Refinished Floors- Oil vs. Water Vs. Green finishes.
Hello everyone,
My name is Eric and this is my first post. I have recently bought an old 1924 bungalow in Portland Oregon, and have been doing a lot of the work my self. My girl friend and I took the last three days to sand the floors. They are original white oak in the living and dinning rooms and red fir in the bedrooms, and study. I am happy to say that we have done a great job in bring new life these truly beaten up floors but now I’m on to the typical question as to what to finish with? I have been doing some research and talking to friends but I would love to pose the question to the fine woodworking community. We will be applying the finish our selves so for the first time user with no experience with refinishing floors is there a recommended finish? Oil vs. Water. Is Oil that much more durable. If you use a water based poly will I have to refinish the floors in a few years? Finally, I have been doing research of a few new green products, one specifically called Vermont coatings with uses a bi-product of the cheese making process. It has been highly recommended because of its low VOC content but I question its long term durability, further is seemed to be nearly double the price of the common Varlathane water base poly. Hope this is enough to start the ball rolling. Please provide specific finishes if applicable there are just so many coatings out there. Thanks.
Replies
First, for a really quality floor finishing product you don't want anything that you can buy in a big box store. There are specialized manufacturers making floor finishes that are considerably more durable. Major brands include Bona Kemi and Basic Coatings. You can use the basic single part oil based polyurethane, it is cheaper but takes a long time to dry, and even longer to remove the odor from the spaces. It does give a richer amber appearance to the wood, though it also yellows more over time.
The waterborne coatings, by them selves can leave the wood a bit pale, but the manufacturers do offer a seal coat that gives some of the ambering effect of the oil based and that is compatible with the top coat. The waterborne finishes are two-part coatings that are considerably tougher than waterborne coatings from the big boxes. In fact, I believe the industry considers the waterborne coatings to be more durable than oil based. They have less odor, and coats can be applied with much less time between than oil based. They are more expensive, but after all the work you have done sanding the cost of the finish material shouldn't be given much weight. (I used Bona Kemi Traffic when I had a house built a few years ago and it seems pretty much indistructable, but I don't have pets.)
I really don't know much about the whey based coatings now marketed as green. My general philosphy is that when products are marketed on the basis of a characteristic other than pure performance there is a reason.
Floor finish
I can second Steve's recommendation for Bona Kemi Traffic. I had our oak floors refinished two years ago and it has held up well, even with a very hyper 60lb dog. It does not impart any color though so you should test some samples with some sort of stain or even shellac underneath. Just the Bona Kemi will be water clear and lifeless.
Chris
Refinished Floors- Oil vs. Water Vs. Green finishes.
Steve and Chris,
Thank you for the recommendation. I will be sure to post an image of the final project. Thanks again- Eric
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