OT. Water based vs solvent based polyurethane.

We going to have our oak floors refinished. The refinisher offers both water and solvent based polyurethane. The price is almost the same and they say both are good but there are differing opinions.
Does anyone here have experience or expert knowledge on the water based stuff. I have experience with solvent based. Thanks............Bob

Water based will be harder, and will dry alot faster, Poly will give a warmer color and take longer to dry.
I used water based on mine and was happy with it. But you will have to sleep somewhere else for at least one night regardless what you use.
There is days of reading on this subject on the Net.

We got a stain and wax finish on our floors, due to having pets. Got the water base on the stairs, you don't wax stairs!.

The stairs have worn very well, and that was old stuff, it was done over 25 years ago. Probably could have used it for the floors also without too much trouble, but back then you could not recoat the floors, if it was damaged you had to sand everything again and re-do the whole thing. We didn't want to risk it, too much of a pain to have done. Now that seems not to be the case, you can patch it seamlessly, so if re-done we would do WB poly..

Use 2 pack with an isocyanate hardener .

I JUST refinished our front room Maple strip flooring.

I choose water born poly for the reason that it is "water clear" and reportedly does not yellow.
The darkening of the previous oil base finish was the reason for the refinish. We choose to remove the large oriental rug (11X18) and go to smaller area rugs to better show off the flooring and brighten the room. (The house os surrounded by large maples that over shade during the summer)

