A wooden floor problem

[Moo]

My sitting-room floor has deteriorated to a degree that even I find unacceptable, so I've bitten on the bullet and disinterred the traffic-wax; but I just cannot face the prospect of doing the buffing-up on hands and knees, and have decided to splash out on a new electric polisher (the one I bought twelve years ago seems to have become a permanent fixture in son's London house).

My problem is that no-one seems to sell them any more - not even that place that's never undersold. Surely I can't be the only person who waxes a floor?

I'd be very grateful for suggestions as to where I should look.

 

[Pford75]

Might be worth hiring one (if this is likely to be an irregular activity - :wink: )

http://www.hss.com/g/58611/Floor-Scrubber-Polisher.html

There is one in Norwich

 

[Schoolmarm]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/LATEST-KARCHER-VACUUM-POLISHER-CLEANER/dp/B002DPHJ04/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1287147772&sr=8-1


Always easier to have one at home though.

 

[Moo]

Good old PPUK - who needs Which? or Wikipedia?

Looking up the prices, and doing some basic sums, I think I shall take 'Marm's advice and buy one of those yellow jobs.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx to both of you!

 

[Schoolmarm]

Amazon sold spare parts for it too, like buffing stuff etc.

 

[Penners]

And bang goes your credibility as She-Who-Never-Does-Housework, Moo.

 

[robgil]

shop around , its a bit cheaper here

http://www.tooled-up.com/Product.asp?PID=163056&ReviewPage=3#product_reviews

Really good reviews on this machine also. after buying a washing machine that spent the best part of 8 months out of the 11 months we owned it broken i always read as many different reviews as i can.

 

[Moo]

And bang goes your credibility as She-Who-Never-Does-Housework, Moo.

Ok, Penners. I will write out one hundred times "I must be more precise".

It should, of course, be She-Who-Does-Housework-As-Seldom-As-Possible*.



*I think that's a pretty accurate description, considering that the floor in question was last polished four years ago.

 

[Moo]

Thanks so much for that link, Robgil. It's answered all my questions, and I think I will buy the machine.

By the way - how do other people here deal with their wooden floors?

 

[Tom]

By the way - how do other people here deal with their wooden floors?

Well, I know Joce dances about on hers with her socks on. I'm thinking I might hire her expertise when it comes to doing my floor

 

[skier-hughes]

As mine has been down for less than a year, I deal with mine by standing and admiring it still

 

[robgil]

i am hoping these guys will be dealing with mine when i can afford their expertise.

http://www.wideboards.com/

although if Joce can magic dance mine back from where ever it is they went id be more than grateful.

 

[Penners]

By the way - how do other people here deal with their wooden floors?

Well, I know Joce dances about on hers with her socks on. I'm thinking I might hire her expertise when it comes to doing my floor.

In my teens I used to do exchange visits with a French family in Paris. I went there to learn French (vaguely) and their son came to us to learn English.

In their flat in Paris they had lovely oak floors. As you entered the front door, you had to remove your outdoor shoes (this is normal in France) and don a pair of "waxing slippers". They were felt-bottomed slippers that Madame treated regularly with wax. You were then encouraged to walk around the flat with a kind of cross-country-skiing gait, polishing the floor as you went.

Their floors were always immaculate.

 

[Feltwell]

An 8 month old who's just started crawling is quite effective, as he also likes sliding on his belly on our wooden floors. Maybe I should hire him out....

 

[JoceAndChris]

Socks are good, and the philosophy that buffing can take 3 months. Slippers, the ones with slippery cloth soles, also do a daily buff - I bung them in the washing machine when they're really waxy and dangerous. I do dance around, but that's after a slow slide up and down each board, which can be done whilst reading a book.

I really, really want a buffing machine too though.

I suffered with a trapped nerve in my shoulder for 3 months the last time I hand buffed a floor, never again.

I agree that once every 4 years is plenty.

 

[HeatherJ]

For Feltwell's 8th month old:

http://images2.cafemom.com/images/user/gallery/post_1492126_1226036308_med.jpg?imageId=10759309

 

[Feltwell]

For Feltwell's 8th month old:

http://images2.cafemom.com/images/user/gallery/post_1492126_1226036308_med.jpg?imageId=10759309

Perfect!

My, he's a chubby little chap isn't he? In a healthy baby kind of way, of course.

 

[LadyArowana]

I have recently been pondering the question of what we eventually do with our floorboards. When the electricians were doing the fire alarm system I could see what lay beneath the carpet. The boards are black, as in "painted" rather than just grubby, and the chaps told me that they often see that in the places they work ( 18th Century town houses ). I am sure that they would have originally have been bare. For now we just put down new wall to wall ( place is rented ) but that doesn't belong in my long term future. Large handmade carpets creep around if you put them on top of it and you end up with waves that bunch up by heavy furniture, a flat surface and proper carpet size underlay is much better. A part of me is tempted to keep the black, it would mostly be covered anyway, so not as dominant as a huge expanse of black floor, but I am intrigued as to when this was the fashion. The dining room has already been stripped/ varnished ( not by me ) and whilst it requires TLC it's just a normal problem, not a puzzle and a decision like the drawing room.

 

[jocelyn plummer]

Moo, On the knees for application, then the Karcher--it's not a bad bit of kit.

 

[FamilyWiggs]

Many Victorian places I've seen or lived in as a child had black painted boards around the perimeter of the room only (or up the edge of the stairs. This suggests rugs or another covering over the rest of the (unpainted) boards.