"John Smith" wrote in message
om...
I am building a new house with 2500 sq-ft of hardwood floor. I plan on
maintaining the floor with water based finish for recoating high traffic
areas
once a year or so.

Should I ask the builder to use water based finish for the original
finish, or
does it matter? If so, what brand should I specify?

Definately use a water based finish for the floor. It matters because you
can not use a water based coat over an oil based coat.

If the builder uses an oil based finish, can I put additional coats of
water
based finish before moving in (after the builder's finish dries)? This
will be
the last opportunity for coating the floor without having to move
furniture,
worrying about kids running around, etc. How many additional coats is
reasonable? I am thinking of 5 additional coats on top of however many
standard coats the builder uses. Is this too many?

I don't want to ask the builder for additional coats, as he seems to have
add
hefty margins for this kind of requests.

Typically for hardwood floor installation, 3 coats are standard and are
plenty for normal traffic. Like I said before, make sure that who ever puts
the first coats on, make sure to use a water based (acrylic) coat. There
are many brands out there. My hardwood floor guy changes brands constantly
so to recommend a particular brand would be outdated in a month g. There
are many good brands out there. Just ask your local hardwood floor
installer. Maybe someone here is a little more familiar with good brands.
SH