We are sealing the Spotted Gum timber floor in the hallway & study nook before we do anything else. I'm unhappy with any polyurethane finish, especially on Spotted Gum. We have tried 2 different brands of polyurethane finishes on our floors - the first was Feast Watson a single pack polyurethane. It's a high gloss finish & very hard wearing but my problem with this product is over time it darkens & yellows, so all the gorgeous colours in our Spotted Gum has become a dark orange colour. When we did the entrance timber floor we decided to use a different brand of polyurethane. We tried Cabots CFP Oil Based Floor Sealer in a gloss finish. It's hard wearing, but again the floor has darkened & is starting to yellow. We have also applied each of the products using a different applicator. The first polyurethane we used a lambswool applicator & half way through we found it to be quiet stodgy (if that makes sense) so we put a clean cotton sock over the applicator which made a huge difference. The second time we tried using a wide brush, I would not recommend this, it went on way too thick leaving brush strokes. So after our experience with polyurethane finishes & reading a lot of reviews we have decided to use a water based product - these are just as hard wearing & some do not darken or yellow over time.
Water Based Timber Sealers
There are so many & all different! So how do you choose?! For us our choice came down to couple of things. One being direct sunlight, so we needed UV protection & the other was keeping the Spotted Gum colour as natural as possible - so a non yellowing product was needed. Oh & price! Keep in mind that some water based products use solvents in them which in time will yellow. Make sure that the product states that it's non yellowing.
Top sellers Bona Mega states it's non yellowing, comes in gloss, satin, matt & extra matt, it's around $195 for 5L. Bona Traffic HD has low VOC (solvent) which could yellow over time & it only comes in satin & matt - price is about $195 for 4.95L. Polycure AQUAPRO 8270 Advance 2K it's low VOC (solvent), again possibility for yellowing, the price is about $128 for 4.5L. Also I did not read anywhere stating that these two products are non yellowing. Intergrain Envropro states that it's non yellowing. It comes in gloss or satin & retails for about $133 for 5L. Last but not least Synteko Trek Plus 15 is non yellowing & has UV sceening agents with an added 15yr warranty. It comes in gloss, semi-gloss & satin & retails for about $133 for 4L. This is used on a timber floor in David Jones, so if it's good enough for David Jones, it's good enough for me.
The first coat of Trek Plus 15 was applied last night - it's like pvc glue. Hubby decided to use a 5mm nap roller. It went on very easy resulting in a nice thin coat which soaked into the timber & has dried to a low satin finish. We purchased the satin finish as they didn't have any semi-gloss in stock & I did not want to wait...we know how that ends. I also found that my high gloss floors show up every little bit of dust, so a semi-gloss or satin seemed like a better choice. If we are happy with the end result we will redo all the other timber floors in the same product...so far it's looking that way. The colours in the Spotted Gum are just gorgeous as the water based product is applied... I hope they stay like this.
The water based product Trek Plus 15 was chosen for it's non yellowing & UV protection
Getting ready to seal the timber. Wood putty any gaps & edge nail heads.
Give them a sand, we used a belt sander with a 120 grit.
Our boards were pretty good so they only needed a light sand.
Applying sealer with a 5mm nap roller.
Before applying sealer make sure the boards are spotless,
free of dust or any other particles.
We vacuumed the boards & walls, then wiped them down with a
micro fiber cloth & then gave them a final vacuum.
Oh the colours...just beautiful
Going on like a dream
When it dries after 2-3 hours, you can give it a light sand using
200 grit sand paper by hand. Vacuum & wipe, then recoat.
Recoat until you have your desired finish.
Jodi
