floor finishing

[basilisk]

I am refinishing a t&g pine floor, it was in very bad condition but has been patched, plugged and repaired. I've sanded and edged through 100 grit.

conventional wisdom would say to put two coats of gloss poly and a third coat of satin on top and call it done, however, I very much dislike the yellowing of the poly over time. This was how the floor was originally finshed years ago and it has become more obnoxious as time went on.

One option is to use water based poly that supposedly doesn't yellow as bad, but to me it is a terrible finish otherwise.

Second option would be to stain the floor a darker color and use oil based poly, the darker color hiding the inevitable yellowing of the poly, downside of this is it would require eons more of prep work to do a creditable job of staining. Doable, but my joints hurt.

Third option would be to use one of the non yellowing conversion varnishes or precat lacquers, are these finishes durable enough for floor use? I have no experience with either of these products, are these finishes reasonably easy to get good results with?

I do not like any water based finishes I have ever used, but I am open to suggestions.

Any thoughts, advice?

basilisk

[Leon]

First off if the pine floor is SYP, it is naturally yellow. Oil based anything will add a golden tone more so than a water based finish.

So If you are refinishing SYP you are probably going to get yellow regardless of what clear product you use.

Staining may be your answer with the varnish of your choice.

[SonomaProducts.com]

I don't do floors (or windows) but I love using Nitrocellulous Lacquer on pine projects specifically to get that wonderful yellowing over time. No other real way to match that beautiful color. Of course much of the yellowing comes from the pine itself aging. Maybe you should rip out the pine and put down white vinyl.

[Michael Joel]

Wouldn't a conversion/catalyzed to cover the floor be a lot of trouble? I mean you have so much time to work it, and also the fumes, etc.?

A water-based I think might be a good choice.

As Leon said though if the wood is going to yellow on it's own there isn't anything to worry about since you won't stop it.

[Denis M]

Summing up:

At our Yacht Club the pine floor was refinished and several coast of

Marine vanish were applied. We do have dents and scratches but its the

price we paid for the beauty of a natural Pine floor.

If you can live with a pine floor that easily accumulates dents, scratches and other markings. Several coats of Marine Polyurethane varnish clear satin finish will do the job fine.

I have, for your perusal, listed my thoughts as follows:

I have used all of the three options on eastern white pine furniture.

I like using Tung oil first and then water born vanish.

(Pure Tung oil cannot be used unless diluted with spirit or resin.

See Minwax Tung oil or it equivalent.)

Tung oil gives it a little honey shade and the water born vanish has no color.

I also have used a natural deep penetrating resins know as Danish or Swedish oil first to give the pine a little shade then I applied the clear water born vanish.

I like the water born varnish because I can apply several coast in the same day.

Fast-Drying clear satin Polyurethane does a decent job.

When I drop something hard on white eastern white a dent is created and shows

the whiteness of the pine. That is quite challenging to fix.

I come to the conclusion that with a good quality oil finish (Tung/Danish or Swedish) one can re-apply it easy without heavy sanding.

With Polyurethane or water born vanishes to refinish the floor is heavy work.

The other solution is to use Virginia Pine which is much harder.

Denis

[basilisk]

Yep it is SYP and some yellowing is to be expected, in some areas of the house the floor has aged to a more graceful reddish tint, same wood same finish similar light exposure, only difference I can contribute from one area to another is that the humidity would have been somewhat higher in the redder areas. The yellower area, was seldom occupied, but heated and cooled just the same.

Some of the clear products have UV blockers that might slow the yellowing of the pine itself.

You are probably right, may be simpler to stain and poly than to try and prevent the inevitable.

This is going to be a test area, if in two years I like the results at that time the rest of the house will recieve similar finishing.

basilisk

[basilisk]

On Wed, 29 Feb 2012 13:20:12 -0400, Denis

Dents and scratches happen to pine, just the way it is. The first dozen will look really bad but after awhile it will develope a patina and none will really be noticable.

My floors are a mix of longleaf, loblolly and shortleaf all of which are harder than white pine or virginia pine, it will still dent but not show raw color like white pine.

basilisk

[basilisk]

Well there is the natural yellow and there is the plastic yellow of poly on top of that.

Maybe put a coat of light blue milk paint followee by shellac and a good coat of wax. : (

basilisk

[Denis M]

Loblolly (Southern Yellow) Pine (Pinus taeda) and Longleaf (Southern Yellow) Pine have a Janka Hardness ranging from 690 to 870.

Your floor must be very nice. I'd like to see picture of it.

I would try the best clear satin fast drying Polyurethane on a test piece before doing the floor.

I do not like a shinny floor but you might.

After doing a few test pieces I would apply about 3 coats + of Polyurethane or better.

Have a look at

Varnish Item # : 754308

Other equivalent product sold in your area under different names may be available at a lower cost.