Wood Floor Finishes

When choosing the right type of finish for your wood floors, consider your lifestyle and maintenance preferences. All wood floors will require routine maintenance, such as sweeping or dust mopping, to keep them looking beautiful and new, but different wood flooring finishes will have a big impact on how you care for your floor long-term, as well as how your floor will look in the years to come.

Surface
Durable, water resistant, and requires the least amount of maintenance. Surface finishes remain on the top of the wood to protect it. There are many different types of surface finishes:

  • Water-based are clear, will resist turning yellow over time, dries in two to three hours, and are very durable.

  • Oil-based are amber in color, moderate odor when applied, will dry in about eight hours, and are very durable.
Wood Floor Finishes
  • Acid-cured are clear to slightly amber, dries in about two to three hours, and are extremely durable.

  • Moisture-cured are clear to amber. They will dry in about two to three hours and are extremely durable. They are more moisture-resistant than other surface finishes.

Wax
Soak into the wood and harden to form a protective penetrating seal, which will appear low luster and amber in color. They will dry in a variable amount of time depending on the type of wax used and the job-site conditions. Wax finishes are durable, but will show spots from water and other contaminates.

Acrylic impregnated 
Injected into the wood to create a super-hard, extremely durable floor. Acrylic impregnated finishes rarely are used in residential applications. They most often are used in very high traffic areas in commercial settings such as malls and restaurants.

UV cured
Waterborne finishes that are cured using ultraviolet light. The cure time is instantaneous. Multiple sheen levels are available to suit your taste. More on UV curing can be found here.

Penetrating and hardening oils
Usually made of tung oils, linseed oils, or other natural oils, along with blends of additional additives that can assist in drying and hardness.

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