What do they use to make there wood/laminate flooring so shinny and look water proof? Do they use epoxy?
wood working
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iknow it sounds stupid but my mom saw it on a british version of trading places. and they took car polish (turtle wax) and did the floor. my mom tried it out on my grandparents and it was so shinny. the only prob is that it also is a little slippery at first.
I was told it is a high gloss polyurethane. Many, many coats of it.
We have our gym floor re-surfaced about every two years. They sand the finish with an abrasive pad and a floor buffer. Then the floor is completely cleaned with “tack cloth”. They then apply a special polyurethane finish made specially for gym floors. They only put on one coat on. It takes about 24 hours to cure. It must be maintained on a daily basis with a special floor cleaning chemical. It is put on a very large terry cloth towel and then it is attached to a weighted 4×4. A fairly long rope is attached to that and it is dragged across the entire floor. If properly maintained, the surface should last for two-three years. Ours gets allot of use!!!!
a good polyurethane will give you the desired results. A water base such as street shoe comes in th finish you desire. Also a swedish product called Glitza works well. It’s tough to work with and is toxic until it dries, so it’s not best for all applications. Oil based urethanes with a high gloss level are what we use on high school gymnasiums.
most wood gym floors require a specific gym floor finish, different from regular V.C.T. finishes or like certain epoxies laid on concrete or other tile floors. the most common are oil based or one of the most recent ones I’ve been involved with (1907 hillyard gym finish) being an oil modified urethane (water based). If you start with a floor that has already been sealed then normally you would abrade the floor with a 3m preparation pad to allow you finish to adhere correctly to your present coat. then you would use a practice know as tacking, where you use large Turkish bath size towel or a larger towel soaked in a tacking solution (i also use hillyards Tack-It) and drag it over the floor to remove any dust or other loose soil or film from mopping and sanding the floor. when this is complete you will begin to apply the finish using t-bars and if available an application device such as this:+%26+Pans
1907 is actually a very simple finish to work with due to its ease of application. It self levels allowing your self a little more work room without having to worry of puddling (its also the same finish the NBA uses). after you’re finished with your first coat youll have to let it dry for 3-4 hours. after this time you can return, tack, and apply your second coat. if you decide to wait over 36 hours before your second coat you will have to abrade the finish to allow the 2nd coat to adhere properly. once you finish your second coat allow 36 hours for the finish to cure and 7 days before heavy foot traffic or play. if this is a floor in a high school or college usually the common practice is to apply 2 coats in the summer and another coat in the winter purely for aesthetic purposes so you basketball team has a fresh shiny floor to play on. the floor should be dust mopped (with a properly treated dust mop) after every use and before heavy use if it hasn’t been dust mopped in awhile. try to lightly mop the floor when often and if you use an auto scrubber run Super shine-all through it to maintain the shine and the snap in the floor. if you’re in California find you nearest hillyard distributor, and if your in the central valley feel free to call central sanitary supply for more advice on your wood floor!
