Tom LeBaron from Mr. Sandless explains how to take care of hardwood floors and the new way to refinish them.
3 MISTAKES PEOPLE MAKE WITH WOOD FLOORS
1. Never use products that damage your finish. Many products give you an initial shine, but have ingredients that damage the finish on your floor. These products make the finish peel and chip and will cause you to need to refinish your floors more often. All products with oil, wax, lemon or ammonia will damage your finish. Many common grocery store products destroy the finish. Never put anything on your floors that is not meant only for wood. Your floors are very valuable and so think about the fact that a grocery store product used for all kinds of floors has a better chance of ruining your floors than fixing them. The only product we actually recommend is our own neutral cleaner.
2. Don’t use water too often. Water and moisture are the enemies of wood! Wet clean your floors only when absolutely necessary. Use a damp mop and neutral floor cleaner only.
3. Wipe up spills immediately. All water base finishes can be quickly eaten away by the bacteria that will form from most animal products. These include milk, ice cream, hairballs, saliva and urine. Clean up spills immediately to avoid damage.
3 THINGS YOU CAN DO TO EXTEND THE LIFE OF YOUR FLOORS
1. Dry mop your floors on a regular basis. Dry mopping gets up the gritty dirt that can ruin a finish! Purchase the best quality dry mop you can.
2. Use floor protectors. All finishes will scratch. All furniture legs need felt protectors. Also, you should trim pet nails, which can scratch and ruin a finish.
3. Protect high-traffic areas with rugs and mats. Especially entry points, landings and base of stairs.
MR. SANDLESS
Mr. Sandless is a new service in Salt Lake, but has been refinishing floors for about 10 years now. There are currently 99 locations that have serviced over 30,000 floors.
Generally there are two types of traditional sanding to refinish floors. The first is a light sanding where they do the surface and put on a single coat of urethane. It takes 1-2 days and costs about $400 per room. This is also known as screen sanding, grit sanding or re-coating.
The second is a full out sanding. Here they sand away 1/16th to 1/8th of an inch off your floor and then put on a couple of coats of urethane. It takes 4-7 days and costs about $900 per room.
Our service falls right in the middle. We use a process very similar to sanding but with a special non-toxic solution. We actually get deeper into the wood than a light sanding. Then we seal the floor with our own brand of finish. It looks like urethane, lasts like urethane and you clean it like urethane. But unlike urethane there is no odor and it dries in one hour. So we can literally seal your floor with multiple coats in just hours. This is why our floors look so good and last so long. You can walk right on your floor and put furniture down as soon as we are finished. Best of all, we are half the price of sanding.
For more information on Mr. Sandless you can visit www.mrsandless.com or call us for information or an estimate at 877-714-WOOD (9663). Please mention that you saw us on Studio 5 and we will give you $50.00 any refinish of 2 rooms or more.
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