Refinishing Wood Floors: Water vs Oil?
I had a few people come this morning to give me quotes on sanding/refinishing some wood floors. The first few said they would use water coats, the last guy said he strongly recommends oil instead, insisting that water wears in a few years and he only does it when a client strongly insists on using it, prefering oil as he says it holds up much better. Is this true? Is there any major reason to go with one over the other?
fishermb
in Flooring 13 years and 5 months ago
7
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7 replies
waterdamage143 | 13 years and 1 month ago
In my opinion, water based polyurethane is good as compare to oil. Usually, water based jobs can be done in 2 cays and you can walk on it that night where as oil based can take 3-5 days because of pending on humidity and you need to wait at least 24 hrs before walking on them.
slopegirl | 13 years and 4 months ago
I’m not a green blogger but one option is to rub wood with actual oil and perhaps add wax over that. No need to polyeurethane. We did to our floors (including hall floor by the entrance) and wood (pine) looks as good as it ever did even though we’re overdue to wax it. Takes a little time but you can do it yourself and no need to ever sand again. We used a product called BioShield. It has tung oil and other oils mixed. Rubs on with a rag. They sell at greendepot on the bowery. http://www.greenspacecompany.com/index.php/sealers/156-hard-oil
rh | 13 years and 5 months ago
Don’t tell anyone I said this because I am a “green” blogger, but…..oil is better. Yes, it smells and takes longer to dry and it’s bad for the environment, but it will last longer.
callalily | 13 years and 5 months ago
I think both will give equally good results, unless you are doing a bathroom, in which case you might want to go with oil. More important is to give plenty of time between drying, use thin coats, and enough coats (we used four coats of water-based satin poly). If the application is not done properly, the poly will come off within a year (happened in a rental I was living in). Oil takes longer to cure and you cannot be in the house while it is drying. Water based is not so bad. Use a high-quality, expensive brand.
fishermb | 13 years and 5 months ago
Thanks both, they’re parquet floors, the building is from 1952\. They floors are in pretty good shape. We are about to close on the apartment so it will be empty and it seemed like the most convenient time to do it. Regarding the smell, there will likely be about 1-2 weeks between the finishing of the floors and when we move in as there will be some other work that we do after the floors. Does the smell generally go away by then?
joeo | 13 years and 5 months ago
We were told the same thing. It’s probably true. But the oil smelled so bad we had to leave the house for a few days. We’ve been using water based Poly ever since.
allans | 13 years and 5 months ago
Hi Fisher,???It really depends on what type of floor you have and the current state of the floor. The floors in my brownstone investment property are an old (antique) oak parquet floor, I went with a water based finsih to maintain the same color of the wood, it also looks more natural and elegant. Oil based finish tends to add a “yellowish” color to the floors and makes the floors way too shiny for my taste. Whomever you choose to refinish your floors make sure they use a high quality finish product such as Bona Traffic NOT a generic product. That makes a difference in how the floors will hold up their finish. You can find out about Bona here: http://www.bona.com I used Carlos Salazar to do all my floors, he actually introduced me to the Bona brand – he specifically uses that product for his projects. He can be reached via his website at http://www.jcmartinrenovation.com Best of Luck,???Allan S.