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Our NEW Video on installed floors!
SOME NOTES ON FINISHES AND FLOORS IN GENERAL
DISCLAIMER: THE AUTHOR IS NOT A FLOOR INSTALLER!
I MAKE FLOORS AND AM AROUND THE PROCESS A LOT BUT YOUR BEST INSURANCE IN ALL PHASES OF THE PROCESS IS A LICENSED AND BONDED PROFESSIONAL FLOOR CONTRACTOR/INSTALLER.
I ONLY SHARE WHAT I THINK I KNOW!
I will cover finishes first as this is primarily about finishes, not
installation:
If you need installation help there are lots of books available on Amazon.com or any good finish carpentry manual should have a section on flooring.
Finishes: I have recommended and used exclusively Bonakemi products although I know there are other good ones out there. If you have especially good results with another product, I’d be more than pleased to know about it. I have contacted some of the ‘Groovy Environmental’ product manufacturers and basically asked for info and samples (I probably sell more of their products than any of their individual dealers do, but I don’t get paid!!!). None of these folks have been at all forthcoming and when I’ve needed info from Bona, I’ve actually gotten to speak to live experts. Good info is always excellent. Good results are better and we have seen a lot of really nice floors done with Bona. It yields a non-plastic looking finish that really holds up well. Easy to clean too. Not real easy to touch-up but it shouldn’t need it if it is put down correctly the first time.
It is considered a professional product, but if you can read and follow directions, are a maniac about cleanliness while using it and don’t mind the fairly nasty smell that fortunately doesn’t last long, you can do it yourself. If you can use a pro, by all means do so. It is a fair amount of work.
Bonakemi is at: http://www.bonakemi.com
Tung oil is commonly available as is Linseed Oil.
This is the gist of what I know about finishing Douglas Fir flooring at this point. I have been somewhat uncertain as to being able to combine Tung Oil and the water-based polyurethane Bona products. I was told this week by a gentleman at the USDA Forest Products Laboratory
http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us
that this is in fact the way to go and that they used it in this manner in their demonstration house in Madison WI.
At that website there is a wealth of info on the subject of all things woody!
*Tung Oil, the expressed oil of Tung tree nuts, aka Chinese Wood Oil, has long been used as a wood hardener. The finest sport fishing boats in the world use Vertical Grain Douglas Fir for their transoms. Treated with Tung Oil.
*Boiled Linseed Oil can also be used but I find it to be sticky and can develop a cooking oil odor.
*Most stains can be mixed right into the tung oil.
*The process is to wipe the oil generously onto the floor, let it soak in for a half hour or more and then wipe/buff it off.
This needs to dry for 24 hours minimum, to allow the solvents in the oil to evaporate off. This can be followed by another coating (or
perhaps not necessary if time and $ are constraints as always).
Stain Pre-conditioner: use this if any stain is to be applied as a stand-alone, to avoid streaking. Minwax makes one that is good and commonly available. Stain can be mixed in with the Tung oil in most cases.
Douglas Fir is very photo-reactive which means it will 'tan' or darken with exposure to light. Over years it will tone towards the classic Doug Fir umber color. Don't over darken it initially as it might wind up too dark in time.
Bonakemi is the top coat or sealer that we have the most experience with.
http://www.bonakemi.com
They have products called Mega, a good residential choice, is a cheaper lighter coat, and Traffic, which is the
commercial grade. I like the Traffic in Satin for my wood. It is a two part, cross linking, water based, polyurethane. Epoxy-like in that it sets quite rapidly and within a week it is fully cured to very hard, attractive surface. Price can go as high as $130 per gallon I am told. Residentially, folks often use two coats of Bona Mega with a finish coat of Traffic.
Read the directions no matter what product you use. If you installer has not read them, make sure they do and make them prove it to you. Bona’s label is in teeny print and I need my glasses to read it but read it you must and follow ALL the instructions to the letter. Ditto Tung Oil (pretty easy) and whatever product you wind up using.
As with all finishes (ALL!) within reason, the more time you allow between coats the better. One coat of Bona needs about five days to fully harden and top coating can prevent the lower coats from ever hardening properly we are told by Bona. Consecutive coats block
out gassing, as well as impeding the curing process by depriving lower coats of oxygen.
One 'rub' (pardon the pun) with waiting is that a light 'scratch' should be done with a buffer prior to following coats.
