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OT: hardwood floor refinishing

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dmpilc
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
4593 Posts

Initially Posted - 10/13/2010 : 13:07:59

with the recent posting of teak refinishing with Cetol in another thread (great work, incidentally) I thought I'd toss this out. My brother and I have an inherited summer home in the mountains here in Tennessee; house is approx. 125 years old. A couple years ago, bro got a "great deal" on some hardwood flooring, and he decided to use it, over my objections, on the front porch (covered, but does get wet from rain/snow). To make matters worse, the guy he hired to install it ignored my warning to leave some space for expansion/contraction in a very humid environment; plywood subfloor covered with roofing felt, then the hardwood. We've made several repairs due to floor buckling, but it seems to have settled down for now. After deck sealant didn't work, Bro put down 2 coats of Minwax interior polyurethane thinking that would protect the wood. No UV inhibitors! Floor is looking scruffy now, several spots worn to bare wood, we need to sand it down, re-stain, and put down a new finish.
I'm leaning toward Helmsman Spar Varnish (also a polyurethane), the stuff I use on my tiller.
Suggestions, excluding pulling up all of the wood and starting over?
What is a real good exterior finishing sealant that might hold up to foot traffic, porch chairs and moisture?

DavidP
1975 C-22 SK #5459 "Shadowfax" Fleet 52
PO of 1984 C-25 SK/TR #4142 "Recess"
Percy Priest Yacht Club, Hamilton Creek Marina, Nashville, TN

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OJ
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
4382 Posts

Response Posted - 10/13/2010 : 17:00:10

My son did a stint refinishing hardwood floors in high-end homes and they used only:

http://www.bona.com/

Good luck!

Edited by - OJ on 10/14/2010 05:42:07

JohnP
Master Marine Consultant

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1520 Posts

Response Posted - 10/14/2010 : 06:29:18

Spar varnish, a few coats.

I would also try to cover the flooring or close the area to rain and snow as much as possible, just like the teak on your boat.

Here's some good info on [url="http://www.doityourself.com/stry/wfvarnish"]varnish.[/url]

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aeckhart
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1709 Posts

Response Posted - 10/14/2010 : 07:26:21

Dave,

I worked for 8 years in the coatings department of an ACE Hardware which sold a lot of hardwood flooring from a floor manufacturer in our area. Bona was the product of choice by the manufacturer and the installers we serviced. The manufacturer, Horner Flooring Co.,has been a major supplier of the basketball floors for the NBA and universitys. If anyone should knowfloor finishes, they should.

Edited by - on

JohnP
Master Marine Consultant

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1520 Posts

Response Posted - 10/14/2010 : 16:39:16

For outdoor hardwood floors?

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Voyager
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
5378 Posts

Response Posted - 10/14/2010 : 20:20:46

Any polyuethane product (that I know of) will crack and peel outdoors in the heat, the cold, the wet, the dry and the sun. What I have on my cedar deck is (surprise-surprise) Sikkens Cetol. And, it wasn't my idea.

Way before I purchased Passage, my painting contractor refinished my cedar deck. He removed the original finish (Thomson's Wood Seal) which was peeling badly, and he coated it with 6-8 coats of Cetol. It lasted 3-4 years, then I touched it up a few years ago.

One difference between polyuethane and cetol is that poly is hard and won't swell or shrink along with the underlying wood or materials, while Cetol is semi-soft. That, apparently, is why Cetol lasts so long.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

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aeckhart
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1709 Posts

Response Posted - 10/15/2010 : 09:21:31

Hmmmm, I missed the "porch" part. Is it enclosed? If so Bona products would work for you. They make a two-part floor coating that will last forever.

If this is not an enclosed area than cedar would have been a better choice.It will still take a beating but all horizontal surfaces exposed to the elements will. Cedar holds up better and cleans easily.

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dmpilc
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
4593 Posts

Response Posted - 10/17/2010 : 18:13:11

The porch is not enclosed. I'll have to check out Bona and Cetol. will Cetol hold up to foot traffic, rocking chairs, etc.?

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glivs
Admiral

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USA
836 Posts

Response Posted - 10/18/2010 : 05:35:27

We have a covered but not enclosed porch as our front entrance. We used an Alaskan cedar flooring and then covered it with a Sikkens product (Cetol parent company but formulated for porch floors - [url="http://www.nam.sikkens.com/product-category3.cfm?product_category=deck"]Cetol for decks[/url]). It looked beautiful the first year. Now, 6 years later I'm ready to sand it down and start over. Given the amount of sun, traffic and use (rockers...)the porch gets this is probably reasonable. In areas of heavy traffic, the Sikkens has begun to wear away while in more protected areas it still looks almost like new (whatever we used darkened a bit with age). Like Cetol, it is soft and does not hold up well to abrasion but it does well with the elements. We've resorted to using outdoor "waterhog" rugs at base and top of steps to reduce the wear.

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Prospector
Master Marine Consultant

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Canada
3159 Posts

Response Posted - 10/18/2010 : 06:01:26

There is another Cetol for house painting. In fact we just had our place done. The guy who applied it also did the front porch. The house and porch are all cedar. His opinion was that nothing coats and sticks as well as cetol for exteriors. I hope he is right. It looks good, but the porch is still too new to judge. I'll let you know in a year ;) I suspect teh porch will be an annual repaint. The house goes 7 years between applications according to the PO's records.

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Sloop Smitten
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1181 Posts

Response Posted - 10/18/2010 : 08:19:32

When I had a bare wood porch I would put Thompson's Water Seal in a garden pump sprayer and liberally coat the wood. Left it with a nice wet look and had plenty of UV protection. Applied it every couple years. Scrub it on Saturday, coat it on Sunday. Took about an hour each day.

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