As your home gets older, the floors can take quite a beating. From bringing in things from the outside, having kids run around, and scuffing up the floors, it is easy for them to start looking a little bit rough over time. One of the tools that you can use to help make the floors look as good as new includes Rejuvenate.
Rejuvenate is a product that is designed to help you clean and restore all of the wood flooring in your home back to its original condition. It does a great job in most situations, but there is a film that is sometimes left behind after it is applied to the floors. You can put it onto the floors just fine and may not even notice the film. But it only takes a few hours before the floors dry up and then this cloudy film is left behind.
When you are trying to fix up the flooring, you do not want that film left behind. It kind of ruins all the hard work that you put in. The good news is that there is an inexpensive way to reverse this damage and help your floors look as good as new.
Related: How To Remove Thompson Water Seal From Wood
How to Remove Rejuvenate
If you have gone through and tried to make your floors look amazing with Rejuvenate, but then notice a film that is left behind, then it is time to get that fixed. While we will use an abrasive pad to help out later with the laminate flooring, this will harm the wood flooring so take caution not to use anything other than the materials we discuss below. Some of the steps that you can use to help get rid of the film and get the floors back to normal (or even better), include:
Step 1:
For this step, we are going to start with some warm water and some white vinegar. You should also get a cleaning bucket to put these in. to start, we are going to add a gallon of warm water into the cleaning bucket along with a cup of that white vinegar that we talked about. This should be enough to get at least one room. If the film is bad, you may need to do some more but start out with this amount to make it easier.
Step 2:
With the water and the white vinegar in the cleaning bucket, swish them around until they combine well together. Then add the mop inside to cover in the mixture. Squeeze the mop out as much as possible. You do not want a lot of water getting over the floor and dripping everywhere. The goal is to just get the film off, not soak the floor. So squeeze the mop out as much as you can, making it a goal to get the water back into the bucket as much as possible.
Step 3:
Take that prepared mop and start to wipe over the flooring. Since you probably added the Rejuvenate to the whole floor, you will likely need to mop the whole floor as well so get prepared for this. A simple mopping will be enough for that, but add a bit more pressure to the areas where the film seems to be the worst in the room. You can go over the same area more than once if you would like, repeating until it appears that the film is all gone.
Step 4:
Once you have had a chance to go over all the flooring in that room, dump the water out of the cleaning bucket and let the floors have some time to dry completely. It is kind of hard to see how the floors are doing until you give them the time to dry. Turn on some fans or open the windows if you need to hurry the process up again. When the floors begin to dry a little bit, you should be able to tell that they are a little bit better.
Step 5:
You may need to repeat the steps a little bit too. While this method is really effective and you should see a noticeable difference after just one mopping session, sometimes that Rejuvenate can get stuck on there and the film is worse than it looks. And if you had to add a lot of the chemical into one area, then it is likely that some of the film is going to remain too.
Once the floor is all the way dry, you may notice that there are a few areas where the film is still present and did not clean up as well as you had hoped. You can then go back through and repeat the same steps again to make them work this time. Depending on how much of the Rejuvenate you used and how much film there is on the floor, you may need to do this three or four times to get results.
This process does take some time, but it will work. The best trick is to be careful with how much of the Rejuvenate that you use on the floors. But since some wood floors are difficult to clean and restore to normal without a lot of elbow grease, it is not uncommon to use more than necessary, or more than we thought we needed, to get the floors in good shape. With that in mind, you will probably need to go through and use this mopping method to help.
Removing Rejuvenate from Laminate Floorings
Rejuvenate can be used on some of the laminate flooring that you have as well. But it will leave a sticky film behind in some cases, though this is not as common or as easy to see as with the wood floors. You will need to go through and scrub the laminate flooring a bit more than you did with the hard wood option to help out with this. Something like an SOS pad will work the best to get this done.
There are a few methods that you can use to help remove the Rejuvenate from these floors as well including:
Step 1:
The first step to work on here is to divide up the floor into sections. This makes it more efficient and gives you a smaller area to begin in. you can either mentally divide up the area or use some masking tape or another divider to help get this done.
Step 2:
Then it is time to use an IFT solution. You will need to purchase some of your own and then apply this solution to one section of the floor, the section that you want to work on first, using a spray bottle. You can also choose to just add a little of the solution on the floor and then use a soft cloth to help spread it around. Your goal is to use just enough of the solution to get the floor wet.
Step 3:
Now it is time to do some scrubbing. Get an abrasive pad and then scrub a bit. This will help to remove any of the wax that is trying to build up and get all over the floor rather than cleaning it. When you are done scrubbing down the area, you can use a cloth that is dampened by water and clean it off.
Step 4:
The next step is to use the squeaky cleaner. This needs to be done using the entire section that you plan to work with and a microfiber mop. Once you apply the squeaky cleaner, you will not need to take the time to rinse it with water when you are done. You can just wipe the floor or use a mop to wipe it up until the floor is dry completely.
Step 5:
Since we split the floor up into sections, that was just one of the parts that you need to work with. You will need to go through all of the steps above to help take care of the other sections of the floor at the same time. You may find that you need to work on an area more than once depending on how much of the Rejuvenate is on the area or not. Make sure to check the area to see that it is cleared off and looking good.
Getting the Rejuvenate Off Your Floors
Rejuvenate is a great product to use on your laminate and hardwood floors. It looks amazing and can restore even some of the oldest and worst flooring back to its original glory. This product has helped save so many floors over the years. However, some homeowners have noticed that after using the mixture, it leaves a filmy residue behind.
Whether you are dealing with wood floors or laminate flooring, there are steps that you can use to make that film go away while still maintaining the new beauty that comes with your flooring. Just follow the steps above and see how easy this process can be for your needs!
