preparing a wooden floor

[mpooley]

I have a pine floor in good condition but dirty.
It has been waxed by the looks of it.
I would like to cover it with a hard flooring varnish.

how should i prepare it?
should i sand it down?

how else can i clean it and get the wax off?

thanks

Mike

 

[WoodYouLike]

If your floor is old the wax treatment - maintenance - over the years means the wax has penetrated deeply into the wood, specially with soft pine wood.
If you want to apply varnish now you will have to sand back very much to find where the wax hasn't reached.

You're better of cleaning the floor properly and applying a hardwaxoil (also very hard wearing).

 

[mpooley]

Thankyou
what would be best to clean the floor with please?

mike

 

[WoodYouLike]

Vacuum clean first, then get a suitable for wooden flooring cleaner, like cleaning soap from TripTrap, add a bit to a bucket of water and use a moist - not wet! - cloth to clean the floor. Let it dry and see what the result is.

If needed, repeat the cleaning. Afterwards you can apply a maintenance product first to see if the floor gets its lustre back before you start sanding.