Hardwood Floor Refinishing

“How many coats of poly should I put on my floor?” I’ve heard this question quite a few times, so let’s talk about it.

There are three types of polyurethane available if you decided to coat your floors: water-based, oil-based and introducing (unfortunately)- low VOC oil-based poly.Oh, almost forgot: there is one more type of poly available.It’s not that popular, since it’s more expensive( around $120 a gallon) and tough to get(I only know 2 places in Southern New England that sell it), but yet one of the most durable and long lasting types of poly: moisture cure. Let’s take a quick look at all of them.

 Water-based poly. Regular amount of coats – 4.When we apply it, we normally put down a coat of Dual purpose Lenmar sealer to give it an amber look and apply 3 coats of poly on top of that.We do this because water-based poly is not that thick, so we need to do a little build up for it to look solid.I have to mention, thought, that you can actually get away with a coat of sealer and 2 coats of good water-based polyurethane if you’re working in the rooms that don’t get heavy amount of traffic, such as bedrooms. The brand that I personally like the most is Eukula.In my earlier post I mentioned that you can see the difference between oil- and water-based poly because of it’s look(water-based doesn’t have as rich amber look as oil-based poly has), well with this polyurethane it’s almost impossible to tell the difference. It comes in one- or two component finishes. They say, that two component finish is harder ( component1: actual poly, component 2: hardener), but one component finish is hard as hell too. I would recommend to use it in residential projects and use a two component in commercial ones. The main advantage of Eukula is that you can add up to 12 Oz. of water (believe it or not) into it without having to  worry about the quality of the finish.  This makes it dry a little bit slower , giving you time to come back and fix whatever you need, not to mention that you won’t have any ugly looking brush marks that normally there when you work with water-based polyurethane. Eukula is the ONLY brand that allows you to add water.

Now the price. Comparing to other brands, such as Bona, or Duraseal, one component Eukula cost the same or even less. Averge price for it is about $45 a gallon. In comparison: good type of Duraseal( which is not as good as Eukula anyway) cost about the same, and Bona(the 2nd best after Eukula in my opinion) cost even more- around $80 a gallon.Two component Eukula cost is around $90 a gallon.

Next time we’ll take a closer look at oil-based poly.

P.S. If you have any suggestions for topics to disscuss, please feel free to contact us.