Oil Based Polyurethane Recommendations for Hardwood Stair Treads
jimmiem
| Posted in General Discussion on
I’ve installed prefinished hardwood flooring and now it’s time to do the stair treads. The flooring and stairs are red oak. The flooring is natural and is not stained under the poly. I will buy unfinished treads and apply the poly myself. I’ve been using Minwax on the transitions and t moldings that I’ve made. I see the name Bona keep showing up and I’m wondering if there is something better than Minwax. I don’t know if all oil polys look the same when applied and dried but the Minwax matches the product that is on the prefinished flooring.
Replies
Why do you want a poly? I've used Waterlox Original with great success. It applies easily and looks great. And, unlike a poly, refinishing is straightforward.
Waterlox vs Poly
I spoke to one of the technical folks at Waterlox and he told me that I would probably not get a good match to the prefinished polyed floors and they would not look the same. He recommended that I use poly, as I have done with the t-moldings, to get the best match between the stairs and floors. Thank You for the recommendation. Waterlox looks like an excellent product and I would definitely like to use it on a separate project.
some times you just want the ambering that comes with a mineral based poly. water born's will give you a clearer finish. I would lay off the minwax. dont get me wrong I use their full range of stain products, but their mineral based poly is inferior to most of whats out there. my flooring guy reccommended Last And Last poly.After doing some floors with it I used it on my kitchen table and I can testify its a durable finish
The Last and Last product is very good. I have used Minwax for floors, Parker Pro finish and Last and Last. The Last and Last seems to be the thickest and stays tough longest. Just be careful with your speed and overlap. It will stick and show if you don't move quickly with your lapping.
Thank You for this info. My prefinished floors and homemade transitions have a semigloss applied to unstained red oak. Do you think that the Last and Last would have the same look? As I mentioned, the minwax semigloss is a good match to the factory applied poly.
Fast Drying Poly
The Minwax oil based poly that is usually sold is a "fast dry" product although I believe they make a conventional product too. It is my understanding that to make it "fast dry", among other things, they have to thin it out so it has a lower solids content. Thus, it may take four coats to have as thick of a film as three coats of a comprable conventional product.
Anybody use OLD MASTERS on floors? Lumber yard person said it's really good and more expensive.
Old Masters
I just finished applying a couple of coats. I waited a full day between coats. Not much of a build so far so will need more coats. Much stronger odor than Minwax and lingers longer. I'm going to switch to Last N Last.