I've reviewed months of this forum and had many of my questions answered, but a few new ones have popped up.
We're flooring a fairly large section of our new home with Lyptus (at least that's the current plan) and will be installing and finishing it ourselves. (We're retired and building this whole house ourselves. I'm not a pro at wood finishing, but consider myself an advanced DIYer.)
I read a post from a Waterlox rep who said you can combine stain with the first coat of Waterlox. Is this the best approach or do you lose some of the depth by taking this shortcut? We got great results on our mahogany front door with a Sikkens product that included stain and sealer, but this may be different.
The comments and pictures of two coats of Waterlox and two coats of oil poly seem quite attractive to me. But if I wanted to get into the house more quickly and fine tune it later, could I live with the Waterlox for a year and then coat it with the poly? Or would I have to "rejuvinate" it with more Waterlox before the poly goes on?

Wally,

I applaud you for building your own house! I wish I had the time and money to do that. Good for you! But to your questions. Waterlox has a lot of color by itself. It depends on what you want the floors to look like. It's not a shortcut to add stain to Waterlox but rather a different appearence. I would suggest making samples boards of different combinations of finishing approaches. Simply use the actual wood that is on your floors and finsh each board using different finishing techniques. I suggest one board with the Waterlox and no stain, one board without Waterlox and just the oil-based poly, a few boards with a Waterlox-stain mixture, etc. Label each board with the finishing technique you used and the mixture and product, etc. I do this quite often for custom finished floors for my customers. Then choose the color and finish you prefer. About poly over Waterlox. Waterlox says this can be done and I have done it but you must wait till the Waterlox is perfectly dry. I really don't see the need to use Waterlox and a separate finish unless that is the only way to get the look you are going for. You can wait to apply the poly but the floors need enough Waterlox to hold up so 3 coats would be the minimum. Personaly, considering the cost and hassle of Waterlox, I'd choose to stain the floor and poly it. As a pro, that's the way I'd bid it unless the customer really wanted Waterlox instead of poly. IMO, Waterlox, contrary to their opinion, does not make a wood floor more durable or less warp resistant than any other floor finish.

I agree with Gary on Waterlox durability claims. However, I do see a bit of an advantage in resistance to water. It seems to realy do an excellent job repelling water.

Also with the waterlox when I'm on a tight schedule I can get all 4 coats on in 2 calandar days. I'll apply coat #1 at 5am then coat #2 at 5pm (note that some species require a bit more time and I'm not sure about lyptus) then #3 at 5am then #4 at 5pm (that's what I call a 'business owner day' ... who can get an employee to work like that??? ).

The first 2 coats are Waterlox Origional Sealer and last 2 are Waterlox Satin Finish. Yes, you can use Origional Sealer for all 4 coats but it's pretty glossy and doesn't have as much "body" as my preferred method.

The rapid sucession of these coats is due to not needing to abbraid (screen) between coats, BUT be aware that if you have an undesirable amount of debris in the first or next coats you may choose to buff that out before the next which will add more time to the job ... so vaccuum slowly and thoroughly to avoid the NEED to abbraid.

I have discovered that even if the previous coat still has a tacky spot here and there and may be a little soft I wear my socks and apply right over it and it does well. After the final coat, I still allow a few (3 or more minimum) days of cure time before heavy traffic, and as many days as you dare allow before furniture placement.

One 'con' to the Waterlox ... very smelly .... makes me nautious. I wear a 3M respirator with a good vapor filter, especially the satin finish. The smell will hang for days.

Tung oil certaily is not considered the 'toughest' finish, but I have been pleasantly surprised by it's durability and it's depth and warmth are matchless.


You asked ..."But if I wanted to get into the house more quickly and fine tune it later, could I live with the Waterlox for a year and then coat it with the poly? Or would I have to "rejuvinate" it with more Waterlox before the poly goes on?" Yes you can, and no you don't have to. Just don't clean your floor with any wax or soap based products. Waterlox has a decent cleaner concentrate they offer designed for thier finish. I give a bottle to Waterlox customers and they always call and ask for more.

This was just my 2 cents about Waterlox and I also fully agree with what Gary has stated about samples first and his prefrence to OMU is shared by me as well.

Have Fun!!! Go for it!!!