Hey Gang,

http://s764.photobucket.com/albums/xx289/ComfortCleansit/wood%20faced%20floor%209-15-2010/

Thought you might want to see a "Challenger Job" that I just did a couple weeks ago. It is an "engineered wood floor" as I have been told and it was a MESS!
Large dog and 3 year old twins did it in.
Used a Laminate product that works on all wood surfaces and the good ol' challenger for Deep Scrubbing. It came out great and the owners were ecstatic! Keep in mind, I'm a newbie and just had to show off my work. (Wifey will only look at so many 'before and afters' lol )
Just thought I'd share another way the Challenger can help make you Moo-nay!

Lance

http://s764.photobucket.com/albums/xx289/ComfortCleansit/wood%20faced%20floor%209-15-2010/

I wasn't able to get to your Photobucket pics - although I did get to the main Photobucket home page, where they told me there were no such pictures. ANYWAY, it's the accomplishment that counts. What brand product/s did you use to prepare the floor, and to use as a finish coat?

Nice job!!

Like Mark said what products did you used?

Mark: copy the link and paste in the address bar. I was able to see the pics.

Thank you.

I used the Lamanator Products. Pricey, but you can get a good price per square foot. I don't know if it's politically correct to say where I got them, so
I won't.
I used the Red and White Floor pads under the Challenger to work in the "Deep Scrub" product, then rinsed REAL good. ( I didn't rinse one area good enough and had to redo it) You can use a microfiber pad to do a final rinse. Then I just sprayed and mopped in the finish coat with a microfiber mop, with the blue and white striped head. I waited 1/2 hour in between coats and only applied 2 coats.
Totally dry after 3-4 hours.
I'm doing another floor this week but they don't want the shiny coat, so I'm going to just use the Deep Scrub and the "Dry Buff" product and see how that comes out. I'll follow up with the results on this one too.

My understanding of the Laminator product, and those like them, that it is an acrylic. An acrylic doesn't have the durability of a polyurethane, and is normally described as having a life of a year. In their favor: they flow and level well, and hence are very easy to apply. Polyurethanes will last for several years. The downsides or urethanes: oil-based poly products are easy to apply, but have that strong smell, and require the better part of 24 hours to dry; water-based polyurethanes dry in a couple of hours, but can be tricky to apply, as they set up and dry very quickly. Amateurs can leave brush or applicator marks, or little "waves" in the finish as a result. A new water-based polyurethane finish is EMULSION from Basic C.oatings. It both has some of the amber color of oil-based polys (most water-based polys are virtually clear) and it flows on much more like an oil-based finish. Both will be much more durable than Laminator-type finishes.

That is a good overview of the differences in the two methods Mark,thanks.
That is a very good way to explain it to a potential client.
Laminator "revitalizing" should NOT be sold as a long term refinishing, because it is not. I always let my clients know that they can expect 1 year to 18 months, before a new application will be needed.
(Much like a Strip and wax I would guess)
It is a great, fast, simple way to bring back the lustre to these floors with little if any odor and only about 3-4 hours dry time.
I just finished another job on 286 sq ft. of hardwood in about 5 hrs. and the owners were overjoyed at the finished results.
Yes, the key is, make sure that your client knows what they're buying and what they're NOT buying as well.

Lance Comfort
"Comfort Cleans it"

I have a couple of questions for Lance or anyone who has tried this, I don't really want to get into that much wood floor refinishing but the method used in a situation like this seems workable for our co., thanks.
1) What type of pad is red and white? The one you used for the scrub, and where did you get them?

2) Do you have experience with floors which are missing some of the finish, and are unevenly finished, does the deep scrub get rid of the prior finish so the floor will be even for coating?

3) How did the floor turn out by leaving out the "Lamanator Restore" and just using the Buff Dry Cleaner, and are you leaving some of the Buff Dry Cleaner for your customers in case they get scratches and scuffs?