Over the Labor day weekend, I refinished a 120 square ft room as a
test run in preparation for the much bigger living room, adjoining
dining room downstairs hard wood floor totaling about 600 square ft.
Although the results looks pretty good, it took almost the complete
weekend to finish. Sanded the floor first with a belt sander rented
from Home Depot (4 hour rental), cleaned, and coated with three coats
of gloss polyeeurathane (oil based), eight hours between coat and
sanding before each coat.

I used a gallon of polyeurathane. The label said coverage is 400 to
500 sq ft. I found 1 gallon is barely enough for a shining floor.

I wonder if I can do the 600 square ft floor over a regular weekend.
It was easy to keep my two dogs away from the room. The living
room/dining room is very open. It may be a challenge. Also what
about using the rotary sander? I think I should do it before the
weather gets cold.

Would appreciate opinions from those who have done this before.

I wonder if I can do the 600 square ft floor over a regular weekend.

Not unless you have at least one very handy helper.

The living room/dining room is very open. It may be a challenge.

Close off your working area with taped-on polyethylene film. Keep opposing
windows in the room oen for air flow or use fans. PU finishes are nasty for
solvent fumes (not the water-based, of course).

Also what about using the rotary sander?

Don't get fancy, just use the conventional belt sander and edger from the
rental place.

I think I should do it before the weather gets cold.

Definitely, since ventilation is an issue. Wear proper safety gear, dust mask,
etc. HTH

Joe

Yaofeng wrote:

Over the Labor day weekend, I refinished a 120 square ft room as a
test run in preparation for the much bigger living room, adjoining
dining room downstairs hard wood floor totaling about 600 square ft.
Although the results looks pretty good, it took almost the complete
weekend to finish. Sanded the floor first with a belt sander rented
from Home Depot (4 hour rental), cleaned, and coated with three coats
of gloss polyeeurathane (oil based), eight hours between coat and
sanding before each coat.

I used a gallon of polyeurathane. The label said coverage is 400 to
500 sq ft. I found 1 gallon is barely enough for a shining floor.

I wonder if I can do the 600 square ft floor over a regular weekend.
It was easy to keep my two dogs away from the room. The living
room/dining room is very open. It may be a challenge. Also what
about using the rotary sander? I think I should do it before the
weather gets cold.

Would appreciate opinions from those who have done this before.

I did the samething, smaller rooms to work up to the larger ones. The
smaller ones took a weekend whereas the larger room(s) took about 1
week. And yes, we had to live a different life until it was finally
done.

I rented sanders from HD too. The initial sanding took all day. So I
rented the sanders for 24 hours -- it's only like a $10 difference. I
used 30,60,80,100 grit in that order. The edging and filling in the
cracks and staple holes took a lot of time as well.

Vacuumed and used tack cloth before staining twice the entire floor with
an oil base finish. Since the stain the was oil based and the poly was
water base, I had to wait 72 hours before I could poly the floor.

I used a sheep skin fleece applicator and the water base poly. I used 3
cots and sanded with 150 screen on a pole sander in between coats. The
water base poly dried in only 1-2 hours. So the poly was done in only
one day.

Hope this helps.
--
JaKe, Seattle
"If you can read this thank a teacher.
If you are reading it in English
thank a veteran."

Finish is sensitive to temperature for curing also. Waterbased dries
FAST and doesn't have to fumes nor does is have the ambering oil based
does.

On 10 Sep 2004 16:21:26 GMT, osspam (Joe Bobst) wrote:

I think I should do it before the weather gets cold.

Definitely, since ventilation is an issue. Wear proper safety gear, dust mask,
etc. HTH

Which PU is best for floors water based or solvent based?

Mikke

"Joe Bobst" wrote in message
...
I wonder if I can do the 600 square ft floor over a regular weekend.

Not unless you have at least one very handy helper.

The living room/dining room is very open. It may be a challenge.

Close off your working area with taped-on polyethylene film. Keep opposing
windows in the room oen for air flow or use fans. PU finishes are nasty
for
solvent fumes (not the water-based, of course).

Also what about using the rotary sander?

Don't get fancy, just use the conventional belt sander and edger from the
rental place.

I think I should do it before the weather gets cold.

Definitely, since ventilation is an issue. Wear proper safety gear, dust
mask,
etc. HTH

Joe

"JaKe" wrote in message
...
Yaofeng wrote:

I'm threatening to refinish my wood floors and want to learn the proper way
to do it.
Why did you use oil based stain and water based PU?

