Fir floors

[Nikki]

Does anyone have fir floors in their house? It seems to be the most prevalent flooring used in early 20th century homes here in the NW. While they are insanely beautiful when refinished, they are also technically a softwood and therefore prone to scratches and dents.

We refinished the fir floors in the bedroom of our cottage with an oil-based, satin-finish polyurethane. It looked amazing for about a month, and then started getting really scratched up from my dogs' nails. My dog is not very big (abut 30 lbs) and I keep his nails trimmed but it just seems like the finish is really prone to scratching. I have heard that water-based polyurethane finish is not as easy to scratch, but then you don't get that nice warm finish that you get with the oil based products.

I bought a can of this to use on the fir floors in our new bungalow:

http://www.environmentalhomecenter.com/shop.mv?CatCode=PRODUCT&ProdCode=OS_HARDWAX_OIL

Supposedly its nontoxic and safe enough to eat off of :D And, if you get a scratch or two, you can spot refinish it without having to re-do the entire finish like you would have to with a polyurethane product. Has anyone tried this stuff, or have another method for refinishing fir floors?

[RoseMary]

That sounds like a great product. The article mentioned using it in high humidity areas, like kitchens, but didn't mention bathrooms. Are you going to use it in a bathroom?

[CohenCottage]

We've got red oak flooring, and whatever we have on our floors seems to scratch fairly easily. I would have liked a darker stain (and an eco friendly one like the one you mentioned), so thanks for the info. We may try this when I get ready to refinish!!

[chyna]

One of the people on my bungalow site redid the floors in his kitchen and used about 3 coats of shellac and then finished with the water based poly. From the pics it came out beautiful, trying to remember what level of shiny he used on it. Had to have been satin since they're all so addicted to it looking like it did decades ago. :o:D I've heard of people using tung oil too but have not tried myself. I am however going to go the shellac route with my floors and then only because it needs some sort of harder protection I'll do the poly.

On my porch I did use a stain with poly already included and that has held up very well. I may just go that route.

[Nikki]

That sounds like a great product. The article mentioned using it in high humidity areas, like kitchens, but didn't mention bathrooms. Are you going to use it in a bathroom?

No, just in the living, dining, and bed rooms.

One of the people on my bungalow site redid the floors in his kitchen and used about 3 coats of shellac and then finished with the water based poly. From the pics it came out beautiful, trying to remember what level of shiny he used on it. Had to have been satin since they're all so addicted to it looking like it did decades ago. I've heard of people using tung oil too but have not tried myself. I am however going to go the shellac route with my floors and then only because it needs some sort of harder protection I'll do the poly.


Oh gosh, I don't know a thing about shellac! I guess I've got more research to do ;)

[ChapterTwo]

Oh gosh, I don't know a thing about shellac! I guess I've got more research to do ;)


And then there's my old house (circa 1916), which always had its hardwood floors varnished! I did it the first few times when we moved here (1978), but once the kids came, the odor and the drying time changed my mind. From then on I cleaned them with Murphy spray oil soap and a damp mop (taking my mother's advice), and then used Future wax (which they say is NOT recommended for wooden floors).

It dries quickly, I admit it still does have an odor (I do it on a day where I can open the windows), and gives a lovely sheen. Use of it has always brough compliments and questions as to what I did. And these old floors are anything but perfect. I remember trying the process (Murphy's/Future) on a circle behind my couch, before diving in and doing the entire floor (living room/dining room/sun parlor). Just a thought to confuse you even more... :D

I had dogs and still have cats, and the floors hold up well.

[chyna]

Shellac is highly enviromentally sound, depending on the tone you want on the wood you can go with clear (which has a slight yellow tinge) or amber which is more of a dark yellow. On my kickboard in the kitchen I used two coats of stain and then sealed with the amber shellac and it came out beautiful. I'm a huge believer in the shellac. ;) It however will not hold up to heavy use (traffic?) and water so you do need to keep that in mind when you are thinking of using it. This Old House did an article on repairing the finish on a banister and it happened to be sealed with shellac. It was easy as pie to repair just a little denatured alcohol to soften the edges and then you just apply a fresh coat.

I've also seen where people just waxed the floor for a seal. I tried that once and I obviously had the wrong kind of wax or I'm a wimp. way too hard to wax on and wax off. :o A floor buffer could come in handy in that instance.

[anneandkita]

Oh, thank you for posting this Nikki! Our floors are fir, and they're quite soft. We need to refinish a few of the rooms, so I'm taking notes!

[CohenCottage]

I've been slightly obsessed with the Polyx-oil for the last two days, and I've been doing lots of research. The reviews I've found rate it very highly and it seems easy to apply. Does anyone know anything about the color oil made by the same company that is a semitransparent stain?

So far, I learned that for soft woods like fir and red oak, it just takes more product to cover an area. We have poly now, but I REALLY want to refinish using this product. Do y'all think that is crazy? Our floors are 2 years old, but they are showing wear and scratches from the dogs...

[Nikki]

No problem :) The price per can is quite high, but it actually ends up being cheaper than poly in the end, since you shouldn't need to refinish your floors as often, and can do spot repairs.

I wish I could try it right now and report back, since the can is just sitting here taunting me....hehe... but we have the heat shut off in the bungalow and I think you need to keep the house at room temp while it is drying :o

[chyna]

I got to thinking and I don't think it is denatured alcohol for the shellac but rather ammonia. I've removed the finish off of my kickboards before scrubbing the floor. :o I don't think I had it sealed though. Sort of hard to do that stuff when it is under the cabinets.

make sure to give us your review of this poly stuff, someday I'd like to refinish a few rooms at my house and want it as healthy as possible.