Fixing Up Floors in Time for the Holidays
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I'VE got a lot of tools in my toolbox, but the best one by far is denial.
For many weeks of the year, this tool helps me cope with any job that might otherwise ruin my day.
Then comes the week before Thanksgiving, when denial is just about the only tool that gathers dust.
After a torrent of work, the house always looks fine, just in time to put the turkey in the oven. Then, invariably, my wife and I notice the wood floors, which look as if they've been used for many years by a family that's in deep denial.
By then, naturally, it's too late to do anything. Our guests say nothing about the floors because they are kind. Kind enablers.
This year I'm rewriting the script. I've resolved to spruce up the floors, quickly and without calling in a team of workers to sand and refinish. Just my wife, Karen, and me, and $70 or so of supplies at most. To keep it real in the time-pressed holiday season, I set aside just one evening for the job.
For advice, I turned to four people: Jeff Jewitt, the chief executive of Homestead Finishing Products and the author of "Taunton's Complete Illustrated Guide to Finishing" (Taunton Press); Michael Dresdner, an author and blogger on the subject of wood finishing (MichaelDresdner.com); Bob Flexner, the author of "Understanding Wood Finishing" (Fox Chapel Publishing) and Mark Votta, an owner of the Kenvo Floor Company in Exeter, R.I. Among other things, Mr. Votta's company installed the oak flooring at the TD Banknorth Garden in Boston, where the Celtics play -- a good proxy for what my children do to our floor.
The professionals' advice yielded three options: a basic liquid floor wax, a tinted wax and cleaner, or a polyurethane polish. They can all save you from holiday embarrassment, but some strategizing is in order.
If you plan to drop $4,000 on a professional refinishing job after the holidays, an inexpensive liquid floor wax and cleaner, like SC Johnson One Step (about $7 for 22 ounces), will do fine. But if, next year, you'll try a do-it-yourself refinishing job, don't wax now, because all that wax will have to come off first.
First Published November 18, 2010 11:51 pm
