Comparability Of The 5 Hardwood Flooring Finishes I’ve Used In Our Home (Waterlox, Oil-Based mostly Polyurethane, Whitewashed, And Two Completely different Painted Flooring Finishes)
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In case you’re a daily reader round right here, that I’ll very quickly be putting in, staining, and sealing new purple oak hardwood flooring in two rooms and a lobby in our home. All the bed room suite is at the moment with out flooring. Proper now, it simply has plywood subfloor all through. So after I get that flooring put in, I plan to complete it the identical means I completed the remainder of the hardwood flooring in our home with polyurethane.
I had somebody touch upon an previous submit lately asking about how effectively polyurethane holds as much as animals, and that jogged my memory that I’ve been desirous to share my very own experiences with all 4 hardwood ground finishes I’ve utilized in our home during the last 12 years, and the way effectively every considered one of them held up over time. That features the Waterlox flooring that I did initially in our home, the polyurethane that’s at the moment on the flooring, in addition to the 2 painted flooring — one painted ground topcoated with Varathane water-based polyurethane and one painted ground with no topcoat in any respect. that we’ve had in two rooms of the home. Let’s begin with the Waterlox.
Waterlox for hardwood flooring
After we purchased our home again in August 2013, the very very first thing I did earlier than we moved into the home was take away all the carpet, sand all the unique hardwood flooring, and seal them with Waterlox. They seemed nice after they have been completed.
One of many causes I selected Waterlox initially is as a result of it’s not an extended, drawn out course of to complete the flooring, and Waterlox makes it very simple to spot-finish areas on the flooring when you get a scratch or gouge. Because it’s simply oil with hardeners in it, spot ending gained’t end in an uneven end.
I had to do this when our couch gouged the ground and left this deep mark.
I simply sanded that particular space, utilized extra Waterlox, and the gouge disappeared.
It’s additionally very simple to refinish a whole room with Waterlox. Again once I was attempting to show the lounge right into a eating room, I made a decision that I needed to recoat the entire ground within the room. So I did a really fast sanding on the entire ground utilizing my small orbital sander (no have to lease the large drum sander to get all the earlier end off!) and recoated. It was a reasonably simple course of, and it seemed model new afterwards.
My one subject with Waterlox is that if you would like the flooring to be this simple to restore, you actually can’t use stain with the product, so that you’re caught with no matter shade the oils make the ground. In case you determine to stain earlier than utilizing Waterlox, or when you determine so as to add stain to the Waterlox (each strategies are authorized by the corporate), the flooring are not going to be really easy to restore as a result of any new stain that you just add to the ground that you just need to restore goes to go away a darker spot.
So as a way to preserve that simply repairable end, the Waterlox needs to be utilized by itself with no stain. And which means you’re on the mercy of no matter shade it makes your explicit species of wooden. That could be nice in case you have a gorgeous wooden like walnut and even white oak. However my flooring are purple oak, so Waterlox with no stain had a really orange look to it.
Oil-based Polyurethane For Flooring
In 2017, I made a decision to redo our flooring to eliminate the orange, so I had all the flooring sanded (I employed it out the second time), after which I completed them once more. I used Minwax conditioner first, adopted by a mixture of two Minwax stains, and the topcoated with Minwax oil-based polyurethane tinted with a little bit of stain. The flooring turned out beautiful and I used to be capable of get the precise shade I needed.
These flooring have been very sturdy. I used to be nervous to make use of a product that couldn’t be simply spot-repaired, however they’ve held up superbly over time. I do suppose the end has dulled a bit since they have been newly completed, however I don’t thoughts that since I’m not an enormous fan of shiny finishes anyway.
Since I polyurethaned the ground, we’ve had 4 animals in our home — three cats and one canine. Two of the cats are not with us 🙁 however we nonetheless have one cat and a canine. Our canine Cooper is a 100-pound lab/German shepherd combine. We obtained him from the shelter, and he’s a hyper and really anxious canine who nonetheless gained’t let me contact his toes even after he’s been with us for seven years. He gained’t let anybody contact his toes to chop his claws. Not me. Not the vet. Not anybody. I’ve tried each trick and tip that anybody has ever given me, and none of them work.
The one time he has “allowed” his claws to be reduce was when he needed to be sedated for an X-ray, and the vet requested me if I needed her to chop them when he was beneath anesthesia. That’s actually the one time they’ve been trimmed by a human since we’ve had him. I see him biting on them after they get so lengthy that they begin annoying him, however they get fairly lengthy earlier than he does that.
