Refinishing wood floors with shellac ?

[lovesickest]

Has anyone refinished their floor with shellac plus a buffed wax topcoat ? If so, how is the finish months and years after the application ?

[Gothichome]

Lovesickest, I did a simple re shellacking of the bed room we finished up last year. The floor is holding up well, although the room is seldom used and we do have rugs down.

[lovesickest]

Do you have pets ? My biggest concern is pets with claws and the occasional hairball ?

[Mick_VT]

Do you have pets ? My biggest concern is pets with claws and the occasional hairball ?

claws would be a good reason to use it. As you can re-coat easily without sanding back down. Even if you had to add a fresh coat each year it would be worth it IMO

[lovesickest]

I 've read that you aren't supposed to wash shellac floors with water. Is this still true if they have a good coat of wax ? What's the best way to keep them clean ? And will cat barf eat holes in the finish ?

[Casey]

If you used shellac that has wax in it, all you ever need to do is buff it. That is the only upside to wax-containing shellac. For furniture and things I use only de-waxed shellac, which costs more but is a more desirable finish for furniture. Shellac you buy prepared in cans usually has wax in it. If you open a can and it is cloudy-looking, it's wax/shellac.

Casey

[lovesickest]

The info from a variety of sources online said to use dewaxed shellac (ie flakes dissolved in alcohol) or prepared dewaxed canned shellac, then apply floor type wax after several coats of shellac have dried.

(I am new to the world of shellac - please step in to correct me as needed.)

[phil]

Im a bit surprised that Casey refers to leaving the wax in the shellac. It's basicly an impurity that comes from the bugs that make it and when you dissolve the flakes in alcohol it tends to precipitate out of the solution.

If you do multiple coats of shellac the wax isn't good for the bond between layers so normally people take it out before they use it. so I'd be cautious about keeping the wax in if you intend to ever recoat it.

shellac is best applied in thin coats so I have never before seen reason to keep the wax in.

[Casey]

I mentioned it because the OP was asking about waxing on top of shellac floors.
A close friend of mine used canned shellac on his floors and stairs. Never use it on stairs, it was dangerously slick, esp. in socks.
The only canned shellac I have used in 15 years is the de-waxed "sealcoat" product, which is great, and a very good value if you are looking for water-clear color in shellac.
People used to habitually wax their shellac floors and buff them with those floor buffers. Who has the time now?
Casey

[Al F. Furnituremaker]

The problem with using shellac with wax in it is not so much when you put another shellac coat over the previous coat but if you are using the waxed shellac as a sealer coat prior to some other type of finish. Most other finishes will not adhere well to waxed shellac. Going over waxed shellac with more shellac (waxed or dewaxed) is not a problem as the new coat will amalgamate into the old coat.

With regard to shellac flakes; not all shellac flakes are dewaxed.

As far as shellac on floors goes. My floors are 70+ years old with a shellac finish that has never been touched. Yea, they are worn through in high traffic areas because the po never took care of them. In average traffic or no traffic areas, the shellac is in good shape and is easily fixed (dog claws) with alcohol. Slowly, I'm refinishing them all, with shellac.