Water based polyurethane vs hardwax for timber floor

petrous · May 10, 2014 10:53 pm

I am just wondering if anyone has had the same choice of which way to finish a solid hardwood floor and how happy they are since they decided.

We have decided against the solvent based polyurethane partly because of the toxicity and partly because of the yellowing.

We have seen the hardwax vs poly and prefer the look of the hardwax (the colors just look richer). We obviously also like the idea of being able to fix small flaws.

We have had varying advice about how hard the hardwax is to maintain and would be particularly interested in feedback from anyone who has used hardwax, how they maintained it, and how onerous they found this.

The wood will be likely be Grey Box (select).

qsand · Sep 11, 2014 9:43 am

http://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=73305&p=1233870#p1233870

Be careful what you wish for. Here is a link to a water based finish.

With a hard wax, when they say you can fix small flaws, this is true for about 6 months MAXIMUM. By then the finish will oxidise (YELLOW) and when you sand it it will be a different colour. Guess what, The same as Polyurethane. I do like the look of a quality wax, but a quality one is far more expensive. Yes we do them too. They are not practical in today's busy world. Most people have a life and don't want to be slave to their floors.

Thinner based polyurethane is the Strongest, toughest, cleanest Clearest, longest lasting finish by far. It is the most maintenance free.

Waxes need to be done every year. (No exceptions.) Regards Mark.

joannek · Sep 19, 2014 6:00 pm

Just for anyone interested I Water Based you might want to get one mixed with nano based hybrid floor coating technology. It does not yellow and is hard wearing. It's quite a bit more expensive but I viewed a house with it done 5 years ago (was shown by my floor guy) and it still looked amazing. It doesn't need replenishing every year. Cheers

qsand · Sep 23, 2014 3:32 pm

joannek

Just for anyone interested I Water Based you might want to get one mixed with nano based hybrid floor coating technology. It does not yellow and is hard wearing. It's quite a bit more expensive but I viewed a house with it done 5 years ago (was shown by my floor guy) and it still looked amazing. It doesn't need replenishing every year. Cheers

A picture says 1,000 words. The largest part of my month is following around the Water Based companies and fixing up the damage they do to peoples floors. I have not seen one in even remotely good condition that was older than 2 years.

Water based coating is not hard, it doesn't last and it definitely will not protect your timber. These are my findings after seeing many hundreds of floors with it, and having to sand the water based coating off it and restore it back to a liveable condition.
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Dog pee penetrates the water based coating. It offers Zero protection against dog pee, and water.

How's this for yellowing of a floor that was coated with Water Based?

melbhouse · Sep 23, 2014 5:13 pm

Hi to all, this may be a little late but if others are considering floor finishes it may be of use. We too were not keen on any of the polyurethane finishes and opted for a tung and orange oil blend on pine flooring. House was cleared out and boards sanded. We applied just as recommended by the supplier and are totally happy. You need to be careful with the application but the addition of orange oil makes it far easier than using straight Tung oil. Floor can then receive wax should you require additional depth. We were really impressed an I personally have used many products over the years. Feel free to contact me should you wish to know more or photos etc. Another product I also like and have seen applied both commercially and in private homes is 'Whittle? Wax' there is also a similar german product which one floor guy told me he preferred . Happy to supply info' if anyone is interested.