Laminate / Hardwood "refinishing"

[Hoss]

I have had clients ask me to remove coatings of Rejuvenate. It goes on easily and very glossy and starts scratching right of the bat. So, they put on more coats and it gets thicker and the scratches get deeper. Then you have a surface that really can't be removed without a complete re-sanding. Which can only be done a couple times with engineered hardwood. I tried some experiments with removal on samples of engineered hardwood and I could find no good way to remove it with simple abrasion and / or chemicals without affecting the underlying finish. I used every product recommended by manufacturer and it was simply nasty to deal with. Nothing worked to the point that I would risk trying to remove it for a customer.

I have a big hardwood cleaning / refreshing project coming up with about 1100 sf of real, solid, mahogany floors. Thankfully, they have not put anything on it. But, the poly is wearing off in places so it has an uneven sheen and some minor scratching. My plan is to use the Orbot with Bona hardwood cleaner and Superzorbs to give it a good, thorough, scratch-less cleaning - then follow with a coat of Bona floor refresher. The floor refresher is a very thin coat, low build-up of urethane that does a good job bonding to the existing poly with a subtle gloss. It should keep the floor in pretty good shape for the next couple of years and additional coats can be applied with very little build up where there is frequent wear. Application can be done by the owner with microfiber applicator. The main thing is to make sure that the floor is very, very clean before putting anything on it.

The next step above that is a poly coat, but for that I would recommend using some abrasive action to clean and slightly scuff the surface to take on the new coat of poly. Of course, beyond that you have the brand new sanding / staining / sealing - messy and very labor intensive.