Boss B200752 Scrubber - 18" Floor Buffer with 470 RPM & 3-Wire Cord - Red Gloss Finish - Ideal for Hardwood, Tile & Concrete Floors

Bottom line, for hardwood floors, the Gloss Boss is a good investment and will absolutely make the job of cleaning your floors easier (or simply possible). Its ability to help with carpet and tile cleaning is a bonus but not its best strength (products designed specifically for these purposes will do you better but at a minimum of 3 times the cost). However, in order for the Gloss Boss to work, you have to know how to clean your floors. If you have hardwood floors, without some kind of mechanical advantage, the amount of elbow grease required to restore grungy hardwood to its original shine in more than a couple of rooms is probably beyond what most people could muster.If you have been waxing your floors and try to use the Gloss Boss (or any other polisher or any floor-cleaning product) to polish them clean, you are in for disappointment. Your floors appear dirty because the wax has degraded and become sticky. The tackiness collects all the dirt and grime and walking on it forces it into the wax. Attempting to clean the surface is a futile effort; not just because nothing slides smoothly over the sticky mess. Clean and polish all you want and then get some Windex and spray a small area and wipe with a paper towel. The towel will pick up grunge no matter how many times you try cleaning and wiping (the grunge is the dirt-encrusted wax). Alas, at this point you have no choice but to first remove all the wax then clean the floor.PreparationTo remove the wax you need a chemical stripper…ooh that sounds industrial. Don’t buy any product designed for floor stripping! Most of these are intended to strip the Polyurethane finish. So, unless you intend to refinish your floors…The best thing for dissolving floor wax is ammonia. Many people will recommend using Windex (which is mostly ammonia). However, the goal is to put as little product on your floor as possible because you have to clean all the product back off the floor. Windex has blue coloring and other additives, which certainly aren’t helping. Plus, you can buy pure ammonia at your local grocery store or hardware store for $2-$3 (about ¼ of the cost of any other solution). Don’t bother with scented ammonia. It all smells terrible and any coloring added is just more to clean-up (it doesn’t hurt but is doesn’t help either). The ammonia smell will dissipate in 3-4 hours and be totally gone by the next day. Also, buy a couple of spray bottles ($1 at the dollar store) and some microfiber towels.Next, go to your local hardware store, and find their tool rental section. Buy one of the scrubbing pads designed for use with their rental floor buffers. The pads are typically 1” thick and 17”-20” in diameter and come in various coarseness for around $6 each (Home Depot has black, red, blue, green and white – I prefer the red/medium pad but I don’t think any of them will scratch your floor). The Gloss Boss only takes a 5 ½” pad. So why would you have me get a giant 17” pad? Well, this will save you lots of wasted time and money on the expensive and worthless 1/8” thick green/blue scrubber pads that are designed to work with these small floor scrubbers. Simply use one of the pads that came with the Gloss Boss as a template to cut similar sized discs out of the 17” pad you got from the hardware store (use a box cutter). You will get 5 or 6 round pads and the leftover makes great scrubbers for other uses (about ¼ of the cost of the worthless pads made for these scrubbers). You don’t have to cut perfectly round pads as they won’t spin fast enough to have a balance problem. Don’t bother cutting holes in the middle for the stupid plastic rings that hold the “official” pads on. Just place the pads you made carefully centered on the bristles of the circular brushes (the bristles and the fibers of the pad kind-of work like Velcro). Be sure the two pads don’t hit each other as they spin (make them smaller if you have to). Yes, there are some complaints about even the official pads flying off. Here is the trick. Don’t put the handle on the Gloss Boss (at least not yet). If you hold the top of the unit while moving it over the floor, you will get more pressure where you need it and the pads will stay put. Yes, you are on your hands and knees (or sitting on your ass) for this part, but the Gloss Boss does the work. So, you are just sliding around on the floor at bit.Now, you might be thinking, since I was at the hardware store buying a pad, why don’t I just rent a floor buffer and forget the Gloss Boss. Well, an industrial floor buffer weighs a ton (it’s the weight that makes it able to sand the floor). It is going to be a pain to transport and it will cost more to rent for one day than the Gloss Boss costs to own. Also, for home use, while the big 17” rental buffer covers an open area more quickly than Gloss Boss, it won’t fit into the corners and you will end up doing more scrubbing by hand. The Gloss Boss will lift the wax (actually, the ammonia does most of the liquefying work) and you can continue to use it bi-weekly to clean your floors. Ultimately, with a mechanical scrubber lifting the wax, the hardest part will be wiping it up (and that is the same effort whether you use an industrial buffer or the Gloss Boss). For about 4 times the cost, you can buy a heavier, more powerful and more capable scrubber. However, for home use, the lighter, smaller, cheaper solution does the job and may actually serve you better (easier to use, store, etc.).Wax RemovalFill one of the spray bottles with the ammonia and one with water. Open some windows. Spray a mist of the ammonia directly on the floor to cover no more than a 5 square foot area. Run the Gloss Boss over it. As you run the Gloss Boss, the ammonia will melt the wax and the scrubber will pull it up. Use the leftover scrubbing pad pieces to scrub in any corners where the Gloss Boss can’t reach. Run the scrubber until you see liquid white circles form on the floor. Do not allow these to dry (that’s why you can only do a maximum of about 5 square feet at a time). Use a microfiber towel to wipe up the liquid wax. The towel will be saturated with wax and wiping any more area will simply spread the wax around. Rinse the towel