We do this all the time...yes, you can come close to the look of ambered floor finishing film. There are some one step floor sealers coming on the market that will color the wood to give it that yellowish look...they are primarilly professional use products. You must follow stain application rates and dry times. Use a finishing system that is designed for product compatability.

I'm in the same boat here as far as having to choose between the two (oil/acid or water based). As part of a gut to the walls remodel, I'm having about 650 sq ft. of CVG fir floors installed. I've talked to my flooring installer at length about the relative pros/cons of the various finishes. The conclusion I've come to is that yes, durability can be equal or better with a water based finish, but depending on the wood, the look may or may not be what you want. The guy doing my floors is a one man operation, hard to get because he is so much in demand for the quality of work that he does. He told me that, at least for the fir that I'm doing, although the durability would probably be the same, I most likely would not be happy with the water based finish, even Bona Traffic. He said that for some woods it's great, but does not bring out the color like Glitza does, at least for the fir. We are going to do the first 2 coats with Glitza acid cure, then the top coat with Glitza's new water based finish. According to him, the new water based finish from Glitza is truly state of the art, the best there is at the moment. So, I'm going to sacrifice & find a place to stay for couple of days (with my two cats) while the initial two coates of Glitza acid cure is applied. We are then going to cover the floor with a felt cloth and masonite, finish the rest of the work on the house, then at the end, do the final finish coat with the new Glitza water based finish. I really want to bring out the best in this flooring. It is old growth, 200+ probably year old Doug fir, sold in a hazardous tree sale by the forest service. It was rough milled and stored for about the last 6 years. The material for my floor was hand picked, then sent the the mill and milled into flooring for my project. My interior doors, entrance door, and all of my base, case and window trim has all been custom milled from the same batch of wood, so I'm really excited to see it come together.

We are finishing a renovation/addition and have a question about finishing hardwood flooring. Our architect called for a water-based finished, but the builder missed that and is recommending an oil-based finish, so that we can better match the color and sheen of our 25 yr. old stained oak flooring. While matching the existing floor is important, the durability is even more important, as we have put the new hardwood flooring in our kitchen (we are empty nesters who entertain a fair amount, and have an active dog!) Can anyone comment on 1. durability 2. if we need to refinish in the future, are we stuck with the oil or water-based decision we make now? thank you!

Modern waterborne finishes are light years ahead of cheap stinky crappy Minwax oil. They're also light years ahead of cheap crappy non stinky Minwax waterbased. The actual products being used are very important. You cannot just divide it into “oil“ and “water” and one is good and one is bad. That is Zoroastrian simplistic nonsense. You want finish brands that train their installers how to use them. Bona is a prime example. Any idjot handyman can go to HD and pick up Minwax. And it sure shows in the level of work you get. Blaming crappy wear on the fact that it is ”water” based based, and not the fact that the low price, low skills, ”floor guy” just didn’t know what he was doing with a terrible quality product is a deflection of the first order. A quality waterborne finish, done by a qualified and certified floooring professional, is worth way *more* than $1500.