Wrong product on wooden flooring

Removing seal from a wooden floor

We don’t often see cases where someone uses the wrong product on a wooden floor, but it does happen. Here, an oiled floor was treated with the wrong product for over two years. Instead of using refresher oil, the customer applied hardwood polish.

The results were an expensive wooden floor, chosen to match the look of the 17th-century cottage, which ended up looking nothing like what was intended. Instead of a natural wood finish, each new layer of polish and restorer only made things worse.

The customer thought the only way to fix the floor was to sand it, but the original installer had advised against sanding. So, the customer was dissatisfied with the floor’s poor appearance.

Problems that can happen when using wooden floor polish incorrectly.

Even if you use polish or restorer on the right type of finish, using too much or not following the instructions can make the floor look bad. For more on removing polish, see our article on Revitalising Wood Floors.

Wrong finish on an oiled wooden floor

The engineered oiled oak flooring in the photo above became glossy and patchy over time. You can see the difference compared to the original finish in the bottom left corner, where a cabinet used to be.

Stephanie sent us photos and measurements, which helped us see that something was off with the floor’s appearance. We thought it looked like polish had been used on the oiled surface. Luckily, Stephanie still had the product that had been applied, so we were fairly confident we could fix the problem with non-sanding wood-floor cleaning.

In cases like this, there’s never a guarantee that everything will work out perfectly. The wrong product was used and applied at least 8 times over a few years. Confident with many years of experience cleaning and sealing wooden floors, we went ahead and scheduled the job.

Stripping Floor Polish From a Wood Floor

Usually, cleaning oiled wooden floors only needs a small amount of liquid. In this situation, though, the chemical used to dissolve the polish had to stay wet. It was important to keep it on just long enough for it to work, but not so long that it damaged the floor.

This job requires a lot of skill and experience, and it is not suited for beginners.

Wood flooring has been restored to its natural finish

After we managed to remove two years of product that should not have been used on an oiled floor, we were finally back on track. We finished the job by applying Osmo hard wax oil, which brought the floor back to its original look and gave it lasting protection.

Wood floor cleaned and oiled by Simply Floor Cleaning

For a fast online quote, uplaod your measurements and photos in the Get a Quote form below.