Hardwood Floor

[Waka]

All

Whats the best product (s) to finish a hardwood floor. probably going to do it in Ash.

Its got to be hard wearing as it will receive a lot of foot traffic

Thanks in advance

Waka

 

[Noel]

Rustins do a plastic finish (maybe a two part mix). Haven't used it but believe it to be excellent. Whatever you use forget about water based finishes, they simpily cannot stand up to prolonged wear and tear. When I get around to sanding and refinishing our floors I'll be using the Rustin product.

Rgds

Noel, who believed what it said on the tin about being Diamond Hard at £60 per 5L.........

 

[Aragorn]

Hi Waka
I do floors often and use the Rustin's water based floor varnish almost always (have done now for about 6-7 years). Five coats, 3-4 hours in between coats and a light sanding.
Despite Noel's reservations about water-based finishes, I have found the finish to be very tough! I had to sand some of the varnish off last week to make a repair to a floor I originally sanded 3 years ago and I was really surprised at how difficult it was to grind away the finish. Floors that I did years ago in gloss still look as good as new. The satin finish is less resiliant. (One trick is not to stir the last coat of a satin finish - it makes it slightly more glossy, but tougher).
Other suitable products are Floor lacquer (from Richard Barry) which is the real deal, used for dance studios and the like, and Rustins 2-part finish. Dulux do a "Diamond hard" finish (still water based) which I've used once or twice. It's good, but no better than Rustins and more expensive.

 

[Chris Knight]

Just a comment on Aragorn's observation about satin finishes.

Satin finishes and their ilk almost always contain some sort of "flatteners" - gunk to reduice the gloss. It's much better to rub a gloss finish out to a satin if that's what you want - granted a floor is a lot of area to cover and I have in mind furniture rather than floors.

 

[SimonA]

I've got a Diamond Hard Floor varnish on the hall floor and its taken some real abuse!! It really is 'Diamond hard'!! Can't remember if it was the Dulux stuff or not.....but it was about £35 a tin!!

SimonA

 

[Aragorn]

...it was about £35 a tin!!

Cheap then!

 

[SimonA]

Hehe....I know...but I still have about a third of a tin left and I have given the floor about 3-4 coats...That was about 4 years ago now......and it still looks pretty good......I will probably give it another coat later on in the year once I plastered the dining room. (That stuff gets every where!!)

SimonA