Four coats of poly on the kitchen floor?
Many thanks to those he responded to by first posting. We have decided to put 3/4″ unfinished red oak flooring in the living/dining/kitchen area. It’s a large fairly open area and we had originally thought of doing tile in the kitchen. The combination of hardness (i.e. smashed dishes, bumps on the kids heads, etc.), coldness, and discomfort from standing caused us to change our minds. We’ll do the install ourselves and will contract out the sanding/finishing.
My question is this:
Do we need four coats of oil-based poly (as suggested by one contractor) or is three sufficient? Will the floor be harder with an extra coat? Will it be more susceptible to damage from our upright piano? (No, the piano won’t be in the kitchen)
I like the fact that a fourth coat will give it more life, but we need to watch the budget pretty closely.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Replies
3 coats will work just fine; let each dry thoroughly before applying the next. 4 coats is superfluous.
"a piano"? well, how would the floors look after an elephant in cleats lives there for a month?
It's a polyurethane film designed for residential/light commercial use. It's not Boston Garden.
Depends.
Sometimes four coats will actually make for a softer finish. Lot of variables and long explanation there.
Some guys thin the first coat which makes four more likely to be needed. But there should not be extra charge for this. My guy does three or four as needed according to how things go and how it looks.
With red oak in a kitchen, I would be inclined to lean towards the extra coat, because the grain of red oak sucks water and or finish in like a sponge. Kitchens are hard on wear and water.
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More coats of poly does not make the floor harder. The wood makes the floor hard. More coats do add durability by adding a thicker, better wear surface. As with most painted on products more thinner coats are better than fewer thicker coats. Better to paint the poly on rather than pour it on and spread it out. I paint on the next coat as soon as the previous coat is dry enough to walk on in my sox. 12 to 24 hours. Poly has trouble sticking to poly that's too dry. Some people like to sand between coats to remove those specks of dust that may have settled on the floor. I don't bother.
The best thing you can do to make the floor last the longest is trying to clean up the grit that will get tracked in. And wax the floor every six months to a year or so with a good paste wax. Try and give the floor a few weeks to a month to fully dry before the first waxing or, before you move in that grand piano.