How to Make a Wood Floor Less Slippery

Recently, several spots on the hardwood floors in my home became mysteriously slippery—so slippery that it was dangerous. I really feel like my legs might give out from under me when I walk there, and there were a few near misses before I started avoiding them (or at least mustering up the strength to walk over them more carefully).

You can’t live like this, so I started looking for solutions, starting with the root cause.

Why do wooden floors suddenly become slippery?

It turns out that it is not uncommon for hardwood floors to spontaneously become slippery, and this can happen for a variety of reasons.

• Wax or polish: If you apply any coating to give the floor an extra shine, it can build up over time and turn the floor into an ice skating rink.

• Oil and silicone cleaners: Some cleaners that promise a shiny surface contain silicone or oil, which can also build up and make floors slippery.

• Dirt and humidity: Dirt, even something you can't see, can act as a dry lubricant, and high humidity can cause moisture stains to form on the surface of floors.

• Time: Finally, over time, all those feet walking on the floor will be able to polish the finish, removing the microscopic imperfections that previously gave it some stability.

I don't polish or wax my floors, don't use oil- or silicone-based cleaners, and clean fairly regularly, so I discounted the first few reasons and assumed that we had just buffed out the seal on our floors from regular foot traffic. This can happen to any sealed wood floor, but there are some fairly simple ways to deal with it.

Start with a thorough cleaning

The first step I took was a thorough cleaning. I clean my floors regularly, but there's always the chance that something might have spilled unnoticed—the slippery spots are along the route from the kitchen to the dining room and from my tool cabinet to the rest of the house. Vegetable oil, WD40 – there are many things that could spill undetected. If you are unsure about the buildup of foreign matter on a slippery floor, a thorough cleaning may be a simple solution.

Always use a pH-neutral cleaner made specifically for wood floors, and never use vinegar, even if heavily diluted with water. Vinegar can corrode floor finishes; so far this power help with slipperiness, it can also cause irreparable harm. I used Bona parquet floor cleaner and cleaned these areas several times, but my floors remained slippery.

Add rugs

A simple solution, especially if you're dealing with one or two isolated slippery spots, is to simply throw in a mat or runner with a non-slip backing. Your floors will still be slippery, but they won't pose any danger. If the slippery area is quite large (or covers the entire floor), this may not work as the rugs may simply slide around and have nothing to hold onto. But for a small slippery area, this can be a quick and easy solution.

Apply temporary (or permanent) treatment

If cleaning and covering slippery floors doesn't help, there are a few other solutions you can try:

• Anti-slip sprays. Various temporary anti-slip sprays can be applied to the floor, e.g. Rustoleum AntiSlip or Safe spray Slip Doctors. While Rustoleum spray is suitable for use indoors and on wood, it is not intended for hardwood floors, and in a quick test it looked a little cloudy on some scrap wood I had lying around. On the other hand, the safety spray dries very clear and significantly reduces the slip factor, so I would recommend it. This does change the shine of the floor a bit (noticable in the right lighting), but this is also temporary and will have to be reapplied every year or so.

• Receipt number. This material is actually intended for stages and dance floors, but you can use it on any wood floor. I haven't tested this, but the procedure is pretty simple: First thoroughly clean and dilute one part Slip NoMor to 20 parts water. Then wipe it down and let it dry. The coating will only last a week or so (and you can remove it with hot water at any time), so it's not a permanent solution unless you're willing to reapply every week or so.

• Coatings. A more durable and more sophisticated solution is to coat the floors with a clear anti-slip product such as Floor grip, Bona Anti-slipor Loba 2K Invisible. These are essentially new finishing sealers for your floors, and they all require sanding the floor before application and allowing it to cure for a few days. This is a DIY solution if you're comfortable doing the prep work, but it's not a quick fix.

• Dye. If your wood floors are in good condition, this may not be the best idea, but if they are a little worn, drawing them With anti-slip additive may be a cheap and easy way to fix the problem.

As a last resort, repair

If scrubbing and temporary sprays don't work and you're considering a coating that will fix your slippery floors, you may want to consider going all in and having your floors professionally polished with an anti-slip coating. This will ensure an even finish and freshen up your floors. This is the most expensive and destructive solution, but also the most permanent. Most professional remodelers can suggest a suitable seal for your floors that will increase adhesion.