Posts Tagged ‘Swedish finish’
Why can’t you sand that old fir floor?
Wednesday, April 1st, 2009
All the time I meet different people for an estimate who assume that their old Fir floors cannot be refinished, so they think that they will install new flooring over the floors. Usually the floors have been covered in paint, carpet, or linoleum forever and as time has gone on people have realized the best looking of their options is a wood floor. One important thing to understand about the floor sanding process is that usually only 1/32″ to 1/16″ of flooring actually is removed during sanding. If you consider that a wear layer on a floor is typically 5/16″ and a quality refinish will endure 10-20 years of wear with proper maintenance, then you can see that most floors ,even those that are 100 years old or greater, have some remaining life. I have seen some of the worst hardwood floors be revived in 5 days to a state of beauty that few would expect. My answer is almost always, “Yes, you can sand that old Fir floor!”. It’s more cost effective and has less impact on the environment because you reuse an existing resource.
Tags: Fir flooring, hardwood refinishing, sustainability, Swedish finish
Posted in Floor Projects, Sustainability Talk | No Comments »
What type of hardwood is the most durable?
Monday, February 23rd, 2009
The question I am most frequently asked by homeowners selecting new flooring is, “What wood is the most durable?” Again this is a trick question because there are three primary factors that will determine the durability of any hardwood floor: density of the material, finish coats, and maintenance.
The density of hardwood flooring material is tested by the Janka scale of hardness. Essentially, a standard sized ball bearing is hydraulically pressed into the material to a certain depth and that amount of force necessary to achieve that depth is measured. For red oak (a wood that is considered to be a hard material), the Janka hardness is around 1250. Now relate that to Brazilian walnut or Ipe, which has a Janka hardness of 3680, and you can see that material choice is a big factor. The density will help guard against dents in the floor when you drop phones, pots, pans, etc…
The second factor in the durability of a floor is what type of finish will be on the floor and how many finish coats will be applied. For this side of the discussion I will keep the post to on site finished floors. There are a myriad of finishes available, but the two I would most consider to be durable would be acid-curing Swedish finishes and 2 component chemically cross linked waterborne urethanes. The layers of a true Swedish finish chemically integrate to form one large finish layer and they have a lot of optical clarity when scratched so that the scratch won’t turn white. What this means is that these finishes will tolerate and rebound from a scratch quite well. By comparison, catalyzed waterborne finishes form a very hard surface layer over the floor. They somewhat resemble a hardened sheet of plastic over the floor that is very hard to scuff and scratch. My experience is that both finishes will last a very long time, although catalyzed waterbased finishes emit less odor when applied and it goes away much quicker.
Sometimes I think that people want the beauty of a wood floor but they never want to clean it and this seems a little odd to me. To properly clean and 800 square foot floor takes no longer than 10 minutes and requires only a microfiber mop and a small amount of hardwood floor cleaner. I DO NOT recommend cleaners that leave a residue on the floor such as Murphy’s oil soap or cleaners that are not pH balanced such as ammonia or water mixed with vinegar. Over time residue will dull the finish and non pH balanced cleaners will attack and destroy a finish. The final point is that I have seen countless people pay $5000 or more for a new floor or refinish who absolutely will not pay $200-300 a year to have a large dog’s toenails groomed once a month. This is one of the greatest contributors to scratching on a wood floor that can be avoided for a minimal cost. The only other recommendation I have is to use felt protectors on your furniture that moves regularly and small rugs at high traffic doors.
In the end your wood flooring investment is a product of good planning and maintenance. For any additional information, please e-mail us or visit our website.
Tags: Hardwood floor durability, hardwood refinishing, Swedish finish
Posted in Hardwood floor durability, Wood Floor FAQ | No Comments »
Planning for a quality Hardwood Floor Refinish
Tuesday, February 17th, 2009
Every week I do a number of hardwood refinishing estimates for homeowners and one of the most frequent questions asked is how long the process will take. The question is somewhat of a loaded question because a number of factors apply to the process. Two primary factors apply to the length of a standard hardwood refinish project: the type of finish used and the number of finish coats applied. Additional factors to consider may be if any repairs need to be done to the wood floor prior to sanding. Oftentimes pets may consistently urinate in spots of the home or during the watering process plants may overflow onto the wood floor, which causes dark spots from mold growth. The sanding process will not remove these stains usually, so a suitable repair with matching material is most often necessary.
The two predominant types of finish used in wood floor refinishing are oil based and waterbased finishes. Oil based finishes most commonly used are polyurethane and acid-curing Swedish finishes. Oil modified polyurethane has the slowest dry time and typically requires a full day of dry time between coats. Acid-curing Swedish finish systems are catalyzed chemically for the seal coats, which allows application of two coats in a day. The top coat is a much slower one day process of drying. In contrast most waterbased finishes will dry within 2-3 hours depending on the catalyst and coverage rate. I have seen waterbased floors coated with three coats in one day, although I do not recommend this typically.
Two additional key terms to understand are dry time and cure time. Dry time of a finish is the amount of time that it takes for the finish to be dry to the touch and walked on so that nothing sticks to the finish. Cure time is the amount of time that it takes for the finish to completely off-gas and achieve 100% of it’s hardness. The cure time of a typical water-based finish is approximately one week, although most waterborne finished are 90% cured within 48 hours. By comparison a typical oil-based finish has a longer cure time of 30-90 days.
Now that I have confused you thoroughly let me offer my best advice based on experience. I rarely recommend anyone to move in on a water-based floor in under 24 hours, although I allow my customers to walk on the finish sooner if required. Water-based finishes are very durable within an overnight dry time so that the floor can be walked on the morning after a final coat. By contrast I rarely recommend walking on a oil-based finish floor in under 24 hours and not moving in heavy furniture in under 48 hours. For a typical 800-1200 square foot hardwood floor refinish I would suggest allowing 5 days for the entire process of refinishing if three water-based finish coats are to be applied. Allow an additional 2-3 days if the floor is to be stained or oil-modified finish applied. If you have questions, then visit our website or e-mail us.
Tags: Hardwood floor Portland, hardwood refinishing, Swedish finish
Posted in Floor Finishing | 2 Comments »
