Just laid a reclaimed squash court floor, varied boards, some golden and glowing, some dirty and matt. Have given some a good scrub which brings up some of the dirt.

Any comments on what to use for a good clean other than their own product? What to refinish with? I believe the finish is polyurethane lacquer, but is this different from polyurethane varnish? Anything easier? What about a wax oil? It always seems to me that anything oily would attract and hold the dirt and dust. Any experience of this?

Hi Owlman,
Just spotted your response: What comments did you make earlier about refinishing junckers hardwood flooring? Varnish/lacquer/good clean? Some areas I haven't cleaned at all are coming up shining with a bit of use and walking around in slippers.

Hi archess 200,
Sanding is the obvious answer, which begs the further question of what standard of finish do you want. For a really good pristine finish it's best to employ a floor finishing company. That's not to suggest you couldn't achieve something similar but you'd most likely come unstuck with machine availability in order to achieve that standard.
The usual hire machines, drum sanders, are generally crap and it's very difficult to get a good finish. The pros use rotary sanders, the best, with three or four 6" or 8" discs underneath a large round housing. they produce the flawless finish I mentioned. At over three grand a pop you'll most likely not be able to hire one.
You may be lucky and find a local finishing firm who'll hire you a single 15" or 16" disc sander. and you can do the edges with a hand sander on your knees. If you do manage to hire one get one with dust extraction built in.
If you do go down the sanding route don't skimp on the sanding grits and go through the grits to get a real nice scratch free finish. Scotch brite pads for the large disc sander will also help get that final buffing finish.

Re your existing floor finish It could be any number of substances but as an old squash court floor most likely some sort of lacquer. It may even have been re finished once or twice already. If it's not too badly scuffed and scratched just a light sand to "key" the old lacquer and then another lacquer finish. If there are dings and deep scratches then a complete sand as above is the best route.

NB. I'm a wee bit skeptical about your "floating" methodology, but if you're happy that's OK.

The floating finish works well, doesn't squeak, creak, move and it has been in over underfloor heating and now sun-steamed. Doesn't bounce either. As I said, I want to keep the line markings, so no sanding, and anyway you can't get into the corners and crevices successfully.
I don't know what 'lacquer' is. Is it different to varnish, is it one-pot or two, is it water-based or spirit, and more importantly, does it change the colour of the wood and make it ginger like polyurethane varnish?

What trade name covers this?