finishing hardwood floors

[l-lopez]

I need to finish about 3000 square feet of red oak floors. I also have about 400 square feet of southern yellow pine for a shop floor. I am a wood worker, but floor finishing is new to me.

Thus far, I have read that, for the red oak, I should: sand with 36 and 60 grit, followed by filling with Woodwise full trowel filler, sand to 100 grit and then screen to 120 grit, apply 3 or 4 coats of waterbased poly - screening between coats.

For the SYP shop floor, I follow the above, but start with Woodwise brown knot patch quick filler to fill any holes in the knots.

Seems like a lot of work but, after laying this stuff down, I don't want to screw it up now. Am I on the right track?

For finishes, I though I would use BonaKemi Traffic or EON70. Their representative discouraged me, saying it was for professionals only? After searching this group, the next choice seems to be Fabulon Pro or Street Shoe.

Does anybody have advice on which is better and/or easier for an amateur?

I have looked for a source of floor finishing products and am getting nowhere. Nothing local,(midstate Illinois) and lots of useless pages on the web. I figure my best bet is a good web site, or a place in Indianapolis or Chicago. Anybody got a favorite place that has reasonable price and service.

Thanks, Len

[<goodmanconveyor]

I used Boni Traffic for 4000 sq. feet of white oak. I had zero experience and it turned out great. Check out

for questions about floor installations and finishes.

[bent]

Do your homework on types of sanding equipment. Don't just go to the rental pkace and say floor sander. I do not know what level of results you are looking for. I did a basement floor, using god-awful grit on a drum sander; it left scoops. It was real dirty wood. It would go through to the other side in under a minute I think. If not careful, you'll take a lot of the thickness away. Start/stop/holdups can be dissasterous. Its ok for basement rec room. Try a finer grit first to be safe. If you make a mistake, you'll be paying for it. Do a test somewhere, maybe under a rug area, say w/ the edge sander too. Polied up fine. Don't know nothing about sealer, and such. Spar/martine poly allows movement for outdoor usage. Do not use this. You want HARD on floors. This is inverse to "Spar" poly. I think there are different types of sanders now, in the way they operate.

[bent]

I used something like this:

[dnoyeB]

Sanding using that big machine is a real treat. you have to be smooth and steady. If your not riping off existing finish then it shoudl be easier as the finer paper wont gouge so quickly. But you can easily put a dip in your floor if your not careful.

I have some pictures of me doing a floor several years ago, but I can't recall my website address...