The Best Products (and what not to use!) on Your Hardwood Floors with Al from N-Hance
Karen Malanga: Hi, this is Karen Malanga with another episode of House Talk. I’m excited to welcome back Al from N-Hance Revolutionary Wood Renewal.
Today, Al is going to speak to different products to use on your floors and certain products to not use on your floors. So Al, I’d love for you to give our listeners some advice on this; I know I’ve made mistakes.
Al: Thanks, Karen. Thanks for having me.
Karen: Sure!
Al: I appreciate the opportunity because there is a lot of misinformation out there with regards to finished wood. You’d need to understand what wood is nowadays; it comes with a finish. And that would be on floors, on cabinetry, on furniture.
And that finish is much like exterior paint in the sense that everyone who owns a home knows that when that paint starts to peel or when it starts to fade or weaken, there is no substitute, there is no $18 bottle of magic to put on that paint and make it last for another 20 years.
And unfortunately, that’s what everyone—I shouldn’t say everyone…
Karen: No, you can’t say everyone ever.
Al: Unfortunately, most people that I come across seem to think that finish on wood should last forever. And if it’s not lasting, then they can rub an oil on it or something like that because that’s what mom did. They put an oil or a wax on that wood and took care of it that way. Things are different now.
Karen: So, what do you recommend? Let’s start with floors. What would you recommend on a wood floor?
Al: You bet! So, wood floor, the finish generally is something that’s going to last maybe seven years (as long as maybe 25 years depending on the quality of the finish). But once it starts to wear, there’s really no substitute for getting more finish on it.
However, there’s a lot of folks that wind up going and buying an $18 bottle of magic. And those are products that usually have a label called “refresher” or “polish.” And I would recommend everyone to stay away from those. They’re very, very short-term. And in most cases, if they use it repeatedly, it’s something that’s going to escalate their cost when they do need to get their floor refinished.
Karen: Oh, because there’s more to remove or because it’s doing some potential damage?
Al: Yeah! Actually, now, there’s something that we need to sand off where before, if they weren’t using it, we could potentially use our renewal service which may only be in the $100 rate or hundreds instead of thousands.
Karen: Okay. And then what about cabinets? What’s a good thing to be like when you want to clean your kitchen cabinets if you’ve got three toddlers running around and you’ve got food all over everything? What do you do? What’s a good product to use on something like a wood cabinet?
Al: The things that we recommend for both cabinets and wood floors is a [dam clots 00:03:18]. Water is great.
But if you want something a little bit more aggressive, there is a product made by Bona, and it’s called Floor Cleaner. And it’s not the refresher or the polish. But that Bona Floor Cleaner, you can find it anywhere, and you could actually use it on any wood that has a finish on it—and that would be your cabinets, that could include tables.
There are a lot of products that leave behind an oil or a residue that just sits on top of that finish and does absolutely no good to the wood, but it collects dust and it collects fingerprints, and it becomes a problem. You go and buy their product again because your wood looks grimy or it looks dirty and you just create this vicious cycle.
Karen: Okay! So, what I’m taking way from this—and you could correct me if I’m wrong—next time I decide to clean my wood floor (I have painted cabinets, but my floors are all wood), I’m going to look for the Bona wood cleaner, floor cleaner, but not a refresher and not a polish?
Al: You’re exactly correct.
Karen: Okay!
Al, thank you for being with us. And how can someone reach you if their floors or cabinets have reached the point of needing some new finish?
Al: You bet! So, they could go on my website. My website is Nhance.com. And then there’s a /centraloregon. But that’s Nhance without the letter E on the front. That’s N-h-a-n-c-e.
Karen: Alright! Thank you so much, Al.
Al: Thanks!
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