Non-slip finish for hardwood floors?

September 30, 2014 9:38 AM

My wife and I are looking at buying a new house which has all hardwood floors. (Nice!) However, when we were at the house for a showing, we noticed that the floors had a glossy finish that was noticeably slippery even with our sneakers on, and this on a perfectly dry day with no water on our shoes or the floor. We would like it to not be slippery.

Not only would we like to avoid falling on our own asses and protect our visitors' asses likewise, we would like to avoid our dogs slipping and sliding through the house and colliding with walls and furniture.

So we are wondering if anyone can recommend a clear (glossy or matte OK), non-slip finish or coating suitable for hardwood that is easily applied, lasts a long time, and ideally can be applied over an existing finish without sanding the old one down.

We found Skid Safe which can definitely be applied over existing finishes (but uses an "aggregate" to give the non-slip properties, which is visible, and it's pricey too) and Bona Traffic Anti-Slip which seems to imply, but does not quite go so far as to state explicitly, that it can be applied over an existing finish.

Other suggestions welcomed, especially from those with personal experience.

posted by kindall to Home & Garden (9 answers total)

Best answer: Strange. I wonder if the current owners waxed their floor prior to putting it on the market. If thats the case, that should wear away soon with moderate foot traffic.

Bonus, if you dogs are larger than a purse their indoor shenanigans should scratch up and add texture to the floors for extra grip.
posted by axismundi at 10:17 AM on September 30, 2014 [1 favorite]

Best answer: At my house that slipperiness thing happened when some idiot (okay, my husband) mopped the floor with "shiny wood!" stuff that was meant for furniture, not floors. It was horrible for a week or so then the usual accumlation of foot traffic + dust + everything else just wore it off. One wipe-down with proper floor stuff and we were back to normal.
posted by BlahLaLa at 10:25 AM on September 30, 2014 [1 favorite]

My two cents: the floors just need a good coating of dirt. Don't clean them too often and eventually they won't be so slippery.
posted by purple_bird at 11:18 AM on September 30, 2014

Best answer: I too suspect it's not the permanent wood finish (likely some variety of polyurethane) but a quick-shine cleaning/polishing product, likely to wear off by itself.
posted by jon1270 at 11:24 AM on September 30, 2014 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: That makes sense and is kind of reassuring.
posted by kindall at 11:45 AM on September 30, 2014

It's probably true that a bit of time and normal use will make your floors less slippery, but there is one thing you can do to potentially speed up the process, and that is to try cleaning the floors with a damp mop with a teeny squirt of dish soap added to the water. Obviously you don't want to use water and soap on unfinished wood, and you never want the mop *dripping* wet, but there is no way the floors you're describing *don't* have some kind of finish on them. Try a small area first, of course, and see what happens, but if the floor has indeed been overzealously waxed/polished, this might assist in de-slickifying and improve traction rapidly.

Source: my house has red oak flooring everywhere but the kitchen, and I've both waxed it and cleaned it afterward with a damp mop as described, with no ill effects on the floor. My four cats do still manage to engage in a fair amount of skidding around, but they're able to at least get enough traction not to concuss themselves on the wall!
posted by aecorwin at 12:06 PM on September 30, 2014

Best answer: Yup, another vote for them having been cleaned with an improper cleaner that's left a slippery finish/residue. Even high gloss floors shouldn't be as slippery as what you're describing.
posted by quince at 2:09 PM on September 30, 2014 [1 favorite]

Maybe you can confirm this by checking a closet or (if you can) pulling the fridge and seeing what the floor is like in those places? Odds are the realtor shined it up for show and skipped the details.
posted by JoeZydeco at 3:30 PM on September 30, 2014

Response by poster: We revisited the house last evening and it wasn't nearly as slippery in most of the house. And the places that were still slippery were rooms that you wouldn't expect a lot of traffic in. So, I guess the polish hypothesis is confirmed.

Decided not to get that house though. :-)
posted by kindall at 12:10 PM on October 2, 2014