floor/stair refinishing

[John Piwaron]

Here I am at the critical juncture - tomorrow I start the refinishing of the stairs leading up to my attic bedroom.

The old carpet is gone, the old finish is stripped. The bare wood awaits. The steps appear to be hard maple.

Because eventually I'll put a new floor (pergo) upstairs, I'm staining the steps with a waterbase product to match.

My question though is the actual finish to be used. I've got a can of Behlen's rock hard tabletop varnish. Given it's hardness, it seems like a reasonable choice, but I want to ask what anyone here thinks of that plan. Because it's just the steps getting refinished, I don't need a lot of material.

So is the Behlen's product a good idea or should I get something else? I don't really want a waterbase varnish, I prefer oil in this application. It looks warmer.

[Steve Schoene]

I like Rockhard Varnish. It needs to be thinned for proper flow out while brushing--start with 10% added reducer and add more if it needs it. I have always been paranoid enough to use the Behlen Rockhard Reducer. The label may say not to thin, but thats just for the consumption of VOC regulators.

A polyurethane varnish will be a bit more durable for floors, but doesn't look quite as nice in my opinion.

[John Piwaron]

Polyurethane more durable than Rockhard?

[Clifton Evans]

Just my .02. I had A similar situation a couple years ago and went to a place that sold to the flooring trade. I bought the best water based poly they offered. I only had the stairs to the loft so one gallon more than covered three coats. The big bucks per gallon didn't add much to the over all cost and it looks as good now as when I put it down. I don't think anything designed for table tops would be suitable for floors. As for the looks if I were to do it over I would go for the warmer look of oil based.

[John Piwaron]

Well,

I went with a Zar brand polyurethane made for floors. Thanks for your input.