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From: sandel@milano.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.rec.wood
Subject: Re: Refinishing hardwood floors
Message-ID: <737@milano.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 4-Feb-86 16:14:45 EST
Article-I.D.: milano.737
Posted: Tue Feb  4 16:14:45 1986
Date-Received: Fri, 7-Feb-86 08:14:21 EST
References: <268@tolerant.UUCP>
Sender: sandel@milano.UUCP
Organization: MCC, Austin, TX
Lines: 26
Summary: hardwood floors


I recently had my hardwood floors refinished.  I wanted a light-colored
finish, preferably with no stain.  I ended up having them resanded
and then stained with a clear matte-finish polyurethane.
No stain at all.  The polyurethane
added a little color and brought out the grain.  The floors are light
and natural-looking.  The brand, I believe, was Duraseal.
Also, even though its not strictly necessary to wax a floor with a
polyurethane finish, I have waxed mine with a paste wax (and polished
with an old floor polisher from my Mom!), and I am very pleased with the
results.  The wax gives them a smoother appearance, without adding
too much gloss.

There are drawbacks to polyurethane: mostly, you can't easily refinish
the floor at a later date without resanding it.  Danish oil is also less
critical in its application and more forgiving of mistakes.  You might
also try one of the oil/urethane mixes such as Varathane.  I used Varathane
on a mahogany front door since I wanted a hand-rubbed oil finish, but also
needed some water resistance.  Varathane applies and penetrates
the wood like oil, but contains some plastics to provide a tougher finish.

-- 
Charles Sandel	arpa: sandel@mcc.arpa
		uucp: *!ut-sally!im4u!milano!sandel (or *!ut-sally!charles)
		snail: MCC STP, 9430 Research Blvd., Austin, Tx, 78759
"Modern times: not much fun, but efficient..."