How to Remove Wax on an Unsealed Wood Floor

Remove all furnishings from the floor. Sweep or vacuum the floor to remove any debris. Put a plastic bag on the floor near where the wax is being removed. Pour floor stripper into one mop bucket until the mop is saturated. Fill the second mop bucket with hot water. Use masking tape or duct tape to mark the mop and bucket that are filled with floor stripper. Most commercial floor strippers are watery, but have a pungent smell. Place both buckets on the plastic bag to ensure no water or stripper spills on other areas or carpets.

Saturate the mop in the floor stripper bucket and ring it out. In one section, mop the floor in figure-eights with the stripper. Place the stripper mob back in the stripper bucket. Mop the same area with water until the wax and stripper is removed. Repeat mopping the floor with stripper, followed by mopping the floor with water on each section of the floor until all of the wax and stripper are removed. Rinse and refill the water bucket with hot water when the water looks cloudy.

Allow the floor to dry, then put on rubber or plastic gloves. Dip a small portion of a rag into the mop bucket with stripper in it. Wax may gather on edges and in corners during the stripping process. Check the edges and corners of the floor for wax build up. Lightly rub the rag with stripper on spots where wax is built up. Remove the excess wax carefully by scraping it with a putty knife. Mop the areas where excess wax was removed with water. Let the floor dry completely.