Wood floors - what kind of poly / finish did you use?

tigergirl123

13 years ago

We have found we have choices in polyurathane for our hardwood floors (oak, medium stain) - satin, semi gloss, gloss.

If you have wooden floors, what poly finish did you use and are you happy with it??

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Comments (13)

willtv
13 years ago
We went with satin. We thought gloss and even semi-gloss looked too much like a gymnasium floor.
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nhbaskets
13 years ago
We had gloss and went to semi-gloss with our remodel. After 2 years, still very happy with them.

Here is a link that might be useful: Remodel blog
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hoffmalr_gw
13 years ago
We have red oak with a cherry stain, and we went with satin. The previous owners had semigloss on a natural stain and it really did look like a gymnasium. I think the scratches from our dog's nails show less in the satin poly than if the floors were glossier, also.
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formerlyflorantha
13 years ago
I think ours is satin. We got a recommendation from a floor guy and got same from a Habitat for Humanity planner: Ace Hardware water-based polyurethane. DH thought it was good.

Proviso: no kickbacks were given for this endorsement.
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cat_mom
13 years ago
We used Bona Traffic (3 coats total--4 looked too plastic-y on the sample boards we had made-up). Ours is satin. They have since come out with a "Naturals" line/product that supposedly looks even more like natural wood if I'm remembering correctly.
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avesmor
13 years ago
I told my finisher "as satin as you can get!" I love them, and would not change a thing.

I simply don't like shiny things. And needed some dirt/scratch camoflauge. And didn't want the sunshine to reflect off the floors into my eyes. :)
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mountaineergirl
13 years ago
Satin here too. A glossy finish will make every little crumb and hair stand out like a sore thumb. Not to mention water drops. It still has a shine - just a richer deeper shine than gloss.

raised 3 boys and a dog, and the floors are almost 13 years old and still look great.
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jcasola5
13 years ago
This is very interesting. I just had my new white oak floors laid and my flooring guy is strongly recommending semi-gloss. I much prefer a satin or matte finish. He says semi-gloss will much better protect the floor from scratches. Is that everyone's experience?
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trailgirl
13 years ago
We used Bona Traffic on our red oak floor with a satin finish. We love it.
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idrive65
13 years ago
We did two coats of semigloss, top coat of satin.
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kittenkat_2002
13 years ago
We did the same at idrive. Two coats semigloss and the top coat satin using Bona. No stain.
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allnewappliances
13 years ago
We got satin finish on our new HW floors - we were told that Semigloss and gloss do protect the floors better b/c they have a harder finish, but then at the same time, the scratches they do get show more on the semi and gloss than they do on the satin.....if that makes sense.
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nanj
13 years ago
Bona Traffic - two coats - semi-gloss
Bona Cherry stain on refinished white oak floors. The guys "popped" the floors before putting the stain down. "Popped" means they lightly dampened the bare wood in order to raise the grain so the stain would penetrate better, adding a deeper color.
(Floors were Bruce prefinished.)
Love the Bona finish! It has been about 3 years since we did it. We have 2 active Golden Retrievers who have left indentions in the wood, but the finish has not been scratched or penetrated. Dog nails typically do not scratch the surface of wood floors, but they depress the wood due to the pressure.
From Refinished floors
From Refinished floors
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Wood floors - what kind of poly / finish did you use?

Comments (13)

willtv

nhbaskets

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hoffmalr_gw

formerlyflorantha

cat_mom

avesmor

mountaineergirl

jcasola5

trailgirl

idrive65

kittenkat_2002

allnewappliances

nanj

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