HOUSE AND GARDEN 
Nov 
EMBER, igil 
307 
once or twice a year, depending considerably on how much the 
floor is used, it may accumulate dirt and become soiled so that it 
cannot be cleaned up with the ordinary rubbing over with a cloth. 
Then, take benzine or gasoline and a rag, go over the floor and 
take up the wax. The wax will dissolve in the benzine or gaso¬ 
line, and you can clean the wax, dirt and all, off thoroughly just 
as you can mop up the dirt and grease from linoleum with water 
and a rag. Then, let the floor dry out thoroughly, after which 
you are ready to wax again. 
One should avoid using an ordinary broom on a wax floor, for 
it scratches. Make a bag of cotton-flannel, or some cloth that will 
draw over the broom, and use the regular rubbing brush. Or 
take a soft cloth of any kind and clean off the floor. 
There are other methods of finishing hardwood floors, and even 
though the above is considered the most approved some may pre¬ 
fer one of the others. After staining and putting on the filler, 
instead of shellac one can use some of the hard floor varnishes 
of which there are several advertised now. Sand and smooth the 
first coat, then follow with the second, or thin the first two 
coats with turpentine and make a three-coat job of it. After ap¬ 
plying the top or last coat it may be left in its natural gloss, 
rubbed down to a dull finish with fine sandpaper, or after being 
rubbed down to a dull finish given a furniture polish with rot¬ 
ten-stone. 
As another alternative, one may put two or three coats of var¬ 
nish on the floor and smooth it off with sandpaper and finish with 
wax just as was done when finishing with wax on top of shellac. 
This gives a higher finish, but it is not considered as good by ex¬ 
pert floor people. Hardwood floor men will tell you that if you 
want a wax floor you should use shellac on it. If you don’t want 
to wax your floor then 
use varnish. 
There is another 
variation in the matter 
of finishing that the 
varnish men will ad¬ 
vise you against, but 
notwithstanding this, it 
appeals to the writer. 
That is, no matter just 
what you use after¬ 
ward, make your first 
coat on the floor of 
shellac. Put on the 
filler and stain, then a 
coat of shellac, no mat¬ 
ter whether you intend 
to finish with shellac 
and wax or whether 
you intend to apply 
varnish. The shellac 
serves to seal in the 
filler and makes a body 
or ground work that is 
good as a starting 
point for any kind of 
finish and any kind of 
finish will stick to it. 
The practice of the 
writer in work of this 
kind is to use a filler 
and a stain, then a coat 
of shellac. After that 
if the floor is to be 
waxed there come one 
or two more coats of 
shellac and then the 
Even the old floor yields to this treatment. Smooth off, apply a filler 
and proceed as directed 
wax. If is to be varnished, the same order is used. 
Remember, however, that you cannot reverse the matter; while 
you can wax on top of varnish or on top of shellac you cannot 
varnish on 'top cdSwax. * The varnish will not stick, will not dry 
out as it should when applied on top of wax. It is possible that if 
you have wax on a floor that has been shellacked you can take 
benzine or gasoline and clean i't o’ff thoroughly. Let it dry and 
then get varnish to stick. It iV well to remember, however that 
wax is simply a surfacing and finishing coat, and it may be ap¬ 
plied 01*1 top of shellac- or varnish, but it wears better on shellac. 
One can only have good floors by giving them regular attention. One secret ot success is to maintain a thin 
coat of wax, renewing it when it begins to wear through 
