Get matched with top floor polishers in Eagle Bend, MN

Before starting on a full refinishing project, determine if your floors need to be completely sanded down to the bare wood or if the damage is shallow and mostly cosmetic. Deep scratches and gouges will require you to rough sand using a drum sander or belt sander, but small surface scratches or floors that have only lost their luster don’t need a complete overhaul. Instead, you can skip the rough sanding step and sand-screen the old finish with a buffer, removing only the top layer of polyurethane.

Floor polishing isn’t technically necessary, but it will help your floors last longer and hold up better to scratches. Floor polish is a thin coating that fills in small abrasions on your floor and makes them less visible, and it can act as a protective covering that prevents future damage to the floor underneath. Floor polish helps protect against water and moisture, so it’s a great service if you want to extend the lifespan of your floors. Additionally, polish makes your floors shine, making your home look cleaner and more inviting.

Wood floors should be polished every two to four months to maintain a shine and to keep them protected from daily wear and tear. More frequent maintenance includes dry mopping the floors daily and cleaning spills immediately, using a spray mop and cleaner weekly to remove any built up dirt or grime, and sanding and refinishing the floors every three to five years.

You can use dish soap mixed with warm water to clean just about any type of flooring, and while vinegar is a great addition to some floor cleaners, it’s not a good idea to use it on wood flooring or engineered wood flooring. Vinegar is very acidic, and it can gradually eat away at the protective finish on wood floors. If you’re cleaning laminate, tile, concrete, or vinyl floors, feel free to use vinegar and water in a 1-to-1 ratio with a few drops of dish soap. For wood floors, substitute the vinegar for olive oil.