Ideas for making engineered floors shiny

12 years ago

I have Shaw engineered floors throughout my new home in a walnut pre-finished color. They are constantly dull and don't stay clean for long. I would love to put a polyurethane coat over the top, but am not sure if this would ruin my floors. Help! Any ideas?

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Comments (4)

PRO
Remodelitkc
12 years ago
Take a small defined area and wash it with hot water and vinegar

If that restores the shine, then the problem is oil based residue from airborne fats

The heat from the water releases the oil molecule long enough to clean it
PRO
Cancork Floor Inc.
12 years ago
Low gloss on flooring is often created by the cleaning products themselves. What have you been using to clean the floors with?

Most laminate floors (99.99%) cannot be refreshed with polyurethane. Your best bet is to contact Shaw and purchase their cleaning/refreshing line-up. The kit should cost you $80 - $100 but it will have everything in it you need to keep your floors clean AND offer a polish coat that can be applied every few months to add a bit more pop to the floors.

Do NOT finish these floors with polyurethane. Most of the dulling is due to cleaning products. Like Remodelitkc states, try 10: 1 water: vinegar mixture and test a small patch (somewhere behind a door or some place out of the way) to see if you can do a bit of a chemical strip to remove some of your cleaning product.
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PRO
User
12 years ago
Are they designed to be matte from the beginning? That's the newest trend in floor finishes. The floors look like they have no finish on them at all, and that's normal for those floors.
PRO
Cancork Floor Inc.
12 years ago
ProSource has a point. If you purchased a satin/matte finished product recently you are looking at a finish that is MEANT to be dull. You may have to live with it. Some manufacturers (like Armstrong) offer floor polishes that can be added every 3-6 months (yes, you have to polish the floors with the product ... usually with a floor polisher that you purchase) that can increase the sheen. You MUST contact Shaw to find out if they have anything like that in their cleaning/polishing line-up. You cannot use "other" brand's polishes on Shaw. The matte finish is what is trending right now. Another person on houzz complained about her "matter" finished floors looking dull. She contacted the manufacturer to find out if she could buy something to make them shiny (hers were made by Armstrong)

If your floors are few years old and USED TO BE shiny, then the "fixes" mentioned in the prevoius posts will be the way you will want to handle this. Either way you look at it, you should contact Shaw to start the discussion with them.