Repair Prefinished Hardwood Floor Aluminum Oxide
Finishing treatments for hardwood floors are a great way to help protect them from staining scratches and discoloration.
Repair prefinished hardwood floor aluminum oxide. Traditionally hardwood flooring was always installed as unfinished planks that were then stained and finished with a protective surface layer right on the worksite. Prefinished with aluminum oxide 3. Aluminum oxide is a naturally occurring element typically found in a crystal form and used as an abrasive for sandpaper. Instead vacuum or sweep these floors often and use a damp mop and recommended cleaning product to.
The homeowner asked me to refinish the floors and stain them brown. Hand scraped and had a very thin wear layer of black walnut. With a little investigative research i discovered the floor in question was an aluminum oxide product. Many of the urethane finishes that many prefinished flooring manufacturers use in today s prefinished wood floors contain a mineral called aluminum oxide.
Few things stand out more than a long white scratch in a medium or dark prefinished wood floor. It is a very tough and is added to the finish system to extend the durability of the urethane. He vacuumed the floor and tacked the floor thoroughly. He then noticed an abundance of swirl marks.
Aluminum oxide floors are traditional hardwood floors with a coating or sealant of aluminum oxide on top. This makes it very tolerable for skin contact even for people that are chemically sensitive. Before stripping the floors with regular wood paint or stain stripper learn about the differences between the types of flooring. Usually prefinished hardwood floors will have a uv cured aluminum oxide finish so there shouldn t be cause for concern.
Modern hardwood flooring finish systems consist of several layer of urethane and aluminum oxide ao. When ground into a white powder it s used as a filler ingredient for paints plastics sunscreen and cosmetics. Stripping and refinishing the floors as you would regular. In regard to how sensitive people really are against aluminum it s difficult to say.
After the finish system is applied it is baked on to the hardwood in a specialized uv oven. And there are quite a few ways to do this. Waxing of hardwood floors finished with aluminum oxide or urethane is not needed and it can even harm the floor. However he went ahead with applying a coat of oil based polyurethane figuring it would sufficiently fill or hide the marks.
Wax makes it nearly impossible to add another coat of urethane finish because the new coat will not stick to the floor underneath. Ao is the same material that is used to make sandpaper. It s also used as a fortifier for urethane imparting hardness and abrasion resistant qualities lacking in polyurethane. Everything about that floor required an experienced trained floor mechanic with the right tools.
An aluminum oxide finish is most often uv cured. How to fix a hardwood floor scratch.