Problems with pre-finished hardwood floors with aluminum oxide finish
HELP! Last year, we had prefinished Brazilian cherry hardwood floors installed in our home. I did not anticipate that there would be cracks between the boards. I have asked and asked for help in using some type of clear coat on top of the aluminum oxide topcoat on the hardwood floors, but no one seems to know what to use.
Last week, we had our ceiling in the den repair because of a leak. The floor was covered with plastic, but when the ceiling was blown into place, it left a coating of white dust all over my floor. There is white powder between each board. I have vacuumed, mopped, vacuumed again, mopped again – I’m getting nowhere. I call the distributor that installed it and they said it should vacuum right up. They insinuated that I had not vacuumed my floor since it was installed or it wouldn’t have the white dust collected in the cracks (doesn’t make any sense, I know). But that isn’t true. My floor is clean. But, I can’t get the white stuff out of the cracks.
Can anyone help me? Is there any kind of coating that can be applied to the aluminum oxide to prevent dirt and dust from accumulating in the cracks? Or is there anything I can do to prevent this kind of mess?
Thank you so much.
Replies
Aluminum oxide is a hard compound that's commonly used as an abrasive (think sandpaper). It's added (as a very fine powder) to finishes to make them more wear-resistant.
Generally the finish is polyurethane, and it should be possible to coat it like any other polyurethane finish. (Though of course the new coating won't be as wear resistant as the original.)
Unfortunately, most sources advise lightly sanding the polyurethane finish first, to give the surface "tooth" for the new coat. That will, of course, exacerbate your problems with the cracks.
(BTW, have you tried putting a crevice tool on the vacuum and going over each joint with that? The crevice tool increases the effective suction about 4-fold, and will often improve the vacuuming effectiveness greatly.)