Bathroom/Laundry as a "Finishing Room"

[William Hamilton]

Hi all. I'm close to completing an English Walnut side table project and am about to start the finishing process. I'm going to use Waterlox, and with it being too cold in my garage or sunroom (night time temps in the 20s - 30s), my only option for a finishing space seems to be inside the house. In the past I've used the sunroom but its a large space and it took forever to heat up with a kerosene heater. I was never all that thrilled with using a kerosene heater in there as it was.
With a toddler and newborn in the house, the fumes scare me a bit. I have a laundry/bathroom area in my house that's about 96 sq/ft. There's an exhaust fan in the space that vents outside. It has a barn-style door so there is some room for air intake. Does anyone think I could use this space for finishing? I usually do about 6 light wiping coats, around 1 per day, depending on drying time.
I would rather not have to build a small finishing tent in the sun room, but that is also an option.
I do prefer oil/varnish blends as a finish but would be open to trying something new if it meant less harmful fumes.
Thanks for your advice!
Bill

[George Bokros]

If you like the amber color that oil / solvent top coats provide you could try MinWax Oil Modified Water based poly. I just used if for finishing a closer organizer I built and it came out great. I used the satin so I cannot comment on how gloss or semi-gloss would work. One word of caution is it sets up quickly. On the large surfaces I was doing I used a lambs wool applicator pad to cover a large area quickly.

It runs about $50 a gal at either my local Sherwin Williams or Lowes.

[John TenEyck]

Your laundry room should work fine. Anywhere where the temp. is above 65 F or so and the RH below 60% or so will do. Airflow is good, so you might want to turn on the vent fan several times during the drying cycle to exhaust the smell and bring in fresh air, or just leave it on if that's possible.


John

[Phil Mueller]

Last winter I was facing the same dilema. I ended up lining the unused, upstairs bathtub and surrounding walls with plastic...ran the exhaust fan and cracked the window. I swear if the neighbors could see in, they would have called the police...with the brown stain splattered a bit on the plastic covered walls, it looked like a scene from the Bates motel.

To answer your question, it worked well.

[paul cottingham]

General water based poly are great finishes. They are all I use (other than tried and true) as my daughter reacts to the solvents in solvent based finishes. And you don't have to look like Walter White while applying them. (Breaking Bad reference.)