protecting wood floors

[DaddyO]

We're scheduled to close on a house this Monday. The home is mostly wood floors, ceramic tile elsewhere. We are very pleased w/ the condition of the wood floors and just want to protect them from our kids and our 150 pound dog as best as we can. I'd like to go in and lightly sand then cover w/ a latex product if possible. Any insights or gotchas?

I'd like to finish this project in one long day (even if multiple coats are needed) and have any fumes dispersed w/ in 3 days or less so we can move in, furniture and all. Is this possible? What do you recommend.

[jeffb]

We just had our wood floors totally refinished, sanded down, 3 coats of poly...They started the project on Monday and were finished with the 3rd coat on Wednesday....

If you're happy with the condition, why sand and refinish?

My wife and I bought 40 bucks worth of felt for the furniture...I was laughing at her...But it will help protect the floor, and it wasn't cheap to have them refinished....

Probably one of the better ways to protect the floor is make the house a sock house....No shoes on the floors....

[Cubfan]

I had my floors refinished at 2 intervals (mistake, f*cking HD, wont get into it here). But I had a guy do most of my floors, he was Romanian and I could barely understand his english. But he said he used a "professional varnish" to coat my floors. I wish I knew what this stuff was because it's incredible; one coat - he applied it once and was done, shiny, smell gone in a day, not even scratching, impressive finish.

Then I couldn't get a hold of him for some adjacent flooring that I did later so I had HD come out and do a small section. They used regular old Minwax polyurethane and this stuff doesn't hold a candle to the 'professional varnish' that the little Romanian guy used. The Minwax isn't nearly as nice looking, seems to have no protective qualities at all, disappointing.

I still want to track that guy down and have him come in and redo that one section....

[chuck]

if the finish is good now leave it be, as said before NO SHOES! people really do not mind and it keeps the sand out of the house (biggest damage doer to floors) if it has a good finish the dog won't bother it (fun to watch dogs walk on wood floors) as Cub said don't let anyone put something like minwax on your floors, the old style varnish is by far the best stuff! Basically if it's not broken don't try to fix it ;) A good finish should hold up for 15-20 years no problum depending on use and care.

[sao95]

actually if you want to put another coat on now is the time to do it, before you move in that is, can't hurt anything, I don't have any recommendation's on what to you, there is a ton of stuff out there, I saw this stuff (http://www.sadolin.co.uk/professional/products/timbersflooring/pv67/)though and it looks interesting, I've never used it though...you could get drunk, spill your drinks al over the floor and not have to worry about slippin in the hallway ;) I bet this is what stretch uses :lol:

[woodchuck]

The neighbor did his kitchen tabletop with bar finish, looked good, tough as nails, but any defect is there for life.

[silviomossa]

I can't recommend anything since we had a professional do it. But ours were a wreck when we bought the house, the work was a mess (but okay in an empty house), and 13 years later, they still look great.

[Hockeyfan]

Just don't drop anything on them or slide anything on them. I got lazy once and slid a washing machine on ours nad I left nice marks. Should have waited for help, but was impatient. Ours also dent if you drop things on them. That sucked. My neighbour threw a party and someone wore high heels on his hardwoods and it put depression marks (holes) all over the place in his floors. Likely a finish wouldn't have stopped that, but just wanted to warn you. Socks, like mentioned above, is a good policy. I wear shoes once in a while (lazy), but not tooo much. Congrats on the house. Love the tile too.

[Will'sdad]

Throw a cheap carpet over it...quick and effective.

[jeffus]

I'm gonna bump this thead up since the wifey's appropriated my butt to finishing off the master bedroom floors the week after next.

We're going to gut the room - rip down the sheet-rock on the exterior walls, re-insulate, adjust the hvac ductwork as appropriate, trim-out the windows, new closet doors, and re-finish the floor. Oh, and paint, too!...

I used the Minwax crap on most of the house and it isn't holding-up at all.

I'm looking for tough as nails, shiny, hard, it'll last a thousand years...and dry in two hours! Dammit!

Everything I found so far that looks good is only sold in the UK.

I'm leaning towards a marine quality polyurethane. I finished a bench with that and it's bullet-proof.

Any suggestions? (Where's JimP of LinomaFlooring when you need him?!) ;)

[Will'sdad]

I would imagine that the marine quality stuff would be insanely expensive.

[Cubfan]

That settles it. I'm going to get a hold of the little Romanian guy who did my floors. The stuff he used seems like the stuff you want. I still have his business card.

I agree 100% on the Minwax. My earlier post on this thread still stands. Minwax isn't as nice.

[jeffus]

This (http://www.woodanswers.com/documents/FinishingGuide.pdf) looked interesting .... Looking at the Water-based Varathane from Rustoleum. We used this stuff on a floor in the college fraternity house and it took the worst beating imaginable and kept going strong. 4 coats in 1 day sounds about right....Look at the scratch resistance!!

[jeffus]

I would imagine that the marine quality stuff would be insanely expensive.

$82.66 per gallon ... or thereabouts..:)

[jeffus]

I picked-up the oil-based Varathane Premium tonight at Lowe's. Kinda amazed they had it. I'm told water-based sucks and not to trust the salesman that it rode in on. (My apologies to all the polyurethane salesmen out there, mmmkay? ;))

I e-mailed them on where to buy and actually got a response from 'Sue'.

12 hour drying time. 4 coats recommended. $40 per gallon.... This is easily 2 days of work..

I'm avoiding Minwax...at all costs.

[Riggs]

That's the stuff I used on our fir floors, 10 years ago. Still holding up great (even on a softer wood), should work well. Lots of fumes as I'm sure you realize, I spent a night away after I did it. Think I did 3 coats. Have fun!

[jeffus]

That's the stuff I used on our fir floors, 10 years ago. Still holding up great

That's good news! Oak should do well then!

Since it's one room only, we can close the door, stuff towels under it, and I'll run a window fan to suck vapors out of the room.