Preparing Coated Wood

This is, frankly, one of the ways to create the most value with this primer, but it must be done very carefully. The floor may have started off with a polyurethane, but by now it may be more like foot traffic oils over Murphy’s Oil Soap over another cleaner’s residue over “Rejuvenator” over “Bona Polish” over Polyurethane. Obviously to bond a 2-part coating to that poly, all waxes, polishes, oils, cleaners, and contaminants must be completely removed.

To make your job harder, it’s wood. So obviously you can’t use the all the water that you would on a concrete or tile floor. Water generally ruins wood (In case you didn’t know that). I was once told “There is no easy money.”, so just know if you are going to create a lot of value by doing something hard to do, it’ll be hard to do. (Duh.)

I’ve compiled all the resources I’ve mustered to help you here, but I can’t take responsibility for your prep. Do your own homework. Here is a solid YouTube link

Here is a link to a very helpful page from a wood floor company.

Companies like Sherwin, Sika, and Ardex would just say “Remove coatings or sand to a sound substrate.” I’m telling you CleanPrime can be used in situations where mechanical preparation is impractical or undesirable, but you need common sense: if you bond to a floor wax, your coating will only stick as good as floor wax sticks. You have to somehow get all that crap off without ruining the wood. Obviously, the existing coating must be sound or completely removed. Verifying adhesion in these projects is especially recommended.

Avoid excessive water during preparation. Do not flood the floor or allow water to stand on the surface.

1. Vacuum or dust mop thoroughly.

2. Remove all all waxes, polishes, oils, cleaners, and contaminants - poly should be dull and water should “sheet” (uniformly wets the surface without excessive beading). Persistent beading may indicate residual contamination that must be removed before proceeding.

   • Starting with a TSP alternative like this or this or whatever they have at your local hardware store might make the most sense.

   • If Bona Polish, floor rejuvenators, or other maintenance coatings are suspected, additional cleaning or stripping may be required before proceeding.

3. Wipe the floor at least twice using a clean acetone-dampened rag followed by a “virgin” microfiber towel: these (link here) worked for me, but this is your project, so do a little research and make your own choice.

4. Perform a test area to verify adhesion prior to full installation.

Complete removal of existing coatings is preferred whenever practical.