Acrylic Impregnated, Acrylic 2K Urethane, Epoxy, Waterlox, or Oil for Oak Flooring?

[Nick Sorenson]

I'm setting up to install hardwood flooring. I've done a lot of wood finishing (mostly sprayed NC lacquer and some polyester and urethanes) but never for flooring.

What will give me the best finish?

My parents have a Bruce hardwood floor and it seems to show wear and scratches pretty obviously (especially from their large golden retriever) and it also fades since it has a dye tint added to their Bruce factory finish. I would like something that won't show wear as bad or maybe have it blend in. I'm guessing that's a UV cured Polyester which you'd think would be about as sturdy as it gets. Still shows wear pretty bad.

I'd like to water base stain the oak (WD Lockwood dyes) and clear over that.

I am testing Waterlox on some scrap. I've heard it's a poly based oil finish and not a true tung oil but not sure on that. I have heard good things about it. I like the old town feel of an older finish. Maybe the wear would be appealing. I've read that oil based finishes can absorb dirt and get dingy/cloudy. I don't like that idea. Not sure if it's true or applicable to Waterlox.

I've heard malls use acrylic impregated finish with a wear layer on top of that (up to 1/8" thick on the wear layer). Obviously they need their floors to hold up to traffic. Maybe that would do it.

I'd love to do this once and looking for some opinions. Anything is better than the faux wood print vinyl on the floor now. Maybe I shouldn't worry so much.

[John TenEyck]

I think you'll find general agreement here that this is one application were polyurethane is at its best. The ones designed for floors are soft enough to resist scratching better than most hard varnishes. Dogs will scratch any finish, however, and so will wearing your outdoor shoes indoors, it's just a matter of time. My advise is to pick a product from one of the reputable companies making finishes specifically designed for hardwood flooring. The polyurethane products fortified with aluminum oxide appear to have a very good reputation.

John

[Scott Holmes]

Waterlox makes several products. Most ARE made with Tung oil. They do make an excellent polyurethane floor finish.

[Stan Calow]

Nick Waterlox is not an oil finish, it is a varnish. Varnish is oil + resin + heat. Waterlox may use tung oil as the oil, but it is cooked with resin to make a varnish. Someone correct me if wrong.

[Nick Sorenson]

I think you'll find general agreement here that this is one application were polyurethane is at its best. The ones designed for floors are soft enough to resist scratching better than most hard varnishes. Dogs will scratch any finish, however, and so will wearing your outdoor shoes indoors, it's just a matter of time. My advise is to pick a product from one of the reputable companies making finishes specifically designed for hardwood flooring. The polyurethane products fortified with aluminum oxide appear to have a very good reputation.

John

I think I've heard most factory finished wood floors have this type of finish (with Aluminum Oxide). I have around 150 feet of used Armstrong flooring to strip. I ran a piece through the jointer and it was quick and easy. I was counting on the rest in this way. But not sure A-Ox will be nice to my knives. Might mean lots of sharpening or another method if it dulls them too fast to be worth while.

[Bill White]

AlOx is the best. Nuff said!
Bill

[Nick Sorenson]

AlOx is the best. Nuff said!
Bill

I assume this is what the big prefinished flooring MFG's use? What I've seen doesn't look great after 10 years. The high traffic areas show plenty of wear. If it were in a shopping center, I'd guess it'd probably need to be refinished once a year. Not that I can find a better finish than Bruce/Armstrong/etc, but I would like to find something that will hold up better if it's out there. That or hide the wear. Some finishes look better with wear than others. My opinion is that I find wear on 2k poly finishes to look pretty bad. They do look great when new.

[John TenEyck]

As I mentioned before, no finish will stand up to dogs and people wearing their street shoes, certainly not for 10 years. If that's your expectation then you should consider tile. But home floors will look new almost indefinitely if you leave your street shoes at the door. Mine do, after 30 years, and they were done before AlOx additives were introduced.

John

[roger wiegand]

Bona Traffic HD is about as tough a site-finished floor finish as there is. I used it in my shop and have been dragging heavy cast iron across it for a while now and it still looks pretty good. I used the regular Traffic in the last three houses. We're tough on floors, we wore completely through the original oil-based poly floor finish in the last house in three years, the floor refinished with Traffic looked pretty much like new 10 years later.

[Wayne Lomman]

I agree with John. Use a good polyurethane and look after it. Choose either a water borne one or else the lowest VOC 2 pack you can get.