Hey folks, I'm buying an old house, and had the good fortune to find some hardwood floors underneath the carpet and linoleum! They look to be 2-1/2" or so oak with some poly on top.

For a variety of reasons (wife is pregnant, we're pretty crunchy) I'd like to refinish with a natural/very low voc type product. It seems like Bona Traffic get some recommendations on here. Would that fall into that category, or Has anyone tried the Earthpaint products? http://www.earthpaint.net/Floor_Finish_Options.php

Then there's the world of oils, Monocoat seems to be recommended here. Bona has one. Earthpaint has one too, they actually recommend using theirs with a few coats of their 'poly' on top. Do these work well on an old oak floor? We're fine with the floor looking a little rustic; I'm guessing the floor will get a little more 'texture' over time as compared to a poly?

Any thoughts on whether polys or oils are more work over the long term?

Thanks!
Chris

Polyurethane is a US favorite however in Europe oil finishes prevail, and for many reasons. Less sheen looks more natural, it helps limit visibility of dust, dirt or wear, and is easier to maintain than many think. Consider that in a particular room there are going to be many areas that the floor will never hardly be stepped on due to common traffic paths. When the worn areas are to the point of needing refinishing, you have to refinish the entire room despite the fact that maybe 15% of the floor finish is actually worn. This is because you need a termination point with urethane as it does not blend well with an existing finish if you stopped in the middle of a room for instance. Oil sealers on the other hand allow you to lightly abrade the traffic paths, re-apply the oil where necessary and blend in beautifully with the existing finish. They do this even in commercial settings in Europe. I've been a hardwood flooring manufacturer for 20 years and never once did we do a job of real prominence that they used urethane on the floor. In high-end work, it is kind of a kin to putting a plastic slip cover over a fine Italian leather sofa. Kinda defeats the purpose of having the beautiful natural product. Nautral oil finishes are generally speaking very low VOC as well considering the understandable health concerns. Best Regards, Kevin Pennington

Thanks for the info Kevin, I think you've sold me on oil! Does anyone have any favorite brands?

Thanks,
Chris

Oil, and Oil/Wax finishes have been around for centuries and actually work very well. Rather than being a surface coating like urethane, fine finishing oils actually soak into and harden within the pores of the wood adding protection from within. The images below are of a room in my home where I used an oil/wax finish and it has held up just as well as the other portions of the house where I used urethane. Urethane doesn't make a very good chemical bond with wood so you have to sand somewhat coarse so it makes a good physical bond. With oils and/or waxes however, you can sand to a much finer grit which is what helps the figure come alive in this curly hard maple floor. It has the look and feel more like a hand rubbed piece of furniture than just a urethane coated floor. The edges and ends were hand beveled for a somewhat cobbled look.

Best Regards,

Kevin Pennington
Prodigy Hardwood Interiors

Sorry, but this post won't accept the links to the photos and it's against the forum's policy for me to post a link to our website. Search Google for our company name and then select the specials page to see the photos described.

Kevin:

It may have something to do with the size of the photo. I had problems with that this morning and thought I changed the default settings. You'll realize after awhile my hands are tied with some of the board functions. Php ain't my bag at all and we have another administrator that's in limbo...somewhere.

Here's the page link. Really impressive look! I'd like to know more about it myself. Engineered? Reason I say that is because of the word...Maple.

Looks great Kevin. What product is that? Oil or oil/wax?

Thanks,
Chris

Sorry for the delayed response! That floor was finished with Velvit Oil "that is how they spell it" and I went back over it with regular old Min-Wax paste wax. Since then I've had good results with combination oil/wax products like Osmo. The curly Hard Maple floor shown in the photos has been down 4 years now and has held up very well. It's difficult to appreciate the difference in photos really, but the look and feel is just better than urethane.
Sincerely,

Kevin Pennington, Principal Member
Prodigy Hardwood Interiors, LLC
Jeffersonville, Indiana 47130

If you are going to use a water based poly, I think Bona Traffic is the way to go. (personally I prefer oil, though)

All that aside, from what I've read, when it comes to pregnancy, the sawdust has a much bigger impact than any type of poly...so make sure your wife is out of the house when it's done. You may want to consider dustless system, as well.

BTW, once the poly fully dries it doesn't matter whether it's water or oil based in terms of VOC's.

Debbie Gartner, aka [url]The Flooring Girl[/url]

I agree. Once a finish has fully cured, it no longer off-gasses so VOC's are no longer a concern. An oil based poly takes are about 30 days to cure completely, waterbased is much faster I would guess, and the oil sealers and waxes tend not to contain the nasty VOC,s. Volatile Organic Compounds incorporate some things that are not really bad for you at all. Citrus oils are even considered VOC's due to being organic, but aren't bad for you typically.

Best Regards,


Sincerely,

Kevin Pennington, Principal Member
Prodigy Hardwood Interiors, LLC
Jeffersonville, Indiana 47130

Kevin we have just started an on site install of our white oak hardwood floors and are ready to make our finishing product selection. We are staining the floors but rather just want a natural finish.
I'm very interested in the oil you have spoke about and that is all that is typically used in Europe. However, we do have one concern and that is, what happens if someone spills something that could stain the floor? Something that is dark like red wine for instance. Would this require a refinishing of the floors? Where typically a poly finished floor would be protected.
Also just to confirm, the wax you recommend is Velvit Oil - correct?
Here where we live our local hardwood installers have gone away from the poly finishes the what they call water based solvents. Not sure what that is but they said they are no longer seeing customer interest in oils either.
Regards.
Pat

Kevin a correction to my last message:

We are NOT staining our white oak hardwood floors. Just want a natural color with a protective finish.
Concern as I mentioned is staining that might happen if something is dropped on a floor that does not have a poly.... finish.

Regards.

Duker,

the floor will be protected once it is oiled or waxed.Euros like oil waxes.
I recently did a job.

In most situations of waxing, there is usually a sealer used first then wax.
This is in US finishing as well..

The system I sued was one coat sealer and 2 coats oil wax..
The floor looked gorgeous.

The products were from Europe and were purchased from a company Named Exquisite Surfaces.
Lastly, to answer your question Yes the floor will be protected and will not stain as a result. Red wine left on a floor unattended can stain anything including polyurethane.
The beauty of the oil waxes is if a mishap happens, it is easily corrected.
Tung oils are the same.

I may recommend you give either Rubio Monocoat or Bona Indoor wood oils a shot as they are probably easier for a Novice to work with.