Waterbased finish for new red oak stair treads?

[Darl Bundren]

I am going to finish our new stairs, and I am hoping to use a waterbased finish. I'd like it to be fairly durable.

Do you have a favorite that will keep the color of the wood pretty close to natural?

And, I read in another thread that sometimes the pH level of red oak sometimes reacts with waterbased finishes because the finishes are typically more base.

Should I seal with shellac before applying the finish?

Thanks.

[Roger Jensen]

Target Coatings has this on their user forum:

"RO can be very temperamental to finish with just about any WB due to the high acid (tannin) complex in the oak and how the tannin reacts with higher pH finishes. Using a alcohol cut dewaxed shellac is one of the few ways to manage the reactivity between the two pH functions."

Target Coatings has a great support forum and you should go there to check out their latest recommendations. I believe a number of folks on this forum use their products and are very happy with them.

Roger

[Jason Roehl]

You need to spend the extra $$ and get a waterborne FLOOR finish. Regular waterborne poly will not hold up nearly as well. Using a dewaxed shellac as a sealer works very well (SealCoat is readily available). Once you start putting down finish, do only a light sanding to remove any nibs just before the final coat. Otherwise, you will waste a lot of time sanding and cleaning, only to find out that sanding between every coat removes most of the previous coat.

[Joe Chritz]

Go to Target coatings website and use something they have for floors. It is the only waterbase finish I use (except the occasional polycrylic) and everything I have used has been fantastic.

Yes use a sealcoat.

Joe

[Steve Schoene]

I agree that using a real floor finish is important. And, since most hardwood floors are oak, you can be sure it will work on that wood. One of the top brands is Bona Kemi, and their Mega and Traffic varieties are waterborne finishes that are quite durable. These are mostly two part finishes. You will NOT find a good floor finish at one of the Big Boxes regardless of what it says on the lable.

If you seal with shellac (dewaxed only and FRESH) you will get the darkening that comes with solvent based finishes, but not with the waterborne. I prefer the darkened look, but it is a matter of taste. It isn't needed for durability or adhesion with good floor finishes.

[Darl Bundren]

Thanks for the replies thus far! If the shellac darkens the stairs some, that's fine as the original flooring at the top of the starts is darker. Also, I surfed around the Target Coatings forum, and the site administrator over there posted this response to a query about using TC on floors:

"Welcome to the Target Coatings Forum.
The 9000 Super Clear Poly will certainly be tough enough for a wood floor application "however" (stress), the 9000sc is not engineered for flooring use due to its very "fast" slip rate. Wood floor coats must have a certain anti-slip coefficience in order to prevent slip and fall. The 9000sc, as well as all of our topcoats (9300 included) is too slippery for flooring use. Our topcoats (and all well engineered furniture/cabinet/architectural finishes) are desigend to provide slip and glide so objects slide across the surface, lowering the scuff and scratch damage possibilities of the finish. Because of this added slip, we do not recommend or suggest that our products be used on flooring applications.

Therefore, I suggest that you consider another WB topcoat that is specifically engineered for wood floor applications and features anti-slip rating. Target Coatings can engineer this anti-slip property into our coatings, but the volumes need to be worth the effort. This is something we are taking into consideration for near future business opportunities.

Many Thanks,
Jeff Weiss"

I have two young kids (7 and 4) who seem to be unable to control their bodies on occasion (pesky kids!:mad:), and I don't want them sailing off down the stairs because they were headed down there in their socks.

Any other finishes I should consider?

[Steve Schoene]

In addition to the Bona Kemi products I mentioned there are several others. This link is a place that does sell these products on-line,I have no experience with them but it looks interesting.

http://www.onlinefloorstore.com/store/prodline/?id=1

Notice that these are specialist products from companies that don't sell to the big box stores or local paint stores. You may be able to purchase locally from hardwood floor finishers, if not directly from the manufacturer's distributors.

[Darl Bundren]

In addition to the Bona Kemi products I mentioned there are several others. This link is a place that does sell these products on-line,I have no experience with them but it looks interesting.

http://www.onlinefloorstore.com/store/prodline/?id=1

Notice that these are specialist products from companies that don't sell to the big box stores or local paint stores. You may be able to purchase locally from hardwood floor finishers, if not directly from the manufacturer's distributors.

That is a great link for me. I will look around locally to see if anybody stocks any of these.

Thanks, Steve!

[GERALD HARGROVE]

Darl,
I used Varathane from Lowe's on my stair case. It was very easy to use and left virtually no brush marks. It also dries very quickly, so you will be able to get several coats on in a short period of time.