I'm quite sure that a few years ago you couold purchase Ronseal "Heavy Duty Floor Varnish" which no longer seems to be available. This was oil/resin based. Absolutely superb stuff. Amber in colour like Golden Syrup.
The current Ronseal "Diamond Hard" product is a clearly inferior water based product. Much less hard wearing.
What is the heaviest duty floor varnish currently (and readily) available?
David
We used PV67 in our kitchen 2 years and it's only just starting to show signs of wearing (and that's near the sink, where wear is heaviest):
Many (15 or so) years ago I did our dining room wood block flooring with what I think was a Rustins product. Can't remember it's name but it was a 2 part thing where you mix a hardner with the "varnish" immediately before brushing it on. I'm just thinking about redoing it after all this time, very hard wearing (and a real PITA now when trying to scrape it off).
Does anyone know if such a product still exists?
I've heard good reports about Dulux Diamond Hardglaze - quite expensive. Anyone tried it and have an opinion?
David
Re my post above it was probably this (or more likely a predessor given it's age)
Almost certainly a polyester, polyurethane or epoxy type 'yacht varnish'
Simply the best.
Oh _do_ give it a rest!
Firstly, it has been described twice as a immediate-catalysed (you only mix it when you need it), and I even mentioned that it was an acid catalyst(sic). That tells you it's one of the formaldehyde coatings, not a urethane.
Secondly, if you look at the website that was so clearly cited, it even tells you, "A two-part cold cure finish, based on Urea Formaldehyde resins, plasticised with alkyd.".
Thirdly yacht varnish is crap on floors. The old stuff (spar varnish) is poor for everything except elasticity, because it has all its work cut out dealing with flexing timberwork. Great when you need that, otherwise poor. The modern "yacht varnish" products are optimised instead for UV resistance for outdoor use. Again they're great if that's what you need, but they're too soft (and good spar varnish never even fully dries) for floors.
Not directly related, but does anyone have any thoughts about using danish oil on floors? I've got it in my bedrooms, and it still looks great after three years, whereas the varnish downstairs is beginning to wear. I know that bedrooms don't get much wear, but given that it still looks great up there, and given that even when it does wear it's just an hour's work to rub some more into the wood, I'm strongly considering sanding the downstairs floors back to the bare wood and oiling them.
It's not even necessary to do that. I use a product consisting of boiled linseed oil, beeswax and turpentine which is applied periodically when needed and maintained with beeswax. This is very quick to do and maintain, even in small areas if wanted. and unlike products containing varnishes, preserves the natural appearance of the wood rather than making it look like plastic.
I don't see the point in putting varnishes, especially high gloss varnishes, on wooden floors. It looks awful from the outset and can't be maintained without taking the whole lot of and starting again.
Danish Oil seems to be a kind of halfway house. It does at least give a low lustre to the surface. I've used it on certain worksurfaces, and as you say, it can be refinished after wiping and cleaning with white spirit. However, that has been the whole area. I do wonder about suitability for heavy traffic floors - upstairs is one thing, downstairs being another. It may be that you could use it if you don't mind applying it to the whole floor. Some of the manufacturers, e.g. Organoil, give a thumbs down to Danish Oil on floors, whereas others like Rustins give a half hearted, tacit acceptance while not really recommending it.
Thanks Andy, that sounds interesting. Are you saying that we could put this stuff on the varnished floors without needing to sand back to wood first? Wouldn't that just leave the uneven wear in the varnish visible?
What IS this mystery product??
How it looks depends entirely on the skill of the person applying it. For example, shellac in the right hands is a superb finish but, badly applied, it can look like a toffee apple. Acid cat varnishes are incredibly tough, perfectly transparent, and can look as glossy or as matt as you like. Beeswax is not remotely suitable for floor finishing, being too soft and sticky. Doesn't protect anything, picks up dirt and eventually has to be stripped
Nothing mysterious about it. Boiled linseed oil, beeswax and turpentine, all cheap and easy to get hold of
No, you would have to sand it all off.
There's no real mystery either - it's a very traditional oil formulation for floors, often called "floor oil", "oak oil" etc.
Varnishes can only be replaced by stripping and sanding the whole floor.
Yes it is, but not on its own.
Not if you use it properly, sparingly and with a floor polisher.
Makes no difference that it's with oil. It doesn't chemically combine with it, but precipitates out on to the surface. Liquid at around 60 degC, and therefore often tacky at room temperature in summer.
It's still beeswax, and still the wrong material to use on a floor. The old style polishes were based on a blend of waxes where the melting point averaged out higher to allow for mechanical buffing. You can't even buff beeswax by hand without it smearing
that would depend on how much is used.
The procedure is to apply the oil and to leave it for 10 minutes or so, slightly longer for the first coat on untreated hardwood. Excess is then removed. I generally repeat the treatment a further two times, allowing to dry overnight after removing any excess. Finally it's buffed with the floor polisher. At no stage are there patches of wax, smearing etc. on the surface.
I've never had this issue, but as I said, I use it sparingly.
Putting plastic crap on the floor is the wrong thing to use. You might as well put down laminate if you're going to do that.
Who said anything about buffing it by hand? Again, it should be used sparingly.
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