off with water immediately (if you wait the wax will harden you will have to throw the towel away). Ring the towel out but don’t bother getting carried away – the dampness actually helps you wipe up the wax. Don’t use anything else (like paper towels) because nothing else will work as well or be as environmentally friendly. After you do a few sections, you should rinse off the buffer pads as they collect and throw wax as well (shake them dry). The area that you wiped should now be smooth and clean but it may appear to have a bit of a white haze and a dull look (not to worry, we are going to fix that). If there are any streaks or sticky spots, this is wax that you didn’t quite get off. Repeat the process to remove any wax you missed and to do all the remaining 5 foot sections of the floor. This is by far the hardest part!Floor CleaningNow that you have removed the wax, you need to clean the floor. There are various home remedies for floor cleaners including using a small amount of vinegar and/or dish soap in water. Most floor manufacturers recommend that you not use vinegar (although I think a misting of vinegar may be OK). Whatever you do, NEVER mop your hardwood floor with a bucket full of anything! The water will eventually penetrate the space between the boards and/or the wood grain causing your floor to warp and crack (you will get away with it for a while, but eventually you will ruin your floor). Consider water to be the enemy of your hardwood. Best to get a top quality floor cleaner and mist it on the floor. Then, use a Swiffer, or, better yet a sponge mop with a microfiber towel under it to mop/wipe up the floor cleaner. Many people like a flat sponge mop ($10) where you simply place it on the microfiber towel and mop away. I prefer an automatic roller sponge mop ($15) because you can pull the microfiber towel under the rollers and it will stay in place (much like how a Swiffer holds its pads). Also, there is the Gloss Boss with it’s microfiber towels (put the handle on and stand up for the floor cleaning). The microfiber towels should glide across your floor without any of the sticky wax on it. However, the Gloss Boss requires even less effort to push and the spinning pads clean better. Not only will this clean your floors better than a traditional mop and bucket, but it is quicker, easier (no bucket to deal with) and you won’t damage the floor.Cleaning the CleanerThe goal in cleaning your floors is to get everything off the floor (duh). But, all floor cleaner leave some kind of soapy residue (some more than others). You have to get the residue up or it will dull your shine. You want a cleaner that leaves the least residue so you have less to clean up (hence why dish soap might not be such a good option). Bona hardwood floor cleaner is probably the best known and most recommended. However, Weiman is half the cost, cleans at least as well, and leaves less residue. Regardless of which floor cleaner you used, the next step is to wipe off the residue left behind. Use your spray bottle filled with water to mist the floor again and wipe with whatever microfiber solution you are using (probably a mob with the cloth is best). The damp microfiber towel will lift off the residue. However, remember to rinse the microfiber towels often or you will simply push the residue around rather than clean it up.Restore the ShineWhen you finish cleaning off the cleaner residue, the floors will be slightly damp and nice and shiny. As they fully dry, the shine may fade (depending on the type, quality and condition of the finish). Resist all temptation to apply a wax (remember all the work you just went through to remove the wax). Definitely don’t use Bona floor Polish (in a week you will be stripping it off again). Weiman High-Traffic floor polish & restorer is your best bet. Again, use a mop with a microfiber towel and squirt a small amount of the polish on the floor. Don’t let the drops sit for any length of time or they will leave a spot. Immediately wipe the polish in the direction of the wood grain to spread a light film over the area. Wipe just once then move on. The product will self-level and the more you wipe it, the worse the results will be. Be very careful never to step on any of the wax while you are doing this or you will leave a footprint (even if you try to put another coat on to cover over it). If you feel the need, wait at least 30 minutes and then repeat this process to get the best possible shine. Allow the floor to dry completely before walking on it. As a final step, you can use the Gloss Boss with the polishing pads and polish the floor. This will smooth any roughness and give you the best possible reflections and shine.Maintaining the FloorFrom here on out, when your floors get dirty, you can just follow the floor cleaning step – i.e. mist a little cleaner and wipe off (remember to clean the cleaner residue as well). Use your Gloss Boss or a mop/microfiber towel and you can quickly clean your floor back to its original shine without much effort and without damaging the hardwood. Eventually, you will have to repeat the wax removal steps and, hopefully, your Gloss Boss is still working by then. Below is a list of everything you need:• 1 bottle of Weiman Hardwood Floor Cleaner – Surface Safe, No Harsh Scent, Safe for Use Around Kids and Pets, Residue Free – 27 oz. Trigger – will cover 4,000 square feet ($5)• 1 bottle of Weiman High-Traffic Hardwood Floor Polish & Restorer - Shines & Hides Scratch Marks, 32 fl oz – Will cover 1,500 square feet with 2 light coats ($12)• Ammonia – 64 oz covers about 800 square feet - $2-$3• 1 pack of Quickie Microfiber Towel, 24-Pack – 4 or 5 will do the job if you continuously clean them (which you should) - $13• 2 Spray bottles• 1 Sponge mop ($1 at the dollar store - $10-$20 for a flat or automatic roller sponge mop)• Scrubbing pads (buy 1 17” scrubbing pad from the hardware store and cut out what you need)• 1 Pullman Holt B200752 Gloss Boss Mini Floor Scrubber - Handles Tile, Wood, Stone, Marble, Concrete, and More - $80Note that in the pic, the floor in the foreground was just cleaned as described above. The area in the top left of the pic (past the wall) has yet to be done (i.e. what the foreground floor looked like before being cleaned). The 2nd pic shows how to cut scrubbing pads.