polishing floors - 3 quotes, 3 reccomended finishes

1920's Queenslander in Brisbane with pine floorboards. Some were 'varnished' at some time and some are under carpets.

I want to whole lot polished and coated in something to make them as hardwearing and good looking as I can.

I've had 3 people come round, and each have given 3 peices of advice. One wants to use a 2 pack finish, one wants to use some environmental friendly thing, and was sayng that any other surface is a killer waiting to happen!, and the final one said that urethane is the way to go.

Obviously each tradie thinks his solution is the best and all the others are crap, no good for the SE Qld climate, not hard wearing, etc. etc.

Any thoughts/ideas/expiences on this are greatfully received.

Given that the floor is pine I would be thinking that a flexible type of finish is preferable to a hard epoxy finish. In older homes often the pine floorboards flex around a tiny amount as someone walks on them, or they swell and contract a tiny amount in various weathers and temperatures.

I used a wattyl 2 part finish on my first house at The Grange in Brisbane which had 25mm cypress pine boards - the result was only OK as after about 6 months cracks started appearing in the finish and by the time I left the timber under the crack was greying - due to mopping i presumed.

Tung Oil works really nicely on pine IMO - but it sends the floor a deep yellow color and needs reapplication. Maybe polyurethane.

I would leave the really hard finishes for a hardwood floor.

All of the different finishes have their pro's and con's.
All serve the same purpose, that is, to both enhance and protect the timber beneath.
All are only as good as the up-keep and care that you-the homeowner-lavish on it.

Having said that, I lean heavily towards 2 pac polyurethane.

the rolls royce is two pack water based poly. ie bona traffic or aquamax commerical. these products are used in commmerical buildings and shopping centers.

the middle option in my opion is using an oil moddified ie alakphane. this gives a good lust finsh with good wearing, also has benefits of oil like allowing timber to move and not edge bonding.

Hardwearing pine no such thing, doesnt matter what you put on it.
It does look nice, but it just dont last pine is too soft.

Whatever you choose, make sure it's SATIN finish.

That will wear better, and more importantly won't look like plastic on the old place!

cheers.
P
:D

Yep. Bona Traffic. None better.

thanks all, usefu info.

Dirty Doogie, this is a place in Grange with 25mm cypress pine boards!!

The question relies on what colour you hope to have the floor once it is finished.

Pine tends to yellow up under any oil based coating - Alkathane or 2-pack or single pack polyurethane. If you want an old fashioned look go for it, biut for me it's too orangey and looks like your grandma's floor.

Water based (Bona Traffic) looks great on Pine and retains more of the raw timber colur. Lighter and fresher looking.

Wax (Treatex from Whittle Wax) looks good on pine. Rustic and natural, but it costs a fortune and you better pay a good sander because it needs special care.

If you fancy a darker coloured floor you can find a sander who is prepared to use a "tinted coating", that is a coating that has had a stain added. Wattle's Walnut stain in 2-pac polyurethane looks good on Pine.

If you want a super-dark colour you can get someone to direct stain to a chocolate brown colour - again expensive and you need to find the right fellow.

http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/2518/satinpp0.jpg

This is Pine with a tinted coating of 2-pack polyurethane with a single pack topcoat of satin.

Mate I went with a 2 pak for hard wearing and a single pak over the top to soften the floor and stop cracking from objects dropped on the floor etc which can happen with just a 2 pak more than 10 years and still great mop over once a week or so with a capfull of metho in a bucket of water
Bottom line however ITS UST A FLOOR so dont get upset at every mark etc regardless of what finish you use

I notice that both Bona Traffic and Aquamax Commerical have Domestic versions. Does anyone know the price's and if the domestic versions are as durable?