Hey Guys,
Can someone recommend a good product to use for finishing oak flooring. The customer at the job I’m currently working on asked me if i would lay a couple of coats on a room where she recently pulled up the carpets that has oak flooring. The floors are not being sanded down, she just wants to “freshen” them up with a couple coats of poly.
This is not what I usually do so i want to make sure I use a good product. I didn’t know if the minwax “poly for floors” that is stocked at the big box stores would be a good choice or not. I plan on using a lambs wool applicator and doing two coats. Any suggestion on the “poly” would be appreciated.
Replies
One thing to think about is getting the floor clean before trying to get polyurethane varnish to adhere. A good TSP scrub, rinse, and ample time to dry before applying finish might make sense.
My tendency is to look for the right specialized product. The companies that specialize in floor finishes would be my choice. These would include Bona Kemi, Basic Coatings, and Dura Seal. I'm very suspicious of products that are about the least expensive around from the Big Box stores. You will likely have to hunt a bit for a distributor or see if a local floor finishing company will sell you a gallon. There are also likely to be on-line sources.
Thanks for info Steve. BTW what is meant by "TSP"?
TSP = Trisodium phosphate
TSP is a cleaning agent often used to clean walls prior to painting them. It usually can be found in any painting store or department.
Here's what Wikipedia has to say about TSP...
TSP is used for cleaning, degreasing and deglossing of walls prior to painting. TSP breaks the gloss of oil based paints and opens the pores of latex based paint providing a surface better suited for the adhesion of the subsequent layer of paint.[6]
Cheers!
know TSP well
In college I did a lot of painting. TSP is great stuff it kills mildew & mold well on contact and we would always wash things down as part of our prep work for house exteriors. Of course most of the houses back then had oil based paint and it got the old chalk off as well. I also used it to cleam my concrete garage floor prior to using the expoxy floor covering along with the cleaner that came with the kit. It can get nasty if you are not carefull. MIX ACORDING TO DIRECTIONS! Secondly, get a good set of chemically resistant rubber gloves. I received a couple nasty burns being up on a ladder washing soffet (pardon the sp) and having a bit drip down the glove and up my arm. I healed quickly but I still remember that burning sensation, but I used it a lot. If I remember right only a couple tbs per galon of water does the trick. I still have a good part of a box of the stuff on the shelf in the garage.
good info, much appreciated
Let me add to Steve's posting that a scuff sanding with a 220 grit sanding screen mounted on a pole sander must be used after the TSP and before applying a new finish. Any new finish needs to be able to adhere well to the underlying finish. Scuff sanding provide the "tooth" for the new finish.
Clean-scuff-seal. This was my intention. Thanks for input.
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled