Min Wax and Floors

admin · Post by **admin** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 7:19 am

I have an old floor that was originally stained and varnished, 108 years ago. It is time for a new surface. Will Min Wax products stand up on floors?

jingle_jangle · Post by **jingle_jangle** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 7:27 am

I would use a good quality floor varnish. My preference is Varathane. It's what they use in bowling alleys!

Tough as nails...

Minwax stains, etc. are OK as long as your final coating (the one that's exposed to foot traffic) is very high durability.

wayang · Post by **wayang** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 7:30 am

You'll get very, very high durability from Varathane...but leave a window open or you'll get very, very high...

admin · Post by **admin** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 7:43 am

The old stain/varnish is very smooth but over soft wood and is oil based. I am already dizzy from paint fumes. Am I stuck with an oil-based product?

jingle_jangle · Post by **jingle_jangle** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 8:02 am

I don't know about Canada, but water-based floor varnish is much more popular in the UK than here in the States.

There are some which are made specifically for floor traffic,

I can't recommend any specific brands of these, so let your fingers do the walking on this one.

doctorwho · Post by **doctorwho** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 10:43 am

Hey Peter, check out the testimonials here on using Tung Oil for a floor finish:

http://www.realmilkpaint.com/testimonials.html

milo · Post by **milo** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 10:59 am

Peter,
Are you going to completely sand them down and start over with a new stain that comes close or are you planning on going natural if possible? My parents had all of the floors redone in their house a few years ago and I know that the people who did it used some kind of a clear poly. I'll ask if them if they remember what was used.

One trick that I learned from talking to the refinishers is that they save the sanding dust from the last pass or two (after any old finish is removed) and they mixed it in with their poly and applied the first coat with lambswool mops or swabs. This filled in most, if not all, imperfections in the floor and evened up the color pretty well. Not sure if that's something that you could apply to your situation or not.

teb · Post by **teb** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 1:07 pm

This is Varathane "Diamond" water-based varnish. We have it on our oak floors, baseboards, window and door frames. It's very tough stuff. We can do it in winter because there are almost no fumes and you can walk across it in about two hours. It's a little thinner, coat-for-coat, than oil-based and the finish is not quite as smooth, but application is a snap. It's water-clear, so when I want to match something oil-based I add a few drops of "Vintage Amber" colorant from Stew-Mac. We originally used Varathane water-based stain under it, but switched to water-based Min-Wax stain, which works just as well, but is cheaper. I don't know how their version of the varnish would compare to the Varathane. As with any varnish job, prep is the key. It will stick pretty well to a properly cleaned, prepared and abraded old finish, as well as to bare wood. Application is done by spreading it with a pad of fake-sheepskin on a stick. We usually follow immediately with very light strokes, using the tip of a soft brush, which helps knock down any bubbles (old boat-painting trick). You can do the same thing following a roller with paint or varnish, but the furry pad works fine on a horizontal surface,

Cons: Water-based stain is not quite as transparent as oil stain. It also does not have the long, workable period that oil stain has, so you rub it out less and sooner. Once you get the hang of it, it's not too bad. For the varnish itself, other than needing an extra coat or two and less ability to flow-out flat because it dries so fast, I really can't complain. Oil varnish might have a bit "richer" look, but that's a subjective judgement. Our 105 lb. black lab can scratch the floors and actually put creases in the oak with his claws if he decides to go nuts, but it doesn't rip off the varnish. I even sprayed the satin Varathane on the Fender-style neck of a mandolin that I built for my brother to see how it would hold-up. So far, so good.

wayang · Post by **wayang** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 6:27 am

"...fake-sheepskin on a stick..."

...sounds like a prerequisite for working in the White House...

wints · Post by **wints** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 2:43 pm

admin · Post by **admin** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 12:29 am

Thanks one an all. Your comments are most interesting and I appreciate your efforts.