The polish sinks into the floor

This is a classic problem with old worn vinyl floors. The problem is the hard wear layer of the floor could have worn away leaving a semi porous floor. When you try to lay on emulsion floor polish it sinks into the flooring before it has a chance to dry, instead of drying on the surface as it should.

You could end up applying multiple coats of polish and whilst it looks ok when wet, as soon as it dries the intended shiny finish disappears.

Solution

A way around this is to use a polish primer base coat prior to applying the emulsion floor polish such as Windmill Resilience. Polish primer is an acrylic seal, sealing off worn, porous flooring and allowing polish to dry on the surface like a new floor.

You need to inspect the floor after you have stripped it to decide if a polish primer is required. If parts of the floor appear very dull and worn, then using a couple of coats of primer before you polish the floor should do the trick.

A word of warning here; you cannot strip a primer, so any marks or dirt on the floor before coating with a primer will remain as it seals these into the floor as well!

The polish separates on the floor

This is quite a common problem caused by some form of contamination on the prepared floor.

Either the polish stripper hasn't been rinsed and neutralised as it should be or someone has walked a contamination across the prepared floor before you have polished it. Also if you are polishing on top of a newly sealed wooden floor, it could be down to the wood seal not being fully cured and giving off a solvent.

Solution

If it is contamination you have no other option but to strip it off and start again, making sure the floor is contaminate free the next time around.

If it is wood seal still curing, leave until the seal is fully cured, (depending on what the seal is, this could be a long time, especially in cold/wet weather) and then strip off the separated polish and re-polish.

Polish dries dull in places

Again this is normally caused by contamination, however it can be caused by over-coating polish before it has dried.

Often another thin coat or two of polish will sort this problem. Make sure you allow the polish to dry between coats.

Polished floor dulls quickly after use

This is normal, all polished floors will dull after you have people walking on them.

You need to have a maintenance program where you spray clean the floor as this brings the gloss back and hardens the polish, making it last longer and enhance the gloss.

Polish powders soon after drying

This can be caused by heavy traffic before the polish is probably cured (normally 24-48 hours), but is often caused by laying polish on a very cold or even damp floor.

Solution

If it is the latter, you will need to strip off and dry thoroughly and turn on the heating and warm the place up before re-polishing. If the former, you might get away with applying a couple more thin coats of polish.

Polish wears off the floor really quickly

This can be caused by a number of things, might just be that you haven't applied sufficient coats of polish on the floor, or could also be that you have put the coats on too thick. Better to have multiple thin coats as this wears much better. And use a polish applicator rather than a mop as this will give a better finish.

Always use a high or ultra high solids Emulsion Floor Polish, like Windmill Relay. The higher the solids, the longer the polish will last, so don't skimp here.

Always use a high or ultra high solids Emulsion Floor Polish such as Windmill Relay. The higher the solids, the longer the polish will last so don't skimp here.

Remember that one of the purposes of Emulsion Floor Polish is to protect the floor. It acts as a sacrificial layer, so that the polish wears instead of the floor. This means you will need to replace the polish as it wears off.

As long as the polish is clean, dry and neutralised, you can over-coat with extra layers of polish at any time. Just remember not to polish right up to the edges, where no one ever walks (last 200mm or so of the floor), otherwise you will have a build-up of polish at the edges, which is really hard work to strip off when the time comes to strip and re-polish.

Buffing with a High or Ultra high speed buffing machine and a Tan or Red floor pad will harden the polish and make it last longer.