*The key to a good floor is a patient, knowledgeable and involved installer/finisher. This is the guy you will have to go to for actual 'fixes' if you have any problems. If you do it yourself, be very careful, read, take your time, don’t allow distractions, and be very clean.
Old Wood LLC will replace any board up to the point of installation, but once it is nailed down it becomes your problem except in the case that an actual board were to fail at which point we will still replace the board free of charge, but the removal and re-installation will be the responsibility of your installer or your own. This person absolutely needs to look at every board with a critical eye before they nail it down. On a large commercial job one of the installers said to me "What do you want me to do? Look at every board!?" I made sure he didn't come back to work the next day. Moron. Of course he needs to look at every board!
Find a Floor Installer with actual experience with Doug Fir or have yours call me so we can visit prior to starting.
There are some tricks to finishing DF, although nothing to fancy. Installers have nearly all complimented us on our machining saying it has spoiled them on other products. Our in-house installer hates to install other peoples woods now as there is so much more work to do on most of them.
Our floor is an ISO 9002 Profile which means it has a flooring tongue and groove not just slip together type. There are intentionally built in
relief's and gaps to allow for expansion and contraction as ambient humidity and temp change. Look at the end of the boards to see these. We normally use a .005” bottom relief as the wood is quite stable. If you need to go as high as .020 we can do it for you.
Also, you will notice two 'fingertip backouts' which are designed to help prevent cupping and warping. I personally believe these are critical although a few in my industry would disagree.
On top of the tongue is a nailing flange or small 'V' Groove which is designed to receive the nail from the
flooring nailer. We recommend 'L' or 'T' top, serrated flooring nails, set into an adequate multi-ply substrate.
Ideally, I like to see a sheet of Tyvek or other permeable building wrap laid on the concrete or between layers of plywood. In the desert SW, I am of the opinion that this can mitigate moisture but also another problem we have out here: Radon gas. I don't know if this is an issue in other areas but I understand it to be so. I cannot give proof that my 'solution' even works but it is better than nothing! Anyway, it is a great moisture barrier that lets water get out (down) but not in (up as on a slab).
Two layers of 1/2" ply are an ideal substrate and while OSB can work, I prefer real plywood such as CDX or better. Looks don't matter of course.
Doug Fir doesn't expand or contract much as we send it to you at a legitimate 6-8% (depending on ambient humidity in NM at the time of drying, better to order early and have the wood dried prior to, or after late July early August monsoons). Our kiln is high temp, high flow (lots of air) and while we do our level best to dry all wood, in humid weather the EMC or Equilibrium Moisture Content will be higher in any wood than in dry weather.
Equipment: Air or manual floor nailer, a carefully squared chop saw (call me and I will explain what an old timer shared with me about squares…..pretty amazing). And a ‘normal’ set of tools.
Nails: Commonly available flooring specific nails. 'T' or 'L' top. Use plenty, at least one per 10". Finishing nails as appropriate for thickness of wood and substrate. Keep a set of good
nail sets on hand.
Face nailing: where this is necessary along walls and starter courses: pre-drill pilot holes to preclude splitting along the vertical grain.
Putty: I like to keep some light and some dark. Usually Tan Oak and Mahogany.
I use one or the other or even mix these on some knots to get a good
camouflaged look. Let it dry for a little while and sand it. On larger holes it’s better to use several layers as it tends to shrink up as it dries.
Douglas Fir is very moisture tolerant, much more than any other wood I can think of and it can be damp mopped with no problems, although the adage is to 'wear the coating not the wood' which means that the Bona part should be renewed as necessary which will maintain a water proof barrier as well as protecting the finish.
Vertical Grain Douglas Fir might well have been 'specified' by architects for your job one hundred years ago; not because it was cheap or easy, but because it's durable, attractive, has great acoustics ( The Bello Rossiya Theater in Tbilisi Rep. of Georgia HAD to have it to replace the floor they installed in 1830) and it has been proven to last the better part of a century or more in one-room schoolhouses, shops, hotels and resorts all over the world. We recently supplied material for a 'repair', on a Depression era
schoolhouse in a village near us. Usually it is a chronic water leak that ruins the floor.
Seldom is it ever just-plain-wear. This wood is also quite suitable for exterior porches and
portals. We have done literally tens of thousands of feet of these in recent years in Colorado, NM and a good many in the Chicago area.
I just received a second order from a gentleman in Washington DC who has already used several hundred feet of our product on a house built in 1860.
If I’ve forgotten anything huge let me know please!
djold@earthlink.net is me, or call 505-983-5454 anytime. |
