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Design Dilemma Flooring

red and white oak natural finish-water or oil poly

5 years ago

I'm having new floors in my kitchen and dining room done (drama on another thread) , and the remaining wood floors around my 1950s home sanded and refinished, except my bedrooms.

there will be the threshold between three bedrooms and hallway where no finish meets finish, and anrw vs old threshold.

I really love three natural wood look-mine are a mix of red and white with knots and "character".

the flooring guys messed up and installed the wrong wood inn the kitchen, sanded and refinished the floors with natural stain and what I came to know as oil based poly.

They have to screen the floors and refinish now when they correct their error.

I was never asked nor did I consider different types of clear finish and everything I read said water bared is superior for dry time and fumes. the fumes right now are horrendous..
that being said I loved the way the floors looked with rich warmth to them. but inn ready to have my house back and I don't want to have headaches all summer...

should I ask them to use water based? well this look completely different than the existing floors?

here's some pics of how it turned out, and the new wood that we'll be gong into the kitchen.

Comments (4)

User
5 years ago
The floors will look different with water based finish, since that rich warmth you like is the result of using oil based finishes. Water based finishes do not add the amber/rich tint. That results in a look that often looks washed out or bleached. It is actually the natural color of the finished wood with no added color, but people are so used to the added tint of oil based finishes, seeing an application without the amber tint looks different.

You are correct in the fact water based finishes dry more quickly and do not smell as bad. The science of creating finishes have made water based finishes better and almost as serviceable as oil based finishes.

Once oil based finishes completely cure(up to 30 days for area rugs) and 2-3 days to walk on, there should be no odor. I applied oil based floor poly on our floors and the smell was gone in three days. It was(is) nasty when applied/curing, but no odor after curing.

Getting the rich color you like will be problematic when using water based finishes, since that tone would need to be created with a stain or dye. Not impossible, just difficult to find the exact recipe of colorants.
Erin McElvaney
Original Author
5 years ago
I actually wanted that more natural, less orange, tone to the floors originally. no one mentioned the oil vs water differences up front... anyway I can see the oil finish looks like it will match the rest of my house better, and like I said I don't mind it, it looked good, but I could like the natural water finish a lot too. I just don't have a visual to compare it. I'm assuming they were not planning to resand my floors which were done, just screen.. so switching would probably cost me some $ but I was wondering if it's a valuable trade-off. my entire reno was supposed to be done by now so I'm really sick of not being able to live in my house..
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I would have them redo it anyways. Your floors have a lot of chatter in the sanding. Waves throughout, which needs to be addressed. Bona Mega is a upgrade from Woodline and Traffic is a upgrade from Mega with HD being their top of the line finish. If, these finishes do not outperform Woodline. It is because it was improperly installed/applied. The contractor's drum sander is no good. It needs to be looked at. The drum or motor shaft is no good, causing the chatter. A hard plate system can remove it, but will take a lot of time based on the severity of the chatter.
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Gaby what did you end up going with? Hi a have been through one contractor already because he would only put a clear on the floor as a sample why I ran around picking out stain colors! And now I have hired somebody else but he is an available to start till November. So I would love to know what you ended up doing to get the best possible outcome on your red Oak!
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SJ McCarthy
5 years ago
I would let them replace the "wrong wood" that they installed and then let them complete the job with what has already been used.

***IF they mess this up (big if), then you start talking about changing the finish on the entire floor. I know the smell is horrible right now. But it is done. Other than a section that needs to be dealt with, the finish is ready to cure.

***IF it comes to a new finish (because something weird happened during the repair) then you can look at a water based polyurethane that has an AMBERIZER added to it. This additive will ADD the depth of yellow that many people enjoy (offers a richness to the wood grain that doesn't normally show up with water based) without adding the huge amount of time to get rid of the odour/complete the cure.

The amberizer would allow the new wood to look like the old wood (bedrooms). I won't be as perfect a match as what you see here, but it would be "good enough".

Again, I would do this only ***IF*** the repair doesn't go as planned.
PRO
G & S Floor Service
5 years ago
Some amberizing sealers will allow you to do multiple coats with no adhesion issues with the top coat. So, you just keep applying the amberizer until you reach the tone you like.

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