And once more, he’s hyper. He usually doesn’t simply stroll from place to position. He jumps, runs, twirls. He’s like a hyper pet, though he’s 100 kilos and allegedly 12 years previous, in the event that they shelter is to be believed that he was 5 years previous once we adopted him (which I discover exhausting to consider simply from his puppy-like conduct to this present day).
With all of that mentioned, I’ve been amazed at how our oil-based polyurethaned flooring have held as much as him. I don’t see scratches, gouges, or something like that on our ground. I don’t understand how simple it could be to restore a scratch or gouge on the oil-based polyurethaned ground as a result of I’ve actually by no means needed to do it.
Painted Flooring Topcoated With Water-Based mostly Polyurethane
In August of 2020, I painted the ground in our visitor bed room with common Behr latex paint after which topcoated the flooring utilizing Varathane water-based polyurethane. Once more, they seemed beautiful after they have been new.
However these flooring didn’t put on effectively over the following two years. I couldn’t discover any photos of simply the worn areas on the ground, however you’ll be able to see it plainly within the pictures I took after my mother and I took a weekend to do the tear out of this room to organize it for the contractor to come back in and begin the conversion from visitor bed room to closet and laundry space. The ground is soiled and dust-covered within the photograph under due to our work that weekend, so that you’ll need to look past that. You’ll be able to clearly see these worn areas.
Pay particular consideration to the areas circled under. You’ll be able to see that the end is carrying off within the excessive visitors areas.
Right here’s one other look from the opposite path…
And you’ll see it from this image that I took for the submit the place I shared about making a present closet for storing all of my footwear. Look past the footwear and you’ll see the worn end.
I wasn’t positive if that was due to the paint I used (common Behr latex paint), or due to the water-based end. However this subsequent one form of offers me a clue…
Whitewashed Hardwood Flooring With Water-based Polyurethane
The primary end I did on my studio flooring was a stunning whitewashed end topcoated with water-based Varathane polyurethane. Once more, it was a gorgeous end when new.
I couldn’t discover photos of this ground proper earlier than I refinished it, nevertheless it was terrible. Not solely had the colour darkened, however there have been some critical stains on the ground. This leads me to consider that water-based finishes will simply by no means examine to oil-based polyurethanes. My oil-based polyurethaned flooring are older than this ground was once I redid them, and I don’t have any stains on the oil-based polyurethaned flooring.
Painted Flooring With No Topcoat
And eventually, there’s my new-ish painted flooring within the studio. Once I did these, I made a decision to forgo any topcoat in order that they might be simple to restore. I used Behr Porch and Patio Flooring paint. I had my doubts how effectively this may maintain up and not using a topcoat, however I made a decision to take that gamble.
This ground has been AMAZING. I don’t know if it’s due to the primer I used (Zinsser B-I-N shellac-based primer) or the paint, however I’ve been so shocked at how sturdy this ground is. Our canine Cooper LOVES to play in my studio, and he performs tough. And but, there’s not a single scratch or gouge anyplace to be discovered on this paint. That is the latest end of any ground in our home. I simply completed these in Could 2023, however that may be loads of time for him to scratch them, particularly contemplating how a lot he performs in right here. And but, they’re holding up nice.
So simply going by my very own private experiences with these varied finishes during the last 13 years, I’ve come to the next conclusions for myself:
- So long as I’m coping with purple oak hardwood flooring, Waterlox gained’t be an choice for me as a result of it brings out the orange in purple oak. As a lot as I favored the end and the straightforward spot-refinishing of the product, I simply didn’t like the colour. I can think about selecting Waterlox if I had a naturally fairly species of wooden like walnut and even white oak.
- I’ll by no means use a water-based polyurethane on flooring in our home ever once more. They simply don’t appear to carry up over time. The end appears to put on off shortly and stain simply.
- On flooring that might be stained, I’ll solely ever topcoat with oil-based polyurethane. My expertise is that oil-based polyurethane is probably the most sturdy, hard-wearing end obtainable. And particularly, I’ve been very happy with the Minwax oil-based polyurethane that I used on our flooring. In terms of water-based finishes vs. oil-based finishes, there’s no comparability, in my view. Oil-based wins out so far as sturdiness and resistance to stains, and it’s not even an in depth name.
- If I ever paint one other hardwood ground, I’ll solely ever use the Zinsser B-I-N shellac-based primer and Behr Porch and Patio Flooring paint combo that I used this final time in my studio. I’ve been amazed on the sturdiness of that end.
Addicted 2 Adorning is the place I share my DIY and adorning journey as I transform and enhance the 1948 fixer higher that my husband, Matt, and I purchased in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do bodily work, so I do the vast majority of the work on the home on my own. You’ll be able to study extra about me right here.