Thanks,

Mike

I did the samething, smaller rooms to work up to the larger ones. The
smaller ones took a weekend whereas the larger room(s) took about 1
week. And yes, we had to live a different life until it was finally
done.

I rented sanders from HD too. The initial sanding took all day. So I
rented the sanders for 24 hours -- it's only like a $10 difference. I
used 30,60,80,100 grit in that order. The edging and filling in the
cracks and staple holes took a lot of time as well.

Vacuumed and used tack cloth before staining twice the entire floor with
an oil base finish. Since the stain the was oil based and the poly was
water base, I had to wait 72 hours before I could poly the floor.

I used a sheep skin fleece applicator and the water base poly. I used 3
cots and sanded with 150 screen on a pole sander in between coats. The
water base poly dried in only 1-2 hours. So the poly was done in only
one day.

Hope this helps.
--
JaKe, Seattle
"If you can read this thank a teacher.
If you are reading it in English
thank a veteran."

Depends on who is asked. Oil causes an ambering while WB doesn't WB
dries fast with little odor, oil is smelly and dries slow. BonaKemi
makes a floor finish that users have had high praise for. Believe
they also makes stains if needed.

On Sat, 11 Sep 2004 01:32:06 GMT, "Mike" wrote:

Which PU is best for floors water based or solvent based?

Mikke

Flecto Varathane WB version has on label "Our hardest finish" which
isn't on oilbased label.

On 11 Sep 2004 09:35:27 -0700, (Yaofeng) wrote:

"Mike" wrote in message news:qAs0d.2778$iS2.512@trnddc09...
Which PU is best for floors water based or solvent based?

Mikke

My understanding is slovent based is far superior in adhesion. It is
of course more hazardous to health. After first coating on the 120 sq
ft room, I got a headache so bad I laid down on bed for a good four
hours. I forgot to open the windows while coating the floor. The
second and third coats I didn't have problems with both windows wide
open and a fan blowing.

Somehow I don't trust water based polyU as much. But as one store
clerk told me one time when I was looking for a compression fitting
replacement for my kitchen faucet, "this is the 21st century, you
don't have to do that anymore." Indeed, there are better alternatives
like a braided hose. I guess same goes for paint.

"Mike" wrote in message news:qAs0d.2778$iS2.512@trnddc09...
Which PU is best for floors water based or solvent based?

Mikke

My understanding is slovent based is far superior in adhesion. It is
of course more hazardous to health. After first coating on the 120 sq
ft room, I got a headache so bad I laid down on bed for a good four
hours. I forgot to open the windows while coating the floor. The
second and third coats I didn't have problems with both windows wide
open and a fan blowing.

Somehow I don't trust water based polyU as much. But as one store
clerk told me one time when I was looking for a compression fitting
replacement for my kitchen faucet, "this is the 21st century, you
don't have to do that anymore." Indeed, there are better alternatives
like a braided hose. I guess same goes for paint.

Mike wrote:

"JaKe" wrote in message
...
Yaofeng wrote:

I'm threatening to refinish my wood floors and want to learn the proper way
to do it.
Why did you use oil based stain and water based PU?

Thanks,

Mike

I did the samething, smaller rooms to work up to the larger ones. The
smaller ones took a weekend whereas the larger room(s) took about 1
week. And yes, we had to live a different life until it was finally
done.

I rented sanders from HD too. The initial sanding took all day. So I
rented the sanders for 24 hours -- it's only like a $10 difference. I
used 30,60,80,100 grit in that order. The edging and filling in the
cracks and staple holes took a lot of time as well.

Vacuumed and used tack cloth before staining twice the entire floor with
an oil base finish. Since the stain the was oil based and the poly was
water base, I had to wait 72 hours before I could poly the floor.

I used a sheep skin fleece applicator and the water base poly. I used 3
cots and sanded with 150 screen on a pole sander in between coats. The
water base poly dried in only 1-2 hours. So the poly was done in only
one day.

Hope this helps.
--
JaKe, Seattle
"If you can read this thank a teacher.
If you are reading it in English
thank a veteran."

Well, when I did the first smaller rooms I used oil based and the poly
was oil based too. So, I wanted to match the colors since the water
based stains had such a small selection for colors/tints available.
Plus, I've heard that water based stains are so new that their overall
performances has yet to be proven to match the oil based stains.

--
JaKe, Seattle
"If you can read this thank a teacher.
If you are reading it in English
thank a veteran."