Floor Finishing Schedule

[Todd Carpenter]

Okay, I've been searching through the Finishing threads and don't quite see what I think I'm after. I'm closing in a house built in the early 50's with oak flooring throughout the house. Long story short - it's trashed. I will need to sand the floors - there's not much finsh left if any, so sanding won't take long. Now, I'm not crazy about oak - for me, it's just way over done. So I will probably stain these a dark walnut. My question is, what next? Should I follow with a coat of BLO, seal it with Shellac (maybe a garnet shellac), and then do 3 coats of oil based poly? What brands of Poly do you guys like for finishing a floor? I'm also guessing I'll need to sand between coats of poly - true for floors or not?

Thanks
Todd

[Neal Clayton]

sealing it with an oil is fine if you wanna get darker grain showing through in the end. if you thin the blo a bit it'll dry faster, turp or naphtha work fine, but will be quite stinky. then again so will any other oil varnish sealer.

garnet is not a good sealer, it's very dark, and can get splotchy like a stain over unsealed wood. you can use it after the sealer to darken the floor if you like, but it'll be more red than brown in the end. be sure that's what you want before going ahead with it.

i really like waterlox in lieu of poly for floors, fwiw. 1) no sanding between coats, 2) no sanding in the future if you need to recoat, it sticks to itself even after curing just fine. satin or gloss, your choice. the "original semi gloss" is advertised as a sealer and not as tough as the satin or gloss, so it's not a great topcoat, but the other two are comparable in toughness to poly without the bad aspects of poly. it'll stink for a couple of weeks, that's the downside, but is still ok for foot traffic after a day or so.

[Scott Holmes]

Stain is fine after sanding. I usually don't sand floors finer than 120 grit. You may want to stop at 80 or 100 it will allow the stain to be darker. Make sure you allow the stain to soak in then wipe the excess off the floor. It's not paint, so, you can't leave it on like paint.

BLO will not do much of anything since the stain will partially seal the wood. The varnish binder in the stain is what seals the wood.

I disagree with Mr. Clayton... Shellac is a much better sealer than any oil; tung oil or BLO. De-waxed shellac is color fast and optically clear, it dries in minutes and the smell is gone almost as quickly. This is not the case with oils; especially if you make the mistake of thinning them with MS, turp or naptha. Yes they dry quicker; but, you have just reduced the solids in the oils (they started out 100% solids) thus lessened the effectiveness of the oil.

As for splotchy shellac; only when you apply way too thick a coat, remember it's optically clear. It acts more like a toner. Can you seal the floors with shellac? Sure. Is it needed? Probably not.

Waterlox makes floor finishes

Urethane Gloss XL-88
Urethane Satin XL-89
Urethane Semi-Gloss XL-90

that will outperform Waterlox Original finish in this application. No need to sand between coat if you recoat within the recoat time (about 6 hours). Dries to the touch in about 2 hours, the original takes longer.

I've used Varathane floor finishes (poly) and they worked very well, as does Minwax poly for floors.

[Neal Clayton]

he was talking about garnet for a sealer, not clear or amber. that's why the splotchy comment .

yes, clear or amber will work fine as a sealer. dark colored shellacs act like stains so must be treated like stains, from my experience.

[Phil Phelps]

Here is my take on staining floors. In a few years they will show scratches. The scratches will be lighter and will show up like a light house in the fog. I have seen this several times and while I think they are lovely stained dark, I wouldn't do it. My oak floors were refinished six years ago. I have a dog. They were done with Dura Seal. One coat sealer and two finish coats. Oil base. They look really good and the scratches are minimal. Last month I had my kitchen and foyer refinished. The floor is Brazilian cherry and they were finished with Bona Traffic, satin water base polyurethane. It looks great. I didn't live in the house when the oil base, Dura Seal was applied. The Bona Traffic has little odor when applied. I am thankful I didn't stain the oak.

[Glen Butler]

I would recommend going with a floor finish. They are specific to the job at hand. Bona and Glitza makes some decent water based finishes, Glitza also makes a swedish finish. I have used Precision Swedish Finish with outstanding results. Feel free to PM me if you want more info about finishes. I don't think staining will show scratches if they get a good coat of finish.