Spruce Up Your Floor With The Bona Traffic HD

Spruce Up Your Floor With The Bona Traffic HD

One of the benefits of having wood floors is that you can give them a fresh new look without having to overhaul the entire installation. When there is light wear on the surface, you can overcoat it with a new layer of the Bona Traffic HD, enabling you to buy more time before carrying out a major renovation. 

This specific article covers treating floors with an existing finish, where there is light damage such as superficial scratches, scuff marks, and also deeply ingrained soiling. Deep scratches will require a complete sanding and refinishing. However, for the light wear conditions, proceed with these steps:

Surface preparation

The success of the entire process is tied to how well the floor is prepared. How this is done will depend on the type of surface, and its existing condition. We can break this down into two:

1. Treating newly installed floors that have been pre-finished

The light abrasion here can be carried out directly without requiring the floor to be cleaned. Take care not to contaminate the surface during the process.

• If the floor needs cleaning, then you can use the Bona Deep Clean Solution for this. Dilute and top it up in the PowerScrubber, and ensure that there are no puddles of solution that are left on the surface. 
• Allow the floor to dry before proceeding. 

2. Overcoating lacquered floors which have already been in use

Here the surface will need to be degreased before the abrasion is done. Use the Bona Deep Clean Solution for this, in the Bona PowerScrubber. Allow the surface to dry, then sand it down using grit 180 Diamond Abrasives. For instance, you can use Bona Diamond Abrasives attached to a multi- or quattro-disc that has intermediate pads in between. Note that the abrasion should continue until all the existing treatment, be it wax or polish, has been removed. The corners and edges of the floor will need to be abraded manually, and you can use an eccentric sander for this. 

Give the floor another round of washing with the Bona PowerScrubber and Deep Clean solution, and allow the surface to dry. Abrade it again, but this time with the finer grit 240 abrasives. Vacuum away the dust or use clean water on the surface. Just ensure that the particles have all been removed, since these will interfere with the bonding process and also ruin the quality of the result. 

Apply the Bona Traffic HD layer onto the for using equipment like a stainless-steel trowel, then give it half to one whole hour to dry. Add the second coat of the lacquer. 

 With either of these approaches, you will get to bring back the new look and feel to your wood floor. The durability that is provided by the two-component Bona Traffic HD enables the existing treatment to last for long. Since it is non-yellowing, the resultant finish effect gets to remain the same, allowing you to get the most of the natural hue and grain patterns of the wood floor, or even cases where you want to change things up by adding a wood stain to the finishing cycle. 

Mixing instructions

The lacquer itself is mixed with a hardener before applying it onto the floor. First shake the Bona Traffic HD well in its container for around 30 seconds. Add the Traffic HD Hardener to it, where a 10.38oz bottle of hardener will be enough for one gallon of finish. If the moisture will be less than a gallon, then you can work with a 1:11.33 ratio. 

Shake the mixture well for 30-15 seconds, then give it around 10 minutes for the required reactions to take place. Note that this mixture should be used within 4 hours. The lacquer cannot be simply “rehardened”, so don’t go topping up more hardener into the mixture.

Issues that you should take note of include:

• The floor that is being overcoated should be in sound condition i.e., without having big gaps in the structure, deep scratches or cupped planks. In case there are such kinds of issues, they should first be resolved before overcoating with the Bona Traffic HD. For the localised damages the repairs can be fixed to that particular section, or you can choose to proceed with a complete floor sanding and refinishing.
• While the Bona Traffic HD is compatible with a wide range of wood stains and sealers, the effect will vary depending on the formulations being used, and the wood species involved. This is especially when you’re dealing with exotic wood species that are oily and resinous. It is recommended that you carry out a spot test on an inconspicuous area to see the results that are expected when you work on the floor. 

• For those cases where you’ve used a Bona waterborne sealer, then you don’t need to carry out the intermediate sanding if the subsequent Bona Traffic HD coats are applied within 48 hours. If you’re using a solvent based sealer, then the abrasion should always be carried out. 
• Any intermediate sanding will need to be followed through by a round of vacuuming to remove the sanding dust. Alternatively, you can clean the floor with the Bona PowerScrubber. This is due to the detrimental effect that the dust particles will have on the quality of the final result. 

• Applying the Bona wood stain or sealer followed by two coats of the lacquer is usually enough. However, for the particularly high traffic areas, then you can add a third layer of the Bona Traffic HD
• While the floor can be walked on within 24 hours after the treatment has been applied, do not replace the area rugs on the surface until it has fully cured. Don’t fret – the curing process is fast too, given that the treatment will already have cured 80% by day one, and achieve full curing within 3 days. 
• Tools used for the application should be thoroughly cleaned with water after the task.

Spruce Up Your Floor With The Bona Traffic HD