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Natural finish on floors - need sealer?

3 years ago

We just had some beautiful 5” white oak floors put in. Looking for a natural finish and our contractor recommended we put down Bona traffic HD only. I’d seen elsewhere suggestions that finished floors with a natural seal before the poly. Are both seal and poly necessary for a natural look?

He put down samples of the floor with just a poly finish, looked good to me just wanted to make sure I wasn’t missing something

Thanks

Joe

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Comments (4)

Joe
Original Author
3 years ago
Just bumping... anyone know if there is a material benefit to using Seal + Traffic as opposed to just the traffic (poly)
PRO
G & S Floor Service
3 years ago
The sealer prevents side bonding, panelization. Which means your floor boards will not be glued together by poly and will all expand and contract independently of one another. If, not used, you can have multiple boards adhered to one another. When it all decides to contract, you will have a 1/4"-1/2" gap at the weakest joints versus a 1/64 gap everywhere.

The sealer also prevents tannin pull. All wood contains some level of tannins. White oak has a lot. Not using a sealer will make the color darker. The first coat of poly needs to be applied perfectly to prevent tannin pulls. Any puddles, streaks, brush stops will have a high risk of tannin pull. Which will look like dark spots on the floor.

If, you want the raw look of white oak. Apply one coat of Bona Naturalseal followed by Two coats of Bona Traffic NAturale or Bona Traffic HD extra matte. For more, durability use HD.

Another option is to apply two-three coats of Loba Invisible.
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I have lived in my new house for 15 months and I love the look of my floors - they are easy to decorate with and give the home a warm but "cool" look at the same time. However, I think the maintenance is much harder than what I previously had - natural red oak with a higher sheen. My new white oak floors have 1 coat of Bona Natural Seal and 2 coats of Bona Traffic HD satin. I adore the light color, but every little water spot shows, or a splash of spilled coffee. They are very unforgiving and I can't imagine these floors in a house with kids and a dog. And I do find myself wishing I had done 3 coats of Bona Traffic HD - just to give them more protection.
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SJ McCarthy
3 years ago
White oak needs a sealant (the finishes even say it must) with a water based finish. Bona Traffic HD is a water based finish (one of the best btw) so white oak needs a sealant. If not, you will find the beautiful pale floors will turn yellowish/green. That's the tannins in the wood pulling up to the surface. To stop that, you simply use a sealant.
PRO
Johnson Flooring Co Inc
3 years ago
You can use a penetrating sealer like DuraSeal Quick Coat or Bona DriFast, or a Bona sealer as suggested above. Here's a link to the Bona site. The last five listed are sealers that you can choose to get a look you want.

https://www.bona.com/en-US/Bona-Professional/Products/Coatings/Waterborne-Finishes-and-Sealers/

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