Typical
maintenance of SWEDISH FINISH hardwood floors is easy. Dust mop
with Original Endust to get rid of light dust and ‘dust
bunnies.’ If the floor needs something more just mix 1
gallon of water to 1 cup of white vinegar and DAMP WIPE the floor
using a soft cloth. This means you NEVER get the floor WET – JUST
DAMP. NEVER use enough water that it ‘beads up’ on
the floor. Just a damp cloth will do fine. There’s no need
to wax the floor – ever. All floors get micro abrasion
over time. It’s this micro abrasion that dulls the finish
of the floor. If time goes by and you need another coat of finish
to bring back the luster we can often do that without going through
the entire process of refinishing. Instead of sanding the floors
down to bare wood and starting over, we can just sand the surface
of the existing finish and apply another coat. This is called
a Buff-N-Coat. A word of caution about other flooring products:
there are a number of products on the market that claim to be
good for hardwood floors and for the most part they do what they
say they’ll do. However, they often do MORE than they say
they’ll do. Most leave a residue on the surface of the
wood that makes the floor impossible to recoat with SWEDISH FINISH
in the future. This means that if you want another coat of SWEDISH
FINISH in the future to bring the luster back it won’t
be able to bond through the residue contamination and in many
cases this residue contamination will react with the SWEDISH
FINISH and ruin the Buff-N-Coat. Just use the vinegar and water
and damp wipe. Vinegar is a fantastic cleaner and it’s
inexpensive. Never use abrasives on the finish. If you have a
mark on the floor that just doesn’t want to come off try
a little lacquer thinner. It works fine on SWEDISH FINISH; we
use it frequently when we prepare a floor for another coat of
finish. Be careful to never leave a rag with lacquer thinner
lying on the finish or on any other valuable item. It is a powerful
solvent and a little bit goes a long way. Never use paint thinner
or mineral spirits on a SWEDISH FINISH floor. It contaminates
the floor and it will cause a reaction when SWEDISH FINISH is
applied in the future. Again, white vinegar and water, Endust
on your dust mop and you’re in business.
If you decide to use a Waterborne Urethane Finish the cleaning
process is very similar. Use Endust for dust mopping and for
cleaning use a solution of 1 gallon of water to 1 cup of Windex.
Again, DAMP WIPE ONLY – NEVER WET. Use NO ABRASSIVES OR
SOLVENTS (like lacquer thinner). Waterborne Urethanes are not
SWEDISH FINISHES and they need different products.
After your floors are finished they need to ‘cure’.
SWEDISH FINISH comes to about 90% of its strength in a week and
it is ‘cured’ in a month. You can get on the new
floor the day after the last coat of finish is applied wearing
stocking feet. The finish looks hard but it is still soft. You
can set furniture in place the day after the last coat is applied
as long as you don’t drag it across the floor – you
just pick it up and set it in place. Waiting a few days is even
better. Leave area rugs off for at least a week so that the new
finish can breathe and cure evenly. Underneath chair legs and
furniture you can put small self-adhesive pieces of carpet or
thick felt. These should be cleaned regularly so that no sand
or abrasive stuff gets stuck in them and harms the floor.
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