DIYbanter - View Single Post - Can we use water based finish on oil based finish for maintenance coats?

wrote:

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?

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.

If you are keeping the wood natural and don't want it to yellow, have the
builder put down a water based finish. Any oil based polyurethane is going to
yellow/amber over time. As far as which brand to use, I would highly recommend
Flecto's Varathane. It's expensive but worth it.