River Falls, WI · East Twin Cities Metro Mon–Fri 8a–5p · Sat by appt Owner-operated · Veteran-friendly (715) 307-8302

VCT & Vinyl Refinishing · Twin Cities Metro · Est. 2003

Refinish your VCT once instead of waxing it every year.

Vinyl composition tile, sheet vinyl, LVT and linoleum all get the same treatment in most buildings: strip the old acrylic, lay three or four coats of wax, then buff and burnish it until it dulls and the cycle starts again. We take the wax off and put down one coat of EPIC water-based urethane instead. It is rated for 3 to 5 years, it is not buffed, not burnished and not recoated in between, and daily cleaning becomes a dust mop and water.

Text Dave · (715) 307-8302 What We Do
1 Coat Not three or four coats of acrylic
3-5YR Between coats Manufacturer rating in normal traffic
4-5HRS To foot traffic Cut overnight, open in the morning
0 Buffing No burnisher, no spray buff, no pads

What we install

Three scopes, depending on how much wax is on the floor.

We walk the floor before quoting anything. How much old acrylic has to come off is the single biggest thing that moves the price, and it is not something either of us can judge from a photo.

Smallest scope

Spot Repair

One worn area: a traffic lane, an entry, the floor under the chairs.

Wear does not usually show up across a whole floor. It shows up in the doorway, down the main lane, and under furniture that lost its floor protectors. We mask the area, sand it to dull the existing finish, clean it, and recoat that section only. The repair blends into the surrounding floor and the rest of the coating is left alone.
  • Sanded, cleaned and recoated in place
  • Masked to the edge of the worn area
  • Usually a single visit
  • Floor protectors checked while we are there

Most common

Full Refinish

Strip the wax off, neutralize, and coat the whole floor.

The main job, and the one that ends the wax program. Every layer of old acrylic comes off, the floor is neutralized and pH tested, and one coat of EPIC goes down. Gloss or matte, with traction additive where the floor needs a higher slip rating. After this the floor is dust mopped and damp mopped, scrubbed with water when it needs it, and left alone otherwise.
  • All old acrylic stripped and extracted
  • Neutralized and pH tested before coating
  • Gloss or matte, traction additive available
  • Foot traffic in 4 to 5 hours

Scheduled Recoat

The 3 to 5 year reapplication, booked before it is needed.

Nothing lasts forever and we would rather you hear the plan than find out in year four. When the finish is ready, the floor is sanded and one coat goes back down. There is no stripping, because there is no wax to remove, which makes the recoat a much smaller job than the original refinish. Facilities that book it on a schedule keep the floor looking the same year to year.
  • Sand and one coat, no stripping
  • Smaller and faster than the first refinish
  • Scheduled around your calendar
  • Traffic areas can be done on their own

Why we stopped recommending wax

Why one coat outlasts four coats of wax.

Acrylic floor finish is a sacrificial layer. It is designed to be walked off, buffed back, and replaced, which is why the maintenance schedule around it never ends. A water-based urethane is not sacrificial. It cures into a hard film that resists the traffic and the cleaning chemicals instead of giving way to them.

Acrylic Wax The program most commercial floors are on
  • Three or four coats, then it starts dulling. The finish begins losing its gloss in traffic areas within weeks, which is why buffing exists in the first place.
  • Buffed or burnished on a weekly to monthly cycle. That is a machine on site, pads to buy, and custodial hours that come out of everything else.
  • Stripped and recoated every 6 to 18 months. Retail entrances and hospital corridors often run quarterly.
  • Sanitizers break it down. Quaternary disinfectants used in clinical and food areas attack acrylic directly, which shortens the cycle further in exactly the rooms that get cleaned most.
  • Buffing puts particulate in the air. It is the reason floor work gets scheduled around occupancy.
EPIC Water-Based Urethane What we put down instead
  • One coat, rated 3 to 5 years. No topping up, no second application a month later.
  • No buffing and no burnishing at all. The gloss is in the cured film, not in a layer that has to be polished back up.
  • Daily cleaning is a dust mop and water. An auto-scrubber with a microfiber pad when the floor needs more than that.
  • Holds up to the cleaners that destroy acrylic. Tested against bleach, hand sanitizer, motor oil, vinegar and food acids.
  • Low VOC and low odor. 46 g/L in gloss, 25 in matte, so it can go down in an occupied building overnight.

The 6-step job

What the work looks like, step by step.

