Protect Your Wooden Floors With Chimiver Ecostar

Wood floors bring plenty of value to the establishments in which they are installed. These durable structures can last for generations, if well taken care of. The tough build enables them to be used in high traffic environments, as they can withstand heavy footfall. They are also easy to clean, where the routine vacuuming and damp mopping will be enough to get rid of the dirt and grime that builds up on them. When it comes to beauty, wood floors are renowned for their timeless appeal, which complements any decor style. They bring natural character and charm to the space – which enhances the property value. Tenants and buyers are even willing to pay a premium for residential and commercial spaces that have well-maintained wood floors. The vast range of styles, colours, and finishes, makes them a versatile flooring option that can be used in any room of the property. To enjoy the full value of the wood floors, they need to be properly taken care of. Here, it’s an intricate balance where you want to give your floor adequate protection and still deliver the aesthetic attributes that match your style. Looking to give your wooden floors a glossy and long-lasting finish? That’s right up the alley of Chimiver Ecostar.

What The Chimiver Ecostar Brings On Board

The lacquer provides enhanced adhesion, durability, and abrasion resistance for your wood floor. It can withstand daily wear and tear, making it an excellent choice for high-traffic areas such as living rooms, hallways, and kitchens. It serves as a high-performance barrier that shields your floor from wear effects, stains, and scratches. Chimiver Ecostar is used in busy homes looking for a floor finish that can stand up to the abrasive effects of all the activity going on – with the kids and pets running around and even the frequent food and beverages winding up on the floor. Day-care facilities, where spills and stains are frequent, to office spaces where you want to set a professional look and still protect your floor – the lacquer is up to the task.

Chimiver Ecostar has a high solids content, adding to the strength and durability of the finish, and also providing a deep, rich shine that can enhance the natural beauty of your wooden floors. This feature can keep your floors looking new brand new, even after prolonged use. Simply ensure that you’re using the right cleaning agents during the routine maintenance. The long-lasting protection has the welcome benefit of reducing the amount of time and resources that go into floor care. For instance, it reduces that number of times that the floor will need to be sanded and refinished in future. Thus, you get to prolong the life of your wood floor.

From Beauty to Cost Efficiency

With regards to aesthetics, Chimiver Ecostar brings a warm and slightly oxidized look to the wood floor. This contributes to enhancing the ambience of the space. Given that you can get the gloss level you desire – since you have 4 options to work with (LD-60 gloss; SL-40 gloss; OP-20 gloss and SUPER OP: 13 gloss), you will be able to wind up with the final result that matches your particular establishment’s needs. From law offices looking to create a professional and sophisticated atmosphere that instills confidence in clients and sets the tone for successful negotiations, art galleries that use beautiful wood flooring can create an elegant and timeless backdrop for the artwork, enhancing its beauty and appeal to potential buyers, and barber shops that want an elegant wood floor finish that can create a traditional and masculine atmosphere to appeal customers seeking a classic grooming experience – you get to set the aesthetic appeal that suits your business premises needs. Bookstores, where the elegant finish creates a cosy and inviting atmosphere to encourage customers to browse and explore the books and merchandise, medical offices where the beautiful wood flooring can set a warm and comforting atmosphere to puts patients at ease during their visits, and even design studios that get to set a creative and inspiring atmosphere that encourages designers to think outside the box and come up with innovative solutions for clients – the impact of properly finished wood floor cannot be ignored. The water-based lacquer is even used in museums to contribute to the atmosphere that enhances the beauty and appeal of the artwork and exhibits, while still protecting the structural integrity of the floor.

The Chimiver Ecostar is also a fast-drying finish. This minimises disruption in the premises, and allows the floor treatment to be carried out much faster. The applied coats will be dust-dry within 40 minutes. They’ll be fingerprint dry within 2 hours, after which you can also apply the second coat.

Taking care of your floors doesn’t mean that you have to break the bank. Getting them treated with a protective lacquer prolongs the lifespan of the installation, and saves you money on repairs or replacement. Protecting the surface from scratches, stains, and other types of damage that can occur over time means that you won’t have to keep forking out money to resolve excess wear and tear. Resources that go into the cleaning process are also reduced, since dirt and grime are prevented from adhering strongly to the surface. During the application process itself, the Chimiver Ecostar has a wide coverage rate, coming at 80-100 g/m². The product is also affordably priced, so you get to make savings from the start. All this contributes to reducing the expenses that go into your floor care, without compromising on the expected quality of the results.

In line with Chimiver’s sustainability goals, the Ecostar Lacquer is eco-friendly and safe for use in your home. You don’t have to worry about it choking up the indoor space with potent volatile organic compounds (VOCs), like alternative oil-based finishes which release such agents into the premises, causing respiratory problems and other health issues. With Chimiver Ecostar, you can rest assured that you are using a product that is safe for your family and pets. Moreover, being a ready-to-use and single-component product, the lacquer is easy to apply and requires minimal preparation, saving you time and money. No complex mixing is required here. Simply spread it out onto the floor. More on this up next.

