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Floor Strip and Wax Services in Buffalo and Western New York
For your home or commercial property, Modern Flooring and Renovations WNY provides the many benefits of floor stripping and floor waxing across Buffalo. A floor strip and wax brings a dull, scuffed, or yellowing floor back to a clean, even shine, and it protects the surface underneath. Regular wear and tear, the added challenges of local Buffalo weather, stains, and trapped grime can all be resolved with our intensive cleaning process. We take floors that are an eyesore and make them look new again. We strip and wax vinyl composition tile (VCT) and other resilient floors for commercial buildings, retail spaces, medical offices, schools, and homes across Buffalo, Tonawanda, Amherst, Williamsville, Lockport, Cheektowaga, and the surrounding Western New York communities. Give us a call at 716-909-7052 for further information, convenient scheduling, and quick turnaround.
Revitalize Your Floors with Modern Flooring
Let us give your VCT (vinyl composition tile) and other resilient floors a fresh, clean, and new appearance with stripping and waxing. Our waxing, refinishing, and floor cleaning in Buffalo saves you money on replacement and extends the lifespan of the floor. The surface will no longer appear dull or grimy. We take care of marks, scratches, and imperfections and create a level of defense against dust settlement and moisture for easier maintenance.
Stripping and waxing is a multi-step process, and skipping steps is the main reason a finish fails early. Here is how we approach it:
- Move and protect. We clear the work area, protect baseboards and adjacent surfaces, and set out safety signage so the space stays controlled while finishes cure.
- Apply stripper and dwell. We apply a floor stripping solution and let it dwell long enough to break down every layer of old wax and finish without damaging the tile.
- Agitate and remove. We machine-scrub the floor to lift the dissolved finish, then pick up the slurry so no residue is left behind.
- Rinse and neutralize. A floor that is still alkaline from stripper will not bond properly with new finish, so this step matters more than it looks.
- Dry, then coat. Once the floor is fully dry, we apply multiple thin coats of floor finish, allowing each coat to dry before the next goes down.
- Final inspection. We walk the finished floor with you to confirm the shine, coverage, and edges meet the standard you expect.
The number of finish coats depends on the floor and the traffic it sees. A typical commercial VCT floor gets four to five coats for a durable, high-gloss build, while a lighter-use floor may need fewer. More coats mean a deeper shine and a thicker protective layer that extends the time between strip jobs. Floor finish is a sacrificial layer, meant to wear down so the tile underneath does not, so the right maintenance schedule looks different for a busy retail entrance than for a back office. In Buffalo, road salt, sand, and snowmelt get tracked across entrances from late fall through the spring thaw, so the highest-traffic zones near the door almost always need more frequent attention through the winter.
We Can Refresh Your Flooring
If your floor has experienced a great deal of traffic, is older, and has become a detriment to your decor, trust the professionals from Modern Flooring to deliver outstanding results. Not every tired floor needs a full strip, though. A buff and recoat (sometimes called a scrub and recoat) is the lighter-touch option: we clean the floor, lightly machine-buff or scrub the top layer, and apply one or two fresh coats of finish. This restores gloss when the existing finish is still sound, and it is a smart way to stretch the life of a floor between full strips. A full strip and wax is the right choice when the finish has yellowed, when wax has built up unevenly along edges and in corners, when dirt is trapped under the finish, or when the gloss no longer comes back with buffing. If you are not sure which your floor needs, we will look at it and tell you honestly.
Vinyl composition tile is the workhorse of commercial flooring across WNY because it is durable, affordable, and built to be maintained with a floor finish system. The same care applies to other resilient surfaces, though the products and methods change. Some sheet vinyl and luxury vinyl products carry a factory finish or wear layer that should not be stripped and waxed the way VCT is, and the wrong approach can damage them. Matching the process to the floor is part of doing this correctly, and it protects your investment.
Modern Flooring and Renovations WNY is a fully insured, BBB-listed company based at our showroom at 2120 Niagara Falls Boulevard, Suite 2, in Tonawanda, with a 4.9-star rating across our customer reviews. Owner Sergiy Lupekha is personally involved from the first walk-through to the final inspection, so you get a direct line to the person accountable for the result. We schedule commercial strip-and-wax work around your hours where possible, including after-hours and weekend windows, so your floors are ready and dry before you reopen. Refusing to compromise on labor or materials, we do not take chances with your satisfaction. For residential and commercial floor refinishing and waxing in Buffalo, Modern Flooring is the right choice. Reach out to schedule an on-site assessment.
Frequently Asked Questions
It depends on traffic. A busy retail or high-traffic floor often needs a full strip and wax once or twice a year, with regular buffing and scrub-and-recoat cycles in between. Lower-traffic offices and storage areas may only need a full strip every year or two. In Buffalo, entrances and main walkways usually need more attention through the winter because road salt and sand wear finish down faster. We recommend a schedule based on your specific space during the on-site assessment.
A buff and recoat lightly cleans and buffs the existing finish, then adds one or two fresh coats to restore gloss. It works when the finish is still in good shape. A full strip and wax removes every layer of old finish down to the tile, then rebuilds it with multiple new coats. You need a full strip when the finish has yellowed, built up unevenly, or trapped dirt and no longer shines after buffing.
A typical commercial VCT floor gets four to five coats of floor finish for a durable, high-gloss build, applied as thin layers with drying time between each. Lighter-use floors may need fewer. More coats create a deeper shine and a thicker protective layer, which extends the time before the next full strip is needed.
Each coat of finish needs time to dry before the next is applied, and the floor needs additional time to cure before normal traffic returns. We schedule commercial jobs around your hours, including after-hours and weekend windows where possible, so the floor is fully ready before you reopen. We will give you a clear timeline for your specific floor before we start.
No. Vinyl composition tile (VCT) and many resilient floors are designed to be stripped and waxed. But some sheet vinyl and luxury vinyl products have a factory finish or wear layer that should not be waxed, and using the wrong process can damage them. Matching the method to the floor is part of doing the job right, which is why we assess the surface first.
Yes. We strip and wax floors for commercial buildings, retail spaces, medical offices, and schools, as well as for homeowners with VCT or other resilient floors. We work throughout Buffalo, Tonawanda, Amherst, Williamsville, Lockport, Cheektowaga, Getzville, and the greater Western New York area from our showroom in Tonawanda.