Upset with your treasured wooden kitchen floors gone wrong? You are not the only one! While it doesn’t so much matter for the health of timbered floors if you accidentally drop a bowl of hot soup or spaghetti sauce on it every now and then, something like unnoticed water under the sink or a dishwater line popping a leak may mean plain and simple DISASTER! And, every householder knows, such a thing can happen in a kitchen anytime.
Hardwood flooring has been around for centuries and it certainly holds an irresistible charm for modern homes today. Whether you are going for an all-out rustic impression characterized by muted colours with prominent grain markings or creating a ‘country chic’ statement– full of bright colors– wooden floors can work wonders for a number of looks across the spectrum. The only hitch in planning ahome with warm and tenacious timbered flooring is the incompatibility of wooden layouts with moist environments. But if the floorwork of your kitchen is in a mess, we can suggest an effective DIY refinishing technique that will not only cover up scratches and damp marks but quite cosily fit your budget too!
Refinish Ruined Hardwood Floors with Chemical Etching: One Day Plan
All it takes is one day of life to replenish the ruined surface of your precious wooden kitchen. Keep a Saturday off, buy a readily available chemical solution from the market for etching purposes, and a topcoat finishing paint, and you are good to go. This is all DIY which means, zero expenditure for hiring a handyman. Something like the ‘Varathane Renewal Floor Refinishing Kit’ has the whole package. Make sure there is enough quantity of the liquid etcher to cover your entire kitchen surface, equal potions of urethane finish, and an applicator block with easy-to using blotting pads. Since the finish dries slower than other water-solution floor finishes, you will find it more convenient for use. Order this package online or get it from the home centre nearest to you.
Once completely equipped, follow our guide below, better still hand in hand with a partner for a rotimatic DIY home-building team exercise!
Step 1: Clear Up Floor Space
Move away the furniture and dust the room to gauge the entire perimeter of the floor space. Vacuuming the area is an essential preparatory measure for floor done-ups like this since dust or muck getting caught in the paint applicant could mean a complete waste of your efforts. To scale down the chances, wash the surface with industrial-grade detergent and scrub the area with wire-mesh scrubbers.
The process also ensures there is a minimization of air-borne dust particles happening. Wet finishes can be marred to a nasty degree with the dust settling in as the wet application hardens. Familiar with those whisker-like fine lines trailing off on walls and floors? That’s the doing of floating air dust! Restrict air movement by closing all windows and plugging off air ducts.
You may also want to vacuum the curtains before starting the treatment. However, don’t take them off as direct sunlight flowing in from the windows can form patches on the freshly painted floor, making them dry faster.
Step 2: Peel the Floor with Chemical Etcher Solution
Dab the chemical solution, over parts of the floor. Now use Scotch-Brite type scrubbers to scrape the chemical doused floor surface. Scrub with the grain by applying gentle pressure, and you can find the surface wearing thin of the ruined refinish. Dig in your refinishing kit and find the abrasive pad to give the floor a second helping of the scrubbing. The pad can be easily fixed on the applicator block, also given in the kit and the whole set can be attached with a broom handle for your ease of use. Simply dip the pad into the solution, place it against the tray to squeeze off the excess and then place it on the floor.
The abrasive pad effectively scrapes off the surface while the chemical solution melts off the existing paint or polish finish to the last morsel. Scrub each area multiple times to perfect the process. However, you also need to maintain some caution about not keeping swathes of areas saturated with the chemical fluid for very long. Left for too long, the chemical seeps into the floor cracks and corrodes the lamination to the inside. Make sure to cover little areas at a time, not keeping the surface rubbed in the chemical for more than 5-6 minutes.
Step 3: Neutralize the Strength of the Chemical Solution by Wet Mopping
Time for yet another clean-up! Keep watch for the point when the etcher liquid top-off has fairly dried. It can take anything from 10 to 20 minutes, depending on the area of the room and the kind of ventilation it receives. Once dry, damp-mop the area with warm water sprinkled with dishwater liquid. Make it lathery, ensuring all of the etcher liquid has been sufficiently neutralized. This final mopping is sure to remove any gunk stuck deep within the floor cracks.
Like you already know it, accumulated water can be bad for wood, so wipe off puddles immediately as they form. Again working in small sections does the trick in keeping it neat and puddle-free.
Remember to slip on a pair of shoe covers, least the chemical damages your footwear!
Step 4: Apply the Fresh Finish
Before getting to the final task, check the surface for scratches. You can fix them by applying matching stains using an artist’s brush. The excesses can be blotted off with a rag and the touched-up area dried with the help of a blow-drier. Carefully feather out the rims of the newly applied stains so that no visible ridges are formed around the patch. When done with an eye for detail, after a fresh coat of the new finish, only you will know the touch-up job is there!
Next, paint the floor with your helper in tow. Put a fresh coat of the paint and have your partner follow up with an applicator pad. Strategize well not to work yourself into a corner!
This simple re-touch treatment for sprucing up wooden kitchen floors works like magic. In just a matter of a day, with minimum efforts and expenditure, your kitchen will be restored its lost glory and pass a rotimatic reviewwith straight As again!
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