Sealing timber floors - a best practice guide to floor preparation and the selection, application and maintenance of floor lacquers

Decorative timber floors require sealing to ensure that the floor stays:

• Cleaner by keeping contaminating material and dirt out
• Hygienic by keeping bacteria out
• Unstained by keeping out discolouring liquids
• Less mechanically damaged by minimising differential wear

Many of the attractive properties of timber are due to its porosity, grain and fibrous structure. It is the pores, essential to the life process of the growing tree, which need to be sealed. Unsealed timber floors are liable to pick up dirt which may penetrate well below the surface and be impossible to remove, even with vigorous cleaning.

This book deals with seal types and their selection, floor preparation, schedule specification and application of seals.

It also identifies some of the more common faults and how to prevent them, the various polishing, maintenance and measures that can be adopted to avoid wear, as well as how to refurbish and strip existing floors.

Contents:

• Floor seals
  • Types of seals
  • Factors influencing choice
  • Schedule specification
  • Floor preparation
  • Seal application
  • Common faults and their preventions
  • Keeping records
• Floor seals: polishing & maintenance
  • Polishing
  • Maintenance
  • Preventive measures
  • Refurbishment