Suggested Finishes for a Pine Floor

[jonny round boy]

My father-in-law has asked me to sand down the pine boards in his living room.

It's a victorian terraced house, and the floor is original solid pine 5" wide boards. The current finish is some kind of varnish. This has cracked/worn/peeled over the years and looks very tatty.

There's a lot of furniture in the room, and nowhere else to move it to, so the floor will need to be sanded & refinished in 2 or maybe 3 small sections. Because of this it's not going to be practical to hire a floor sander so I'm hoping to do it with a rotex/ETS combo.

I don't know much about floor finishes, so I'm looking for recommendations. He is a bit of an old hippy, so won't allow anything with VOC's in the house (I even had to finish his wooden worktops (countertops) with organic olive oil!).

So, I'm looking for something that fulfils the following:

Hardwearing & easily maintained;
Can be applied in small patches, and blended together easily;
Does not contain VOC's, and is as low-odour as possible;
Maintains/protects the natural colour of the boards as much as possible;
Available in the UK (a lot of the US products mentioned on FOG are ones I've never heard of!).

In Ikea recently I spotted a water-based oil they sell for worktops (how you get water-based oil is beyond me, but that's what it said on the tin!), but I don't know if that would be OK on floors.

Any suggestions?

TIA,

JRB

 

[Deansocial]

My father-in-law has asked me to sand down the pine boards in his living room.

It's a victorian terraced house, and the floor is original solid pine 5" wide boards. The current finish is some kind of varnish. This has cracked/worn/peeled over the years and looks very tatty.

There's a lot of furniture in the room, and nowhere else to move it to, so the floor will need to be sanded & refinished in 2 or maybe 3 small sections. Because of this it's not going to be practical to hire a floor sander so I'm hoping to do it with a rotex/ETS combo.

I don't know much about floor finishes, so I'm looking for recommendations. He is a bit of an old hippy, so won't allow anything with VOC's in the house (I even had to finish his wooden worktops (countertops) with organic olive oil!).

So, I'm looking for something that fulfils the following:

Hardwearing & easily maintained;
Can be applied in small patches, and blended together easily;
Does not contain VOC's, and is as low-odour as possible;
Maintains/protects the natural colour of the boards as much as possible;
Available in the UK (a lot of the US products mentioned on FOG are ones I've never heard of!).

In Ikea recently I spotted a water-based oil they sell for worktops (how you get water-based oil is beyond me, but that's what it said on the tin!), but I don't know if that would be OK on floors.

Any suggestions?

TIA,

JRB

thats my suggestion of pv67 out the window hen

 

[Deansocial]

what about osmo hardwa xoil

 

[jonny round boy]

what about osmo hardwax oil

Cheers mate, just googled that. never heard of it before, but it looks like it might be the right stuff!!!

 

[Chas]

The choice of finish depends on a number of factors. For a sander, to strip the varnish, you can use your hand sander but remember the wood is very soft and you have a lot to sand and the temptation will be to try and grind it off. This will leave swirl marks. I like the finishing pad sanders for light sanding. Especialy on pine. I would stay away from Drum sanders and rotary sanders on pine unless I was doing thousands of square feet or something.

What kind of pine is it? Does it have a lot of knots? Nailholes? Is it red or yellow? (Just curious). Did he just want a clear natural finish? Or, did he want a color? Ive noticed a lot of folks putting dark stains on pine. In any case, if you are staining, you have to do that prior to finishing. Then there are oils and polys. Oils are for moderate to low traffic or for people who take care of their floors. Polys are for dogs and kids and spills and whatnot. All of the drying oils leave you with a finish that is not built up on top of the wood.

Best to just pick up a quart of whatever and slap[ it on there and see if you like it.

My whole house, trim, doors, floors etc are all done with 100% pure tung oil and wax. It takes a week to dry. Its a lot of work but I like it.

 

[jonny round boy]

The boards are very old (100+ years) and therefore are very stable. They were sanded when the current finish was put on - before he bought the house, 20+ years ago - so the boards are very flat. It won't take much sanding to get the varnish off, I don't think, so a 6" pad will be fine.

There are some knots, and lots of nailholes - 2 in each board/joist junction. Not sure exactly what kind of pine it is, just the general cheap pine that the victorians always used in this kind of housing.

There will be very little traffic, and no pets, so I think the oil/wax combo that Dean suggested will be fine. They do a quick drying version too, meaning I could get 2 coats on in one day.

 

[WarnerConstCo.]

Bona Mega.

Water based and you can do all your coats in one day, no smell and ready for foot traffic after 24 hours.

 

[wintu]

or Bona traffic, more durable then Mega . you will also need a sealer

 

[ward]

Well it seems like there are a few different paths you can take. I can say the Rotex will rock the floor. I've recently done a few "dust free" repairs and spot refinishes with the rotex in fully furnished home with no complaints and lots of praise.

You can likely start with a 50 or higher, i'm sure you are familiar with the process. There's not any real need to go beyond 180.

Woodwise or Dura seal both make a good pine/ash/maple filler, you might want to test and tint for the job. It's latex or water base and non toxic.

1st and foremost make your "breaks" along the grain. that will make the blending much easier. breaking across the grain is much more work and to be avoided if at all possible.

You can go either water or oil. with water i like both the bona and basic coating finishes id recommend these two with pine:

http://store.bonapro.com/resources/Documents/ItemID_347-AmberSeal_spec_New_CVI.pdf

and my current favorite:

http://www.basiccoatings.com/Products/Pages/Sealers.aspx?ProdDispGrp=5

As far as oil in a "less toxic" au natural you could go with Minwax (Dura seal brand) neutral oil or mix your own with linseed and turpentine as a client i just met with does.

If you need color i'd go with an alcohol style stain "dye" that is quite toxic but does not have the blotchiness of a oil base stain. I just used some Mohawk "ultra Penetration Stain on some figured naughty pine and it came out lovely and quite even if you want color. Or you can use stain conditioner and stain it, but anything more than a very light stain will likely result in some wild variation in color.

Any oil finish will require more care and maintenance but it is lovely.

Lastly there is a product called "Mono-coat. Ive received wildly differing feedback on it as it's crucial to apply as directed. It seems to be a hybrid sealer / finish that is buffed (Rotex) on and is a ONE coat finish that is easy to repair (supposedly) and maintenance. Check it out here:  http://www.monocoat.us/ 

Good luck !