Guidelines for Recoating
Note: These recommendations are offered only as general guidelines.
Always consult and engage
the services of a flooring professional in order to recoat and
repair damaged floors.
Provided you have followed
the Maintenance Instructions and have
not allowed severe damage or excessive wear to occur over extensive
areas, you should never refinish your floor.
Refinishing vs. recoating
Refinishing is the process of sanding an existing
finish completely down to bare wood. NordStar Walton
Plank and
Clark Hardwood
Floors may be refinished twice and once respectively.
Floors from
the Cooke Collection can
not be sanded and refinished but may be screened and recoatd.
Recoating, however, is recommended to restore the look of the
finish whenever it shows either excessive wear, dulling or sheen
change, but well before the finish is worn through to the
bare wood. Recoating provides a durable and long-lasting refurbished
urethane finish, without the
mess and inconvenience of sanding to the bare wood.
Any repairs or refinishing of your floor must be performed by a
Flooring Professional specializing
in refinishing wood floors. Consult your local Yellow Pages to
find a suitable professional. Warning: Always test the finish
you propose using on samples of the wood first, (not on the floor
itself), to assure that: • The finish does dry timely and does not remain tacky
• The finish does not have any reactions with the wood and change color
etc.
• The finish does have a uniform sheen and that the flattening agents in
the finish do not adversely react with the wood.
• That the end-user approves the look of the finish, the gloss level, the
smoothness, and the color change it imparts to the wood.
Guidelines for Refinishing & Repairing
Damaged Floors:
In order to properly repair, refinish or replace damaged or worn
flooring, one must first assess the
degree of damage. There are two levels of wear/damage. They are:
- Finish Wear is finish which may be scratched
or dulled in areas, but has not worn through to
the wood below it. In these cases, the floor may be repaired
by recoating the floor.
- Deep damage is where the finish is cut through to bare wood
and the underlying wood itself
is worn or gouged. In this case, depending on the depth of the
damage, as well as how thick
the wear layer is, you have but two choices of repair. Either
sand the finish off the floor and
then sand down the wood below the finish to take out the worn
area or gouges, or replace
the individual damaged boards which are damaged.
Recoating Options
The wood must be properly prepared prior to
recoating. There are two options. You can chemically prepare the
surface or physically
screen the old surface.
Chemical Screen and Recoat - is defined as recoating a finished
floor utilizing a system
whereby the floor is first chemically abraded using a special chemical
sealer and is then top
coated with additional coats of finish. No sanding or screening
is performed. Two companies
offer products to do this. Please follow the instructions of the
two companies* that offer these
products:
Physical Screen and Recoat - is defined
as lightly abrading the top surface of the factory
applied finish by screening and then applying another topcoat or two in the field
to the existing
abraded finish. Steps are outlined below with links to wood flooring care products
manufactured
by Essential Industries*.
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| Step 1: Read
all instruction and gather equipment and supplies. |
Step 2: Remove
tape, labels and gum with a razor scraper or putty knife.
Angle the blade so you don’t damage the finish. |
Step 3: Dust
mop the floor. |
Step 4: Screen
the floor with a single disk machine equipped with a
120-grit screen if recoating with oil-modified finish
or a 150-grit screen if recoating with Sport
Kote ®(#222) . Be sure to keep the machine moving
so as not to scratch the floor. |
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| Step 5: Pick
up all dust with a vacuum equipped with a floor tool. |
Step 6: Tack
rag the floor twice using lint-free towels and water
or Tacking
Cleaner (#1129) if refinishing with Sport
Kote ®(#222). Tack rag using lint-free towels
and Waterless Cleaner (#1130) if refinishing with Gym
Finish and Seal (#230), High
Solids Gym Finish (#234) or 40% Gym
Finish (#293). |
Step 7: Inspect
the floor. It should be dull and dust-free. If any residue
is present, repeat step 6. |
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*Note: NordStar Hardwood assumes no responsibility
for the information or products mentioned on this site beyond NordStar Hardwood Flooring.
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