I have to seal a pine kitchen floor. We are looking to use an environmentally friendly and durable sealant.
If possible we would like to stain it or color it first.
Would linseed oil be durable enough for a kitchen floor? Can this be mixed with some sort of tinting agent before application?
Any eco-friendly polyurathane like sealants?
Thanks
Replies
You might wanna look into this stuff...its not the easiest stuff in the world to use but it is great stuff..
http://www.waterlox.com/site/493/default.aspx
You know, not to generalize, but the 29% of people who still support President Bush are the ones who love to pronounce themselves more patriotic than the rest of us. But just saying you're patriotic is like saying you have a big one. If you have to say it, chances are it's not true.
http://WWW.CLIFFORDRENOVATIONS.COM
AFM products have worked well for us and held up really well; very environmentally friendly and allergy-friendly. Locate a dealer and ask questions. Try afmsafecoat.com
You could contact Building for Health Materials Center and ask their advice also. http://www.buildingforhealth.com
Also check with http://www.aehf.com. They've been supplying and consulting on healthy building before green building ever caught on.
I think you're going to want, and need, a poly sealant on that floor in the kitchen. But if you decide on boiled linseed oil be sure to check the additives carefully for toxins. Several years ago there were still wome types available without toxins. Check with Garrett Wad Co. at http://www.garrettwade.com
We've been using Everlast from Hood (732-828-7850) it's an oil based poly that only 275 grams per litre VOC that was developed for use in area's where odor is an issue such as occupied office buildings. We love it and it beats the heck out of the 600 g/l of conventional floor finishes.
They do recommend that the first coat be cut with paint thinner to enhance penetration. We put it on full strength though and have had no issues. I'd avoid really cold weather though, definately apply at room temp.
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"You cannot work hard enough to make up for a sloppy estimate."
Do you know the VOC content of the paint thinner you use? And does the manufacturer state whether or not it forms a permanent molecular bond with the sealant your use--or does he state that it all evaporates? Could you give us the brand name of the paint thinner you use?If all the paint thinner evaporates then the only VOC concern is for the workers and any others present during application and offgassing.
I think paint thinner is pretty much 100% VOC so that would be like 1000 g/l and I beleive that it all goes straight to the destroying the ozone layer and none of it is left in the building at the end of construction.------------------
"You cannot work hard enough to make up for a sloppy estimate."
I was just bustin' your chops about suggesting an oil-based product which requires paint thinner not only for cleanup but also to thin the initial coat. Plus, there's the possibility of spillage plus a disposal problem with both. Nissan's started a paint thinner recovery/reuse program, ya know, because they use so much. Not only into the ozone layer, but into the ground and eventually the ground water it goes. Plus, and this is my big beef, exposure to the workers who are unlikely to be wearing respirators.The OP did ask if there was an eco-friendly polyurethane product that'd do the job and I figured as a green builder you'd suggest one.Just feelin' sassy. BTW, what a great website you've got. VERY impressive. Keep up the good work. As everybody struggles to define 'green' I'd like to see a greater move toward healthy for humans, including the workers who apply it. OSHA does a fair job of protecting those who produce it.
Thanks
I absolutely agree with you that "sustainable building" needs to be sustainable for the workers as well as for the people who write the checks. I poisoned myself pretty badly when I was learning plumbing and breathed in a bunch of PVC cement due to bad work habits and had to spend some time on Asthmacort and Flovent re-building my lungs. And I'm personally a surviver of four nail gun accidents and one 14' fall off a roof so I'm pretty tuned in to the hazard aspect of the work we all love to do. As I say on the website it's a really great, cold, wet, and dirty place to work. We have a lot of fun but it's easy to get macho and leave the safety glasses and ear protection in the truck. On the urethane question we tried a bunch of the waterborn finishes when they first came out and they never brought out the depth of the grain the way the oil based ones did. On floors some of them had to be sanded off entirely to re-finish, rather than screen disk and add another coat the way you can with an oil finish. So we went back to the oils. Once we started working to the NAHB Model Green Building Guidelines we got a standard for "low VOC Oil based sealers" which is set at 380 grams per liter (interior flat latex is set at 100 grams per liter and interior non-flat allows 150 to still be qualified as low VOC by this standard) Since the Hood Everlast is 275 Grams per liter it meets the low VOC standard while still giving me the beautiful deep oil luster I like and it's available in gloss and satin finishes so I can use gloss for my first coat to build depth and satin for the top coat to cut glare. Feel free to bust my chops, after thirty years in this business I have a pretty thick skin. In fact if you want to look at something critically have a shot at my new business plan. (it's on the website) I just re-wrote it as I do every spring and incorporated some of the feedback I've gotten from BT'ers in trying to make it more of a real set of guidelines from which to run my business and less of a marketing tool. (I had been getting a lot of feedback from prospective clients that they were looking at my business plan and it had evolved in response to that feedback in more of a marketing direction.) I just read John Abrams book "the company we keep" and I'm half way through Jim Collins "built to last" so those have given me some thought about how to help the company survive as this old man (50) starts to spend more time puttering around the farm and less out at the job sites. All the bestMichael------------------
"You cannot work hard enough to make up for a sloppy estimate."
