Q: I recently got my hardwood floors refinished; sanded and polyurethaned. I put some throw rugs in my kitchen by the sink and stove. They have only been in place a few short months. When I picked them up and to mop the floor I noticed that the areas under the rug have no more shine to them. It’s almost as if the rug may have left a dulling residue.
Dullness
Q&A On the fairly common complaint of dullness and lackluster wood flooring.
Dulled wood floor under carpets with non skid matting
Q: I had engineered wood floors put in back in June. I just noticed today that underneath the three 8×10 carpets I have (with that non skid stuff laid first) the floor looks totally different than where there is no carpet. Under the carpet is very dull.
Flea bombs took off finish or left dull spots
Q: I had to use some flea bombs in my house because of a flea problem we were having. They seem to have taken some of the finish off our floors in places, and we are now left with many dull spots. What can I bring the shine back with?
Wax finish gets dull fast
Q: I recently refinished the 80 year old white oak floors in our family and living rooms. Having used a drum sander and edger in my first attempt 11 years ago, and finishing with a water-based polyurethane, the innumerable chatter marks and other disastrous mistakes encouraged a new approach this time around.
Mineral spirits used to remove glue marks left finish dull
Q: We just installed glue down hardwood flooring; pre-finished Centerra oak flooring. We used Robers Urethane 1408 glue. Unfortunately, as first timers, we were not paying too close attention to the glue marks. We were able to remove the glue with mineral spirits, but it left the finish dull in the areas that the glue had touched.
Dullness around area rug
Q: I have a hardwood floor that the builder Installed in 1999. A large area rug covered most of the floor ever since we moved in. I removed the rug recently and saw that the entire perimeter area of the floor’s finish outside of the area rug has dulled, and the floor underneath where the rug was looks brand new.
Dull floor that was under carpet
Q: How do I bring back the shine in hardwood floor that has been under carpet for a very long time? Tips for restoring wood floors under carpet?
Dull streaks on laminate from office chairs
Q: We installed the thickest and most expensive laminate floors in our house about two years ago. Our two office chairs in our house have plastic wheels. The laminate floor in the office is very dull, we think from the wheels of the chairs.
Haze on wood floor
Q: We have a wood floor in my house that we have owned for 6 months. Since we moved in, the wood floors have a haze over them. We have two active boys and several dogs. We’ve tried to keep the floors as clean as possible. I tried cleaning with almost every type of cleaning product out there, even just water. They all just make it worse.
My laminate floors are very dull
Q: My laminate floors are very dull and won’t shine when washed. What can I do?