Installing hardwood floors/youtube watch

I figure to sand, golden oak stain, then 2 coats of satin(dull) poly and possably sand with 220 and a 3rd coat of poly. Are you talking about the stain and poly mixed or changing between gloss and satin finish ?

I don't mean the stain / poly mix. I mean satin poly vs. clear poly. I understand you might not want the high gloss finish of 3 coats of clear, but I have seen many recommendations against 3 coats of satin on forums and in our case the guy we hired to do the finish. It is pretty consistent from what I have seen to use one coat of satin and two coats of clear. If you have a few extra boards laying around I would put a few of them together and do a sample of each to see what you like. As I said, it comes down to personal preference. I think you'll want to look at sanding after the first coat, at least that is my preference when finishing projects, although I try to use shellac whenever possible rather than poly so that may make a difference.

Thanks for the tip. I have been tring samples with stain and poly, I have to give that a test. I prefer the dull look,should hide more scratches(kids and myself ) Will the gloss over dull still shine more. I am going to the hd store tomorrow .

AA130FIREMAN wrote: Minwax has some fast dry for floors that can be topcoated in 3 hours. I figure it will really stink ,don't want to open windows this time of year.

I used an oil modified water based poly, this one:

http://www.minwax.com/products/interior ... thane.html

Odor is minimal, a joy compared to regular poly. Put a coat down and let it dry a minimum of 6 hours. You can walk on it after about 2 hours but I was giving it quick sand with the palm sander using 220 between coats, if you tried sanding too quick it was gumming up the paper too much.

I used one of those foam applicators, not the cheap ones with the wooden handles but bigger one with detachable plastic handle that you could put broom handle in. It was only 8 inches, I wish it was wider. The ones with the small wooden handles work well too but they are too small. This poly looks like and has a consistency of milk. It's really easy to spread around and apply.

Richard S. wrote:I used an oil modified water based poly, this one:

http://www.minwax.com/products/interior ... thane.html

Odor is minimal, a joy compared to regular poly. Put a coat down and let it dry a minimum of 6 hours. You can walk on it after about 2 hours but I was giving it quick sand with the palm sander using 220 between coats, if you tried sanding too quick it was gumming up the paper too much.

I've used the water-based Minwax poly too. NICE stuff! Not stinky at all, well compared to the oil-based version . The advantage of the water-based version is it is much harder, once dry, and the sun (UV rays) does not affect it as much. It will not yellow over time.
The milky white color made it easy to apply, as you knew exactly where you allready applied it. I used wide brush and wide DEEP-NAP roller. I even rolled my Tongue&Groove pine walls. Now any dirt or crayon marks just wipe right off.
Clean up was under the outside water hydrant.
Expensive, but worth it. Satin or clear available.

I did go with the gloss and satin finish . The fellow at the hardware store said the same, gloss first, last coat the finish you want. I went with the Zar in oil base, I have some samples started.

Golden oak stain, 2 coats gloss, 1 coat satin poly and a family that hated the smell Need the baseboard moldings to finish.

They look good, that's the look I was going for. I wanted them a bit lighter. The 60 years of aging probably made a difference and then again hard to tell with photo.

AA130FIREMAN wrote:and a family that hated the smell

I told you to get the water based one. Seriously, I think paint is worse.

Good job, it looks great! I know what you mean about the smell.
We had some of that when I was staining & poly'ing baseboards and closet doors but it was summer for us so the open windows helped a lot. We had our floors done, so we went on vacation for the week while they were sanded, stained, poly'ed and then aired out for a couple days. That was my "treat" to myself after gutting and re-furbing the rest of the house, took the money saved from doing the previous work and splurged - never regretted it!

Richard S. wrote:They look good, that's the look I was going for. I wanted them a bit lighter. The 60 years of aging probably made a difference and then again hard to tell with photo.

AA130FIREMAN wrote:and a family that hated the smell

I told you to get the water based one. Seriously, I think paint is worse.

I would not stained them but I figured the dark wood compared to the light would stand out too much. Stain made all blend together with some contrast. The older wood from years past, in my opinion has tighter growth rings, and they did not put the dark wood in from down at the stump . I did consider 1/4 sawn oak, it was $1 more sq', the reg was $3.11, I have a 1/2 bathroom I may do sometime in 1/4 sawn red oak. I do like the dull look of the water based but ,I figured, between the oil stain and the oil may be more durable to foot traffic. The hardwood in the 2 bedrooms and 11 closets has tighter growth rings.