"Teamcasa" wrote in message
...
I need to refinish a hall that has Oak flooring. (I was able to remove the
glued down vinyl that was put on top of the Oak with help of a heat gun and
a scraper.)

I have sanded the floor and went to buy the finish. Two choices where on
the shelve. Polyurethane, both types water and oil based and Shellac.
The Polys advertise fast drying but stipulate to wait 24-48 hours before
regular use. The Shellac seems to have a 4 hour dry time.

The house was built in the early 50's and I am unsure what they originally
used. Any Ideas?

Dave

--
Leave the shellac for furniture. For that, it's a very nice finish. For
floors, it won't hold up for long at all. Not to mention, to get it to any
sort of thickness to where it does last more than a few months, you'd have
to put 4-8 coats of it down so all in all, dry time and application time
would probably suggest going the poly route. I live in a very dry climate
and shellac dries within seconds and cures within a few hours. I can't
imagine trying to apply it to an entire floor without causing problems. I
suppose you could add retarder to slow it down but that's kind of defeating
the purpose your after. I prefer water based stuff typically only for the
dry time and odor factor but for wood floors, I'd probably stick with the
oil base. I myself hate poly for furniture and nice woodwork but it is
about the best stuff out there for wood floors. There are varying grades
of the stuff as well. I'd look for something specifically for wood floors
as it will probably have more solids in it making it more durable. One that
I've heard good things about, but have never used myself, is Bonakemi.
Expensive stuff but evidently it's pretty good.
Cheers,
cc