oak floor finish????????

[Paul Downes]

I could use some sage advisement. I was preping our dinning room floor prior to installing some laminate flooring when in the process of replaceing the partical board underlayment I discovered oak flooring! I knew that there was old pine flooring but it apears those old krauts splurged on the dinning room. This is in a farm house in excess of 100 years. The wife pointed the laminate out the door. I will be sanding the 100 + years of burn marks, dents and scratches out. The amazing thing is that only the perimiter, about a foot wide, was varnished. The rest of the floor never had any finish applied. My long winded question is; What is the most durable finish for this (I think) white oak floor?

[Jason Roehl]

Basically, the question is, "how much do you want to spend?" There are finishes out there that run $100+/gal that are only available to pros. Personally, one of my favorites is Bona Kemi Mega waterborne finish (runs $40-$50/gal). Clear, non-yellowing, very durable, easy to apply. Generally, most people wait way too long to refinish a floor, that's why it is expensive to do. If it is done before the finish is totally gone, it can just be "scratched" and re-coated. For an oil-base option, I also like the Varathane Diamond that you find in the big boxes.

You can also try going to a dedicated flooring supply house and asking them questions, service may vary to a non-contractor as they know that you probably won't amount to much in sales, but there are a few out there that are helpful anyway.

And, there probably was varnish in the center of the room, too, it just has more than likely totally worn off, which happens more frequently than you may think (see above).

Hope this helps!

[Ken Garlock]

WaterLox
Website

[Andy Halterman]

Paul,

I like Jason's advice of using Bona Mega w/b floor poly. I use that stuff regularly and really like it's ease of application. (my main business is wood flooring)

If indeed your floor is white oak, I'd like to suggest an alternative approach than using straight w/b poly. This is because w/b stuff make white oak look a pale green in color. It is truly a hideous look. Bona makes an oil based DriFast sealer (3-4 hrs depending on the humidity and such) which is a wonderful product. Put two coats of that on and then wait overnight and do two coat of the Mega. I just finished a 3-4-5 inch white oak floor on Tuesday using that very method. It looks great. I think you'll be very pleased.

Good luck with your project. That old oak is really nice looking stuff.

Andy Halterman

Busy honing my plumbing skill due to a broken water line in Hendersonville, NC

[Brad Schafer]

cool find on the oak. the "1 foot around the rim" finish isn't uncommon; the hip look of 100 years ago was to have a large area rug in a room with a 1' finished rim. a couple of places i've been in, the builder went as far as to put high-end flooring on the rim, and "junk" in the middle, figuring it would never be seen.

i'm no expert, but i put a boatload of red oak floor down in the house i recently finished. we hand-rubbed a Minwax stain (didn't let it soak too long), and then put on 4 coats of Varthane. i'm happy with the results, and the Varthane seems to wear like iron.

BTW - if you haven't started refinishing, a buddy of mine rented a "random orbit" floor sander (instead of a drum sander) to redo a room in his house. it did a heckuva job.

(what's wrong with me? i'm agreeing with a hoosier and helping a danged wolverine! )


b (Buckeye fan)

[Jason Roehl]

Oops...sorry about the WB advice...I forgot to mention that I typically use 2 coats of SealCoat (a Zinsser shellac product) before the final finish coats--virtually eliminates the grain-raising and you use less finish with more film build. Great stuff.

[Joe_Ott]

Varathane Diamond as has been mentioned. I put this stuff on our kitchens red oak floors about 5 or so years ago. With two kids and two Golden Retreivers running around, it has stood up well.

I dripped some in the driveway back then and it's still there!

I do need to lightly sand it out a little and put some fresh down. There are some scratces here and there. I plan to do it after installing new cabinets and so on...

I wouldn't use w/b, but I am no expert by any means... FWIW.


Joe

[Paul Downes]

(what's wrong with me? i'm agreeing with a hoosier and helping a danged wolverine! )


b (Buckeye fan)[/QUOTE]

Brad, As far as I'm concerned, A wolverine is Spartan roadkill, and buckeye's are hairless nuts.

[Brad Schafer]

Brad, As far as I'm concerned, A wolverine is Spartan roadkill, and buckeye's are hairless nuts.

yup - nuts *and* poisonous, too. sorry to throw you in the same pot as the UofM crowd.


b

[David LaRue]

yup - nuts *and* poisonous, too. sorry to throw you in the same pot as the UofM crowd.


b

[David LaRue]

Paul,

Bona makes an oil based DriFast sealer (3-4 hrs depending on the humidity and such) which is a wonderful product. Put two coats of that on and then wait overnight and do two coat of the Mega.

This is the process that was used for our Brazilian Cherry floor. It looks great and it very durable.

I used the W/B on the white (red oak) kitchen floor and it has held up great over the years. The W/B doesn't yellow like the oil based based products. But on the cherry we wanted the grain to pop, and did not stain the floor. It has deepened in color over the past year. A nice look. I think as others have indicated that would look nice on your newly found oak floor.

Good Luck.

Dave