Poly Floors or Paint First?
I have two questions: #1 Is it better to do painting in the house first or do the floors first? Does it matter? #2 I have gotten different opinions from different floor guys. SOme say you do not need sealer with oil based polyurethe and others say you do. Help!
I have two questions:
#1 Is it better to do painting in the house first or do the floors first? Does it matter?
#2 I have gotten different opinions from different floor guys. SOme say you do not need sealer with oil based polyurethe and others say you do. Help!
Thank you very, very much for all your helpful responses. This site and feedback from all of you make my life so much easier! Thank you, thank you!!!
Painting first is a good idea because then you don’t have to worry so much about drips on the floor. Though certainly the painters can put down rosin paper, drop cloths, etc.
If you must also repair the walls by doing skim coating, plastering, and sanding, you MUST do the walls before the floors. The sanding and dust destroys the floor finish. (Unless you’re only repairing, say, two small cracks.)
Agree with above posters that a sealer is necessary for pine floors. It makes the color more even, it will look so much nicer. We used a sealer and water-based polyurethane.
If you choose to paint first, then finish the floors second, you will not need to wash the walls. You will need to dust the moldings and clean out shelves (any horizontal surface). I’ve done this in many apartments. It’s no big deal.
Conventional wisdom is to paint first, but sanding floors is a very messy job and dust gets everywhere, including all over your walls, which requires a lot of cleanup time. Most floor guys won’t do that, or if they do they’ll do a hack job, so you will have to do it yourself or hire a cleaning crew to do it for you. Any decent painter will cover floors with rosin paper and tape it down so there won’t be any paint on the floors when they are done. That scenario is less work overall, and you won’t have to take the risk of some clumsy worker scratching your freshly painted walls whilst vacuuming all the dust off.
We just finished our floors with an tung oil mix which does not require wax on top (but can accomodate it if you choose). No polyeurethane at all.
The woman I talked to at one retailer says they use oil only on their heavily trafficked wood showroom floor and they just periodically rub on another layer of oil.
We used a product called “Bio Shield” from the Green Depot on the Bowery, they make both an oil (hard oil #9) and the wax (hard wax #32) if you want wax on top to help keep liquids out of the wood.
Our floors look beautiful, not glossy, but lusturous, and I’m looking forward to watching them age and gain character and patina. There should be no reason for us to ever have to sand them again. We can add finish ourselves as needed and it’s not hard or expensive, just like dusting the furniture or mopping a tile floor.
Something to consider…
And yes, I’d paint first and do floors last. Keep in mind if your floors need some restoration you should do THAT before you install baseboards, if you are doing any or all of those things.
1. Paint first, especially if there is going to be a lot of prep work. Ask the floor sanding company if they use a dustless sander. Have some paint left over for touch ups.
2. What Steve said. You want to raise the grain with the sealer and then screen the surface so the pores are closed.
The need to seal also depends on the type of wood. Some high oil/resin woods just won’t hold the finish without a sealer first. I found this out the hard way on a heartpine floor made out of reclaimed lumber. I didn’t put down sealer, used an oil based finish and had delamination of the finish. On the next room (I was doing this in stages) I used a sealer and the same finish had no problems. Exact same batch of wood, same brand of finish, same person applying. The conclusion I reached was the sealer was the difference, so from now on, I’m going with sealer on everything. It’s an extra step, but a lot less work than screening a just finished floor.
in the old days, we made sealer out of a 50/50 mix of mineral spirits and poly. The real purpose of this sealer was to pop the grain of the wood – particularly oak – so it can be sanded smooth before applying two finish coats.
I would bet that most people do not apply a seal coat anymore. It is not nec. and will not affect the longevity of the finish. Just make sure that in lieu of a seal coat, they still apply a coat – so you get a full three coats of poly, not two.
Another good reason to apply a seal coat – a store bought one as opposed to a made up one, is that sealers dry faster than oil poly, thus one could be applying the first finish coat the same day they put down the sealer; so it behooves the contractor to use a sealer.
One sealer I have found that I like is Dunhams. It is high build so it makes a nice sanding surface, it adds an amber tone to the floor, and it too is fast drying. Dunhams is available at PC Capital Floors on the road beneath the BQE/Gowanus.
I hope this is helpful.
Steve
The usual rule of thumb is start from the top & work down so I’d have painting done first.
Ditto dibs on sealer.
A good painter will not get paint on the floors. Most painters are not good painters.
I’ve never heard of putting a “sealer” over the poly coats. That said, poly isn’t the only option but is the best longer term and is the best protection for the wood. Other options (wax) require far more onging maintenance. What kind os “sealer” are they talking about?