The Application Process

This is a single-component product, and comes ready to use. You don’t need to dilute it with any agent. For the application tools, you can work with a brush or a microfibre roller. The application of the lacquer can be split into stages:

Floor Preparation

Here the goal is to get the floor clear and ready to receive the Chimiver Ecostar. Dirt and debris on the surface would interfere with the adhesion of the lacquer. You don’t want a case of the particulate matter getting trapped under the coat of treatment being applied. A thorough wash also removes the oily residue that may be on the surface. These could be materials left behind from cleaning products that were being used, or even furniture polish. Such content build-up also interferes with the binding process between the lacquer and the floor. Allow the floor to dry before proceeding.

If there are existing finishes of the floor, it will need to be sanded down. This opens up the pores of the wood surface, allowing the Chimiver Ecostar finish to penetrate deeper into the fibres. This improves the durability and longevity of the treatment, and makes the floor more resistant to scratches, dings, and other kinds of damage.

Treating the floor with Chimiver Ecostar

Follow these steps:

Shake the container. This mixes the ingredients that could have settled over time in storage and redistributes the pigments, that way you will end up with a consistent finish on the floor.
Apply the first coat on the surface.
Give the treatment 2 to 4 hours of drying time.
Apply the second coat.

If the second coat is applied within this 4-hour threshold after the first coat, then you won’t need to sand the surface.
Alternatively, you can wait for 12 to 24 hours, then lightly sand the floor with a 220 grit sandpaper, and then apply the second coat.
A third coat of finish can be applied if needed, following the same steps.
To improve the quality of the final result, you can sand the surface after each coat has been applied. Just ensure that you have allowed adequate drying time.

Points To Note When Working With The Chimiver Ecostar

For those combined treatment cycles where you’re using a primer and a finish, work with compatible products. For instance, you can start with the water-based Chimiver Ecorapid primer that features a high solids content and speeds up the drying process to enable the finishing project to be completed within a day; or the Ecocrom formulation, which is a toning primer that adds a warm colour to the wood floor. Apply the primer, then follow up with a coat of the Ecostar formulation.

Subsequent maintenance of floors treated with this formulation – including routine care and deep cleaning – can be carried out with products from the Verulex range.

What’s In A Brand – A Look at Chimiver

When looking for wood floor care products, you want to be sure that you’re sourcing them from a reputable brand. One whose products have been shown to be of high quality, and that they can be relied on. Some of the factors to consider when weighing your options include:

Track record: What’s the brand’s history? How long have they been in operation? The floor care industry is highly competitive, and for a company to survive for long, it has to actually deliver on its promise. Check if the company has a good reputation in the industry, if they have received any awards or recognition for their products, and if they have a loyal customer base.
Quality of products: This focus on the range of formulations that the company offers. Do they use high-quality ingredients? Have their products been tested and proven effective? Certifications from independent and authoritative bodies come in handy here, as the products will have undergone rigorous testing standards to ensure that it meets the stipulated requirements. Do they offer a range of products that can meet your specific needs? For instance, while some establishments simply want floor finishes that have a protective finish, others also want lacquers with antislip properties, such as for the home with kids and the elderly. Even when the goal is just protection, the finishes vary based on the kind of traffic that they are formulated to shield against. There are those that target low and moderate traffic environments like homes, to those that target heavy traffic establishments, like supermarkets and public spaces.
Sustainability: Look into the brand’s commitment to sustainability. Do they use eco-friendly and non-toxic ingredients in their products? Do they have a recycling program or use sustainable packaging?
Social media presence: In this digital age, any floor care company worth its salt has a social media presence through which it interacts with its customers. Check the brand’s socials to see how it engages with its audience. Are they responsive to inquiries and feedback? Do they regularly post helpful tips and advice for caring for wood floors? The kind of communication that you see will enable you to gauge what to expect when you interact with the firm.
Customer service: How are the brand’s customer service policies? Do they have a satisfaction guarantee or return policy? Warranties are a sign of the confidence that the companies have in their own products. Do they offer customer support to help you choose the right product for your needs? If you have any questions after you make the purchase, or need help with a product, you don’t want the communication to be a frustrating process.
Reviews: Read reviews from customers who have used the brand’s wood floor care products. Look for both positive and negative feedback to get a balanced understanding of the brand’s products and customer service.