I understand about the oil-based floor finish and why you use it. You're in a totally different situation than I am or a HO is (at least one who plans to stay in their house a long time). In that, you have to thrive in a marketplace. And it's one that has long valued "pretty" over anything else, except for maybe "how much is it gonna cost."I too got chemically injured, developed asthma, from working around furniture finishing. So, it's a rest of my life deal now, though my health has improved as I've made changes in my house.In getting ready to build my retirement home, my #1 priority is that it supports my health. As I said, a very different situation from yours.I had read your business statement on the website before and went back and reread it. This is the way to run a business and to live a life.Oh, see how thick your skin is after you read my latest post about NAHB's gbi standards. I'm hoping some other folks will enter into that discussion to see where the thinking is going now.Your work with the production builders is really an interesting phenomenon and your strategy of gradually upping the bar on their work is likewise interesting. It should work if the market for their product supports it.
I'll just throw this out there for your (and others') consideration: a non-toxic sealer is shellac. It's solvent is relatively benign ethyl alcohol. It would not be great for a kitchen, however, unless it was overcoated with some sort of varnish. (Be sure to use dewaxed shellac so overcoats "stick" to it.)
What about water-based polyurethane? That's supposed to have less VOC's than oil-based.
You got some good advice going with waterlox or AFM. I know waterlox now makes a low VOC compliant finish which is pretty hard. They use it for countertops a lot here. I've used the AFM safecoat poly finish before and it's pretty good. It forms up nice and hard but I'd definitely want to stain the wood first as it doesn't give much color to the wood.
I use OSMO hardwax oil for almost everything, from floors to countertops, to furniture, and it's a pretty great finish. It's not the hardest finish out there, but it's incredibly easy to touch up. I think it looks great, it lasts a long time, and it's super forgiving to work with. Here's a link to it:
http://www.environmentalhomecenter.com/shop.mv?CatCode=PRODUCT&ProdCode=OS_HARDWAX_OIL
If you just go to the EHC website you can check out the other finishes they have.
Paul
Thanks for a second on the AFM product.Now, what's a low-tox stain? I'm using hard maple cabinetry and will either leave it unstained and coat with AFM's stuff (the wood will darken eventually anyway). Or, if I can find an agreeable stain, I'll go for a little golden look.
There are companies that make low tox stains--I think the name of one is "Livos" or something like that. Maybe Googling on low tox paint/stains would give you some.
You could always try coffee or tea! I have used mustard or turmeric (and tea, but couldn't get it dark enough). I have even used iodine and gentian violet. Those make some very interesting and bright colors! (But I would guess that many "natural" colors would be highly fugitive and would fade in a relatively short time. Those I used were on furniture and have held up quite well.) There is a stain made by putting rusty nails or steel wool in vinegar and filtering, but it needs tannin in the wood to darken it. I don't know that toxicity should be a big concern if you are sealing or topcoating the wood--do you have a kid that's going to be crawling around gnawing on the floor?
As I said in an earlier post, shellac is harmless and it comes in colors from slightly yellow to dark brown with shades of red and orange in between. Dilutung it with alcohol would allow the color to penetrate. There are also water and alcohol based dyes (dyes, not stains) by Solar-lux and others that shouldn't be real toxic (I would think, but don't know for sure). I know I've seen colors in catalogs that are advertised for use on kids toys because they are non-toxic. Check out Rockler's web site. Lots of other woodworkers catalogs also might have non-toxic dyes and stains.
I know that AFM has the Safecoat stain; I was just wondering if there was a stain you had personal experience with--AFM's or another.
You know I forgot to mention a company called Aglaia. I use their pentrating primers, thinners, and some of their oil based finishes (all natural). They've got a lot of natural stains, and pigmented topcoats as well. They're another German company but have some distribution in the US. I get all my finishes from a local place, but I'm sure you can order some of these things online if you can't get them locally.
I've used linseed oil and tung oil as well, but for floors I think I'd want to go with something a little tougher. But then again people have sworn by plain oil, or shellac, on floors, as they're fairly tough, and easy to maintain.
Thank you all for your information.I appreciate it