I need to refinish a hall that has Oak flooring. (I was able to remove the glued down vinyl that was put on top of the Oak with help of a heat gun and a scraper.)
I have sanded the floor and went to buy the finish. Two choices where on the shelve. Polyurethane, both types water and oil based and Shellac. The Polys advertise fast drying but stipulate to wait 24-48 hours before regular use. The Shellac seems to have a 4 hour dry time.
The house was built in the early 50's and I am unsure what they originally used. Any Ideas?
Is this your experience with the durability factor. Drying time for the Poly? I can't be without the use of the hallway. It divides the bedrooms from the bathrooms~~
Dave
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a good paint store and ask there. Don't go to Lowes or Home Deport for advice. Shellac is pretty far from an ideal choice for a floor. In can be used but far from poly in terms of durability. There is a poly that will dry as fast as Shellac but I just cant remember the name of the product I used. I bought mine where I rented a floor sander. Duraweld or some such thing (or I could be completely foggy on the brand).
Let me add that I don't want the plastic look of Poly. I doubt the original finish was polyurethane either. Where I live there are quite a few Craftsman style homes with refinishd floors. The ones done with polyurethane look like a plastic sheet over the nice wood. I really like the warm look of the floors that have the original finish, whatever it was.
Dave
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Have you considered an oil finish? I refinished a oak table (use every day) with oil 36 years ago. It has done well. Table is washed after meals. Once in a while we reoil it. I used a mixture of 1 part boiled linseed oil, 1 part mineral spirts, and 1 part vinegar. Vinegar cuts down the odor and emulsifies the mix. Lets the beauty of the wood show. Saturate the wood and in about 30 minutes wipe off all that has not soaked in. WW
This is not a new problem. Most "old timers" faced the same predicament many years ago. We simply "varnished" or painted approximately one-half of the floor, being careful to provide a decent pathway to the "john". After several days, do the rest of the floor. Of course, you will always have the possibility of someone stepping on the outermost end. Therefore, we always made our "one-half" more like 60 to 70 percent. Been there, done that.
Penetrating finishes, like linseed oil, may look nice really nice on furniture, but they are WAY too thin for proper protection on a floor, especially a hall floor with a bathroom at one end (= high traffic). Oil finishes also provide very little resistance to water penetration so spilling water on the floor or even walking across it with wet feet could stain or damage it. Mopping would be catestrophic.
Evaporative finishes, such as lacquer or shellac, provide more protection than a penetrating oil, but still far too little for a high-traffic floor. Shellac has poor resistance to heat, water, and alcohol, and is not nearly as wear-resistant as polyurethane. Shellac forms a finish by essentially "drying out". The solvent (alcohol) evaporates leaving behind a dense layer of shellac particles. There is no chemical bond holding the particles together so the finish is not very wear resistant, and subsequent exposure to alcohol will re-dissolve the finish.
A reactive finish, such as polyurethane or various other varnishes, is what you'll need on a floor. In this case, the finish is not formed by simply evaporating the solvent. Rather, as the solvent evaporates, the varnish molecules react with oxygen and crosslink to each other, forming a new material which is impervious to the original solvent. Because the molecules are bonded chemically, not just physically, the resulting finish is MUCH more wear-resistant than evaporative finishes.
Water-based polyurethane is a little different than the reactive finish described above, but you can think of it as essentially the same. One advantage over oil-based poly is that the solvent content is much lower, so the fumes are weaker and safer. Another advantage is that drying time (not to be confused with curing time) is a lot faster than most oil-based varnishes, but you'll still need to wait several hours between coats and several days after the final coat before allowing heavy traffic. Another advantage (possibly, depending on what you want) is that the water-based poly is clearer in color and doesn't amber over time.
One big disadvantage to keep in mind with the water-based stuff is that it will raise the grain on your flooring. If you're looking to get a perfectly smooth finish, you'll have to either wet the floor ahead of time and sand off the raised grain or sand with fine-grit sandpaper after the first coat or two.
Just a thought, I had to wait until my daughter was about 7 or 8, but when I painted the stairs at our home, I ran a line of masking tape right down the middle from top to bottom, trained my family to stay to one side of the tape, put a gate accross the bottom to keep the dog & cats off them, then painted one side at a time.
What we've done in these situations (also with tiling floors) is to build a bridge. A short lentgh of 4x2 either end of the hallway, a 10x2 over the top should get you from A to B and you can even build an off ramp or two.
If you don't like high gloss poly, you can get satin, you know; you can even get matte but I think that's not recommended for floors.
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