The same sequence on every floor, whether it is a clinic corridor or a school cafeteria.

  1. Walk the floor

    We look at what is actually on the slab. Layers of old acrylic, previous urethane, tile condition, seams, and the rooms that get the real traffic. This is also where the schedule gets set, because most of this work happens after hours or over a break.

  2. Strip the old finish

    Stripper goes down and dwells, then the floor is machine scrubbed in two directions with a slow-speed rotary. Edges, corners and door frames get scraped and hand worked, because that is where old wax builds up and where a missed patch shows later.

  3. Extract and neutralize

    All the slurry comes up with a wet vacuum, then the floor gets a citric acid scrub to bring it back to neutral. We pH test before going any further. Coating over a floor that is still alkaline is the most common reason a finish lets go.

  4. Check the conditions

    Air temperature, relative humidity, floor temperature and dew point all get read and recorded before anything is mixed. Humidity above 70 percent stops the job. In a heated building through winter this is rarely a problem; in August it sometimes means running dehumidifiers first.

  5. Coat the floor

    Two technicians work together, one spreading and one back-rolling behind, because the working window is measured in minutes and a coat that sets unevenly shows every stop and start. Traction additive is mixed in at this stage if the floor needs a higher slip rating.

  6. Hand it back

    The area stays closed while it dries, with the time it will be ready posted on the door. Foot traffic goes back on in 4 to 5 hours on the fast formula. We go over the new cleaning routine with whoever maintains the floor, because it is simpler than what they were doing and old habits will damage it.

Common Questions

Common questions about vct & vinyl floor refinishing.

What does it cost compared to stripping and waxing?
Two things move the number: the square footage, and how much old acrylic has to come off before we can coat. A floor with years of wax build-up takes far longer to prep than one that was stripped last summer, and prep is most of the labor on this job. We walk the floor and give you a fixed written number before any work starts. The comparison worth making is not against one strip-and-wax visit, it is against every strip, every buff and every recoat you would pay for over the next five years.
How long is the floor out of service?
Foot traffic goes back on 4 to 5 hours after the coat goes down on the fast formula, or 8 hours on the slower one. In practice that means an area cut in the evening is open the next morning. Larger floors get split into sections so no part of the building closes for a full day.
Does this work on LVT, sheet vinyl and linoleum too?
Yes, all of them, along with VCT. Linoleum has one difference worth knowing: abrasive screens are never used on it during prep, because they will damage the surface. It comes up with stripper and pads instead, which takes a little longer on a heavily built-up floor.
What happens to daily cleaning afterward?
It gets simpler. Dust mop, then damp mop with plain water or a neutral cleaner. An auto-scrubber with a microfiber pad on the larger open areas when it needs more than that. What has to stop is anything that adds a layer back on top: no acrylic-enhancing cleaners, no products meant to be buffed or burnished afterward, and no burnisher.
Can it be done while the building is occupied?
The area being coated has to be closed off and stay closed until it is dry, but the rest of the building keeps running. The finish is low odor and low VOC, which is why this work gets done overnight in hospitals and clinics rather than during a shutdown.
What happens when it eventually wears?
Worn areas get sanded and recoated in place, which is a much smaller job than a full refinish because there is no wax to strip. Wear shows up first in doorways, main traffic lanes, and under furniture missing its floor protectors. A spot repair handles those without touching the rest of the floor.
Will it be slippery?
The gloss finish tests at 0.51 dry coefficient of friction and the matte at 0.9. Where a floor needs more than that, a traction additive is mixed into the coating, which raises the slip rating and the abrasion resistance together. Kitchens, entries, restrooms and pool surrounds usually get it.
Gloss or matte?
Gloss reads brighter and is what most corridors, cafeterias and retail floors get. Matte hides scuffing better and looks right on tile and in rooms where a shine would be out of place. They cannot be mixed to make a satin finish; that is done by adding aggregate to either one.

Where we install

VCT & Vinyl Floor Refinishing across the Twin Cities metro and western Wisconsin.

We refinish commercial floors across the Twin Cities metro and western Wisconsin. Most of this work runs after hours or over a scheduled break, so the drive matters less than the calendar does.

→ Get a quote for vct & vinyl floor refinishing in your city

Get a quote

Get a number on ending the wax cycle.

Tell us the building, the floor type and roughly the square footage. We will walk it, tell you what is on the slab, and put a fixed written price in front of you. If stripping and waxing is genuinely the right call for your floor, we will say so.

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