With all that in mind, here’s a brief overview of the brand behind the Chimiver Ecostar:

In 1965, Chimiver was established by Mr. Giovanni Panseri and his wife, who started with a small laboratory that produced coatings for wood and parquet floors. Over the years, Chimiver has become the leading manufacturer of products for gluing, treating, and maintaining wooden floors in Italy. Through innovative solutions and continuous investment, Chimiver has expanded its reach to over 60 countries worldwide.

From producing solvent lacquer for wood in the 60s to developing two-component glues for accelerated installation in the 80s, Chimiver has constantly grown its product line. In 1994, the company created its first water-based paint for parquet, signalling a shift towards greater ecological sensitivity. Collaborating with pre-finished parquet manufacturers, Chimiver developed the UV varnishing system in 1995, where hardening is obtained in seconds by ultraviolet light.

In 2014, Chimiver diversified its product range to include resilient floors and resin floors. Today, the brand has a wide range of products under its name wood care products ranging from the Chimiver Ecostar under review, LED curing lacquers such as the Ecofast UV LED, and the very machines used to during application and curing – like the LED-Y On Site Cure system; solutions for resin and microcement installations including Additivo HD and Durolack MC 50 Extra Alifatica; to cleaning and maintenance products like the Velurex Multigen that’s used on all hard surfaces, the Velurex MultiStar that comes with antistatic properties, and even the Lios Kronos that has been particularly developed for oiled wood floors.

The company has also demonstrated its commitment to the environment through initiatives like using recycled packaging and renewable raw materials, as well as producing ecological and environmentally friendly products. In 2022, after years of research and development, Chimiver improved its LED photo-curing finishes, lacquers, and oils to optimize energy consumption and limit environmental impact. It was even among the 2022’s winners of the “CONAI – Eco-design Packaging Award”

Today, Chimiver remains at the forefront of the market, with commercial branches in China and India, and a focus on export growth. With a history spanning over 50 years, Chimiver continues to innovate and promote sustainable efforts, cementing its position as a leader in floor care.

The Dangers That Your Wood Floor Faces

Why are wood floor finishes like the Chimiver Ecostar important? Well, wood, despite its durability, is not invincible. There are plenty of issues that can cause the deterioration of your installation. Take water damage for instance. It’s a common issue for wood floors, especially in areas prone to flooding or where plumbing leaks can occur. Just a single incident of a dishwasher leaking onto the floor can cause excess amounts to seep into the wood and result in damage. Those frequent drink spills, if left unaddressed, are also a threat. Rising damp, mopping with too much water – they all put the wood at risk. Water damage causes issues like cupping, crowing or warping, depending on how much water has been absorbed. This leads to costly repairs being needed. It’s important to deal with the source of the excess water. For instance, if there is a plumbing leak, getting the technicians to come in and fix it is a priority. Measures to remove the excess water on the floor should also be put in place. Protective finishes kick in to reduce how much water is absorbed into the structure. Note that, even with the finishes in place, this does not mean that you should allow spills to remain for long on the surface, or start wet-mopping the floor. Always clean up the spills, and use a damp mop for the cleaning process.

Scratches and dents on the other hand are almost inevitable. They are caused by a wide range of factors, such as furniture being dragged across the floor, high-heeled shoes, or even pets’ claws. The dirt and gritty particles that are on people’s shoes get grinded against the floor surface, adding to the wear. A heavy item may be accidentally dropped onto the floor, causing a dent in the wood. While small damages may seem insignificant, but over time, they can add up and detract from the floor’s appearance. It gets to a state where the floor is so deteriorated that it drags down the result of the decor, and makes the premises appear neglected. Different measures are put in place to protect the floor from the scratches and abrasive effects. Getting the floor treated with a protective wood finish right from the start is key – which is where the Chimiver Ecostar and similar formulations come in.

Have you noticed that the area of the floor closest to a window has faded in comparison to the rest of the floor? That’s because of the sun’s effects on the surface. Continued exposure to UV radiation results in colour changes, depending on the intensity and duration of the UV exposure, the type of wood species, and the quality of the finish used to protect the wood. Some wood species that are known to fade when exposed to sunlight include: Cherry, which has a rich, reddish-brown colour that tends to darken with age but when exposed to UV light, the wood can lose some of its colour and become lighter; the likes of maple and Birch which all lighten; to Walnut and Teak that become even darker with UV exposure. For the finishes, the main concern is yellowing over time – and this is usually the case with oil-based finishes.

Temperature changes can cause the wood in a floor to expand or contract, which can lead to gaps between the boards. You may have noticed gaps in the floor during the winter when the heating is turned on. Over time, these gaps can become more apparent and may require filler agents to close them up. When the gaps become too large, it any be necessary to replace the affected boards. This is why, before installing wood flooring, the boards should be allowed to acclimate to the environment where it will be installed for several days. This helps the wood adjust to the temperature and humidity of the space, reducing the risk of gaps forming due to changes in moisture levels. Installing a moisture barrier under the wood flooring can help prevent moisture from seeping up from the subfloor and causing the wood to expand. Using a humidifier or dehumidifier to keep the temperature and humidity levels consistent will also help in preventing large gaps from being formed. Also, ensure that the property has humidity and ventilation.

Harsh chemicals can damage the finish of a wood floor and the applied finish. That temptation to use a potent cleaner, perhaps in a bid to get rid of particularly troublesome dirt spots and stains, can end up wreaking havoc on your floor. Take bleach for instance. It is a powerful disinfectant that can remove stains and discoloration. However, when used on wood floors, it can weaken the wood fibres, and cause the wood to become brittle and discoloured. Ammonia on the other hand is a common agent that can be found in many household cleaners – but when it is applied to wood floors, it can cause discoloration, warping, and damage to the wood’s finish. Hydrogen peroxide is a powerful oxidizer that can bleach stains and remove dirt, will discolour the wood floor. Oil soaps are usually gentle, but they tend to leave hind resides, which trap more grime on the wood. A similar case happens when you use furniture polish on wood floors.

Stick to cleaning agent that have been specifically developed for use on wood. Go for the products that the manufacturer of the finish has indicated will be safe or for the protective coats that have been applied. For instance, the routine cleaning of floors that have been treated with the Chimiver Ecostar can be carried out with cleaner from the VELUREX range of products. This enables you to ensure that the dirt and grime has been effectively got rid of, without exposing your installation to a myriad of problems.

Heavy foot traffic is one of the cleaning causes of wear and tear on a wood floor. This can be clearly seen in high-traffic areas of the household such as hallways or entryways. The barrier of protection provided by lacquers like the single-component Chimiver Ecostar, ward off the abrasive effects of foot traffic, to preserve the structural integrity of the installation.

Pet accidents, such as urine or vomit, can cause staining and damage to a wood floor, especially if they are not quickly cleaned up. Using protective mats or rugs in pet areas and promptly cleaning up accidents can help prevent this issue. This is part of the reason why it is important to invest in some training for your furry friend. That way they can pee in designated areas or outdoors, to avoid cases where they mess up the flooring. Enzyme-based cleaners come in handy to get rid of the pet urine stains that are formed on the installation.

Neglecting a wood floor can also lead to a build-up of dirt and debris, causing scratches and dullness. Maintenance doesn’t stop at applying the finish coats. Routine cleaning is needed, to get rid of the grime and debris that accumulate on the surface. After a few years – and depending on how much the existing coats have been worn down, a round of sanding and refinishing can be carried out to give the floor a fresh new treatment.

Factors To Consider When Choosing Your Wood Floor

The durability of the floor finish is one of the main considerations when it comes to floor finishes. Here, you want a formulation that can stand up to the expected levels of wear, and protect the underlying structure from spills. Here are additional aspects that you should weigh when looking through the different wood floor finishes available:

Type of wood

Some wood species are more porous than others, so they may require more coats of finish for adequate protection. For instance, pine is a softwood that is known for its porous nature, and is more prone to denting and scratching. As such, it usually requires more coats of finish to adequately protect it. Cedar is also a softwood, and it’s commonly used for outdoor projects like decks and fences. Its porous nature makes it more susceptible to rot and decay if not properly protected. Oak and Cherry, on the other hand, are just moderately porous, so do not require as many coats to protect them. Brazilian walnut is a dense hardwood, making it far less porous, and highly resistant to moisture and rot, which also it a popular choice for outdoor applications.

Gloss level:

Wood floor finishes are available in varying gloss levels, from matte to high gloss. Consider the desired level of shine when choosing a finish. With the Chimiver Ecostar for instance, you get to go with options from the LD-60 gloss to the SUPER OP: 13 gloss. Here it will depend on your personal preference.

Application method

Different finishes require different application methods, such as spraying, brushing, or rolling. For instance, the Chimiver Ecostar under review can be applied with an 8mm roller, or brushed onto the target surface. Which tools are you comfortable working with, and what is the size of the area that is being treated? Remember that the coats of finish should be applied uniformly over the surface, as this will determine the final quality of results that are obtained.

VOC content:

The VOC content level of a finish will impact indoor air quality. This is one of the reasons behind the shift from oil-based finishes to the increasingly popular water-based options. Products like the Chimiver Ecostar allow you to ensure your floors get the protection they need without jeopardizing the health of everyone on the premises.

Drying time

This directly impacts the length of disruption to the normal day-to-day operations in the premises. While water-based finishes can dry to the touch in as little as 1-2 hours, oil-based finishes can take anywhere from 24-48 hours or longer to dry. Note that drying time also depends on factors like temperature and humidity. Ensure you follow the manufacturer’s recommendations for drying time and application instructions – including the optimal temperatures within which the product can be applied.