I've had an estimate for my oak hardwood floors recently and the company stated that Parks Pro Finisher poly has as high a solid content as the expensive poly's like Traffic and Street Shoe. I supposedly can buy Parks brand at Home Depot. I've never heard anyone recommend using HD or lowe's stuff.

Why can a $20/gal poly have as much solid content as $100/gal Traffic? What other factors (for durability) come into play to justify the added cost?

This guy has used all brands and seems very up front and honest. 20+years experience.

Any advice would be MUCH appreciated.

We have tried many brands including Park Pro and we have never had as good a result as with the Basic Street Shoe finish as far as durability, it has a tendency to lose its sheen it the traffic areas rather quickly.

thanks for the reply. I'm not sure what the Parks pro finish solid content is(I thought the guy told me 48%). Based on Basic's website, the street shoe has a 33% solid content and the Players Choice oil based has 50+%. Street shoe is more costly than players choice. Other than getting expert opinons from you guys, how do I know what's best?

I found a website that listed three standardized tests for evaluating coatings.
1. Abrasion resistance
2. Scratch resistance
3. Chemical resistance

Is there any data out there that has all the various water based and OMU products with test results? I guess I'm trying to quantify durability of various products in order to make an informed decision.

Each company has its own results and they all seem to be the best. The only product we use is the Basic Coatings and have had great results for about 16 years, compared to any others we try. I am not aware of an independent test that lists all products. I am sure you can find a comparable finish in an oil we just don't use oil. We have found that price seems to make a difference, you get what you pay for.

Thanks Mickey, so you only used water based Basic products like street shoe? Basic also offers oil based gym floor coatings called Players choice. One contractor is quoting this. I called the Basic sales rep and he stated that the durability of the Street shoe and Oil based Players choice is comparable due to added solids in the oil base (up to 50%). The oil based is quite a bit cheaper. Seems like water based is more popular but more expensive too.

We only use water mostly due to dry time and the oil-base tends to make me ill, but that is just me. I am sure the omu they offer is fairly close in durability, depending on number of coats and dry time your project may take a couple more days. When we have use oil we charged the same due to the extra number of trips to complete the job.

parks pro is a single component waterborne where traffic and Shoe are two part catalist driven products. Basic and Bona both have low end waterbornes called basic is emulsion and bonas is novia or mega. apples to oranges folks. Anyway if the basic rep told you thier oil was comprable to street shoe he probally needs to go back into shipping or where ever they promoted him from. Solid content doesnt really equate to durability. Its the quality of the resins used that count. One other often overlooked aspect is how well the floor is sanded and how the coats were applied. three thin coats is way better than two thick ones, and a floor that has been cut without skipping too far between grits will also wear better.

Parks water based finish does not compare to Traffic at all. Parks is a 2 part system with a separate hardener.

I assume you meant to say, Traffic is the 2 part system.

Just to add emphasis to some of the good points that have been made , I will say that Parks is basically an entry level product that cannot compare to Basic Coating's Street Shoe .IN the same way that Benjamin Moore paints are superior to Home Depot's Behr line of paints so are Basic Coatings and Bonakemi's products superior , especially their high end finishes.

Don't let solid percentage specifications fool you.Because those percentages don't inform you as to what the solids are made from or the what the quality of the carriers is.

While I do know that Basic Coatings makes very good products , I prefer Bonakemi's traffic when a customer wants the most protection and quality out of a water based finish.Basic Coating's street Shoe is a close second in my opinion. I wouldn't even consider using Parks finish in a customer's home.

As an analogy some 25 thousand dollar price range cars boast similar specs as 50 to 60 thousand dollar cars . But when you actually drive each one , you realize that those specs don't matter as you can see and feel the differences in attention to detail and performance.