No, Wood Cleaner has several purposes. Partly, it makes sure that the floor is clean and free from grease. Furthermore, it opens the grains of the wood so that it takes well and gives the floor the correct surface tension, so that lacquers or Lacquer Care will spread evenly. Moreover, it is nice to keep in the kitchen cupboard for the quick spot removing on wooden floors. If you have problems with water stains on an oiled oak wood floor, you can also use the Wood Cleaner for the cleaning. It neutralizes tannin that is on top of the wood. By re-oiling, you might experience that the floor is much more water resistant now. (Please notice that this primarily concerns oak).
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Certainly the floor in your pictures doesnt look very happy. However, mainly I’m seeing signs of aggressive scratching and scraping across a dirty floor.
Some specific points are:
1) I would not think there is a single woodfloor finish manufacturer including those making factory applied ceramic lacquers who would be comfortable with that type of narrow, nylon tipped chair on their finish.
2) I cant really tell from the picture if the speckled effect is from grit being pressed into the floor surface subsequent to finishing OR grit that has got into the lacquer product during finishing meaning a drag has pulled the top off it. By running your hand over the finish you should quickly ascertain if your finisher applied the finish with a load of dirt getting caught in it or whether the dirt has been flicked onto the drying finish by a careless passer-by.
3) The shooting star effect will be a heavy box being pushed across a dirty area. Its telling that both of these marks are at the floor edge and next to the stone installation.
4) The lightness in the grain is fine building dust being mopped around the floor. If its trapped under the finish then …. havent cleaned the floor properly before starting. I doubt that, however.
Have a look at some of our lacquer care products and lotions. They may serve to be an easy repair, but most likely the surface needs screening and repair by recoating with the original finish.
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Full Question:
I wanted to touch base to ask about the finish on the floors. The gentleman who did the floors informed me on Saturday that I should not wash the floors for 1 week, only vacuum. I love the finish, but my only negative comment on the flooring is that it is very dry, has a chalky feel on your feet, and appears to pick up marks easily. I took a sponge and tried to wipe the floor at the entrance and it doesn't clean up. I thought it would have more of a wax finish making it easier to clean. I knew being that the floor is white that it would require more maintenance as far as cleaning it more often but I expect that it is able to easily wipe off dirt/scuff marks... What is the solution for this?
Answer:
The wood has plenty of a very strong oil in it, but I agree can feel a bit dry at the outset since it has not yet been honed by cleaning and traffic.
The cleaning of this type of floor finish really involves the damp cleaning and soap is an important part of that. If its done every other week then the soap hardens in the surface and you find that the oil converts into a really smooth, hard surface with a slight sheen.
The worst enemy to the finish is over aggressive cleaning - often this is a painter or another tradesman who try and remove some paint or a scuff from a black sole. Its better not to over-rub a spot, rather let the mark break down of its own accord using the general cleaning process. You'll be pleasantly surprised how things just seem to go on their own accord. For example, if your dog has an accident then it may leave a stain, but if you dont try anything too specific then you'll find in a month or two the wood has rejuvenated itself.
Full Question:
I need couple of 5 l white soap for my Dinesen Douglas fir floor
Can you deliver in SW3?
Answer:
We don’t sell the Dinesen soap. They have their own webshop for sales direct from Denmark http://webshop.dinesen.com/gb/ If you struggle with that then we have Faxe soap white available from this website, which we feel is the closest alternative. You can place orders and pay online for next day delivery.
Full Question:
What is the dilution ration for Faxe White Soap?
Answer:
Sorry about all the confusion over the soap. In the end I emailed the manufacturers in Denmark. This is their reply.:
"The ratio would be 1:20, when its regular maintenance.
For basic treatment, the ratio is 1:10.
The surface should be wet, without areas of pools on the floor.
A bucket with 5 litres of soap mixture, could easily cover more than 100
m2. "
So if you buy 1 Litre soap and mix with 10 litres water you will have
enough to do 2 coats on your 50m2 floor.I hope that helps.
However, our own contractors still think diluting 1:1 gets the best amount of protection into the wood in the least time, so you can make your own mind up! For that reason all our instructions are written on this basis (1:3 for the 2nd application).
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Both are suited for oiled floors. They are both easy to use and both give the floor protection when you wash it. The Oil Refresher gives the floor a little bit of oil so that you can wait a while until next treatment with Maintenance Oil. Both products are available in natural and white. Some think that the Oil Refresher seems very thin compared to the Natural Soap, but the oil will penetrate into the floor and protect it.
If you have an oak wood floor and you want to keep the white/light look, we recommend our Natural Soap. It will give the lightest result, as the oil gives oak a natural glow.
If you oiled your floor recently, or you wash it several times a week, you must use the Natural Soap. If the floor is fully-saturated with oil, the oil emulsion cannot penetrate into the wood and will stay on the surface. This will appear as a greasy film and foot prints will be visible.
(they can easily be removed by washing one time with clean water or a soap solution).
Use WOCA Natural Soap natural or white for the regular cleaning and then for instance the Oil Refresher once a month. You can switch between natural and white depending on how white you want the floor to be.
I do try and keep track of this. We're also happy to do research on your behalf and when its impossible to discover the correct specification then a recommendation can be made from the Woca range. Here goes anyway:
Element 7 oiled: use their own brand oil in production then recommend Woca soaps and maintenance oils for aftercare
Dinesen: all wood is shipped unfinished with their own brand lyes, soaps and/or oils. They have their own webshop for aftercare lye and soap to be shipped direct from Denmark. Oil is not available from their webshop, but they have recommended Woca High Solid products in the past.
Timbafloor: recommend Woca for aftercare
Hakwood: their floor finish choice covers UV-lacquered, oiled & duo-varnished. Specific care products are available from Hakwoods.
The Solid Wood Flooring Company: floors are supplied prepared with Timberex impregnating oil. These floors can be cared for using Woca products if you wish for a VOC free care programme.
Timberland: recommend Woca for aftercare.
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The techique was developed by Dane Care based on the initial 3 month care period that we underook before it was handed over to the contract cleaners. Subsequently other commercial floor cleaners have adopted the techique for hotels and restaurants they look after.
Woca Commercial Oil 1902 is a deliberately very thin oil to prevent overbuild so needs multiple workings to get the appearance up to a Eurostar presentation. However, if you have a hardwax or lacquer finish then these don’t apply so you need to sand the floors to go to the successful Woca finish.
One detail is that Eurostar buy Master Soap and dilute it into their own spray bottles. Most other customers buy Natural Soap Sprayable for the convenience and to negate the risk that their workers get the dilution wrong.
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WOCA Spot Remover is perfect for indoor use to remove spots.
If necessary, repeat the treatment till the spot is gone. Always remember to finish with WOCA Natural Soap, WOCA Maintenance Oil or WOCA Maintenance Paste.
Otherwise, patience is remarkably effective as organic stains have the habit of breaking down in their own way under a normal cleanign regime. So dont overreact and start sanding!
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Yes, by some wood types as for instance oak, where you want it as light as possible. We recommend continuing with Natural Soap white, as the oil in the Oil Refresher will moisten the wood and therefore, the floor will appear darker when treated with oil.
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They’ll have splattered some paint and tried to improve the situation by buffing / scouring the spot. Odds on there will still be a bit of paint in the centre of the scoured area. They should have just let the splatter to dry and then flicked it off using the blade of a Stanley knife. If they had cut the surface slightly then it could have been touched up with some maintenance oil. Now you need to pick the paint out in the manner described and probably soak the spot with some water to open the grain and then reoil the area. If its not a perfect cure then at least the area will even out as its cleaned.
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