Okay as of right know I am still using poly to put on the floor but I was wondering if shellac is any easier to put on and will it hold up as well

Dewaxed shellac is often used as a seal coat for poly but using it as a final finish is a bad choice imo. It wont hold up that well and it will turn kiinda orange pretty quick.

Stay as far away from shellac as you can! If you see it RUN LIKE HELL!

actually applying it is kind of fun and very tidy. Uses denatured alc to clean up
and dries to the touch in about 1 minute. I used a can of it after I took the carpets
up the day I closed on the house to give it a refreshing until I could get around to
redoing the floors for real, and it did give them a quick fix. Now 2 years later I took the
rug out and how nice it looks, and everything else around the rug looks like hell.

Nice for it's time but zero (0) protection from traffic.

Shellacking is much better off in my Grandpa's lexicon of what he'd like to do to rude drivers.


BTW - My VIRGIN post!!

Shellac is good if you want it as a sealer or primer, because it sticks to just about anything, but it is not good as a finish coat.

Shellac can be used as a first coat, if done properly. It is not easy to work with as it dries quickly and laps easily. It makes a good "barrier" coat when re-coating a previously finished floor you want to re-coat, as shellac bonds better then some other floor finishes. I have also used it to blend in old floor repairs to make the repair look old ( when using orange shellac ). It has it's place in floor finishing for the pro that knows how to use it.

I recoated a floor about 6 months ago, now it looks like it is peeling. I am going back to buff and coat it again so your saying a clear shellac will help with the bonding?

Well, probably not now, because you have an existing finish peeling. That will have to be completely removed. And I do not know how you are going to do that without damaging the floor. You cannot screen it off completely. When I have had finishes fail ( peel ), the only SURE remedy is to re-sand to bare wood ( refinish ) and do over. When re-coating an old floor, shellac can adhere better then poly, especially OMU. One still must check for wax, because NOTHING will stick to wax except more wax. But floors that may have been contaminated with other products stand a better chance of being successfully re-coated when they have been thoroughly cleaned, buffed and first coated with shellac. Basic's re-coat system with the IFT works good as well.