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How to Polish Wood – A Complete Guide

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What are the benefits of wood polish? Which is the best wood polish? Should you paint your wooden surfaces instead of polishing them? Read on to find out. 

Wooden furniture, doors, and windows add life to a house and enhance its beauty and aesthetics. But they need some love and care so that they don’t become dull with regular use. Apart from this, dust, moisture and heat take away the sheen from wooden fixtures in your house. To get back their smooth and glossy look, you need to get them polished or used products available under the Berger Paints wood finish range.

Why Wood Polishing?

Wood polishing is performed to bring out the natural qualities of wood, restore its colour and shine and highlight its grain to enhance its beauty. Wood polishing involves surface preparation and sealing followed by top-coat application.  Wood polish can be of several types:

  • French Polish – Primitive technology
  • Varnish & 1k PU
  • Melamine based Wood finish with Matt & Gloss finish – Premium
  • Polyester based Wood finish with hi-build Mirror like Gloss finish – Luxury
  • Polyurethane-based Wood finish that gives Matt, Semi-Gloss & Gloss finish and is water/solvent based.

To choose the right type of polish for your home and furniture you will need to consult experts who can guide you about the best wood polish.

Wood Polishing Steps

To get the sheen back on your wooden furniture and fixtures, you will need to follow some preparatory steps to ensure the best results.

  • Remove all the dust and dirt from the surface to be polished.
  • Identify the holes, cracks, undulations & surface imperfections and rectify them with wood putty or wood keeper fill-o-dent.
  • Previous coats of polish should be scrubbed down and cleaned. This is extremely critical.
  • Use wood treatment products like Epoxy block primer to prevent leaching, improve adhesion and prevent the coating from peeling off.
  • Post surface preparation as mentioned above, apply sealers for filling followed by top coat application.

Advantages of Wood finish

Wood finish offers various advantages, including:

  1. Protection of substrate from scratches, stains, hot water etc.
  2. Imparting a beautiful touch & feel. Even a normal wooden unit, if coated with the right wood finish product will look extraordinary.
  3. Can offer clear as well as opaque coatings that come in matt, semi-gloss and glossy finishes.

Disadvantages of Wood finish

Be it a Solvent based PU or a Solvent based Melamine, the finish will not only make your furniture, doors and other fixtures look elegant but add a richness to the overall interiors and exteriors of your home. But such applications do have their disadvantages, some important ones are furnished below :

  1. During application, plenty of fumes & smells are generated as the products are applied by spray guns. This can lead to eye irritation and other health issues. Due to this, it’s almost impossible to give your old wooden furniture a new look with solvent based wood coating when your family is around.

 

  1. Premium & Solvent Based wood coating application involves total scraping of the earlier coating and then the application of the new one. Hence due to higher surface preparation, the labour component of the cost increases exponentially.

 

  1. Even after application, the smell remains for some days which can be quite irritating.

 

What is the Possible Remedy ?

 

  • Use water based wood coatings like Berger’s Luxury Water Based Imperia Breathe Easy.
  • This product is a Low VOC Anti-microbial Water Based Wood Coating with no smell. It also imparts a rich and natural finish.
  • The product can be applied by brush & roller, thus giving a higher coverage. Solvent based Luxury Wood Coating Products are applied by spray gun where material loss of 30% is estimated.
  • The product can be applied without vacating your house. It does not cause any eye irritation or give off toxic smells.
  • Imperia Breathe Easy – Clear Matt or Clear Satin Gloss for interior are ideal for refurbishing old wooden units with minimal surface preparation expense.
  • Imperia Breathe Easy interiors are also available in Whites.
  • Imperia Breathe Easy exteriors come in different transparent colours with moisture proofing ability, UV resistance property & a purely Matt finish.

Whether you decide to offer clear coats to showcase your wooden grains or impart vibrant beautiful colours, contact experienced professionals like those at Berger Paints Express Painting service to enhance the elegance and beauty of your home furniture and fixtures.

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