best finish for stair treads

[Bob Antoniewicz]

"It depends on the look you want. If it needs to stay as close as possible to the bare wood look: Bona Naturale. Otherwise, the only things I use on floors, or stairs, is Moisture Cure Urethane, or whatever the newest version of Bona Traffic is. I'd never use a regular polyurethane. If using Bona, Naturale is usually the first coat anyway. I'm sure MCU is a no-go in California. "



Thanks, I am hoping to keep the natural color. There is a lot of end grain, so I know that will be a problem. Is there a grain sealer I can use for that?

What about traction when wet? Is Bona alone ok, or do I need to add grit?

[Tom M King]

The Bona will finish about like anything else as far as surface smoothness. I don't know of any sealer that changes wood color any less than Naturale. It's an acid cure, waterbourne lacquer. It's low VOC, but you still need some ventilation and a respirator. On a floor, I just mop it around with their tool for that. I have put it in an old, saved activator bottle, and rubbed it on with a cloth on small things. Mix a small batch, and do some testing. Once it's mixed, there is a small bottle of activator you add to the main product, it will cure so you can't save it. When I mix small batches, I use a gram scale, and mix by weight.

The Naturale is a commercial floor finish, even used in hotel lobbies, so it's tough stuff by itself. On Oak, it almost looks like nothing is on the wood, but you can feel the finish. It does darken Pine, but not as much as any other finish.

The main disadvantage is the cost at a hundred and twenty bucks a gallon, or something like that.

I have never added grit to stairs, so I have no recommendation on that.

[Tom M King]

Anyone know where to get Bona Traffic in quantities less than a gallon? I need to refinish our stair landing that is about 25 sq ft.

I've never seen it in anything less than a gallon.

For 25 sq. ft., if you're taking it down to bare wood, moisture cure urethane is available in quarts. I did a Google search, and a bunch came up, including some on ebay. If you are living in the house though you won't want to use it. It outgasses massive quantities of probably every toxic solvent on the list-stuff like Tolulene and Xylene. If you're living in the house one of the many waterbournes would be the way to go.

[Mike Null]

Years ago I refinished our stairs with polyurethane and was very satisfied. Good tough finish.

My new floors (now 10 years old) have an aluminum oxide finish applied by the mfr. It has been excellent.

[Scott Britton]

I used Watco Danish Oil on my oak stairs when I put them in our house 25+ years ago. I intended to top coat the Watco with some type of Polyurethane but never did. That lighter color is dust on the stairs to the left and right. We raised 2 boys that constantly went up and dow these stairs. That finish held up better than I expected!
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[Jim Dwight]

Bona also has a non-slip finish. Some kind of grit or something in it. I haven't used it yet but may soon. I haven't seen anything but gallons. It isn't cheap, especially the traffic. They also have a tinted first coat finish so you can have a result something like oil based poly.