is more painstaking to apply, but its finish tends to last longer than one from liquid wax. Also, you'll likely need to apply more than one coat of liquid wax. Once you're ready to roll up your sleeves, open those windows wide for some necessary ventilation.

If your floor's been waxed in the past, you'll need to strip this off by hand with mineral spirits or with a commercial wax stripper and steel wool. Once you've removed the old wax, mop the floor to remove grit and debris with an effective hardwood floor cleaner, or particles can get stuck in the wax. Let the floor dry fully, and apply the wax. For pastes, use a damp, lint-free cloth, dip it in the wax, and gently rub it into the wood. For liquid waxes, apply it directly to the floor and spread it with the mop. Let the first coat dry for between 10 to 60 minutes before adding a second coat.

When the wax begins to look cloudy, that's the sign that you're ready to buff the floor to a shine. Do this with a clean and dry rag, a mop, or an electric buffer. Go slowly, one section at a time. Once you're finished, stay off the floors for about eight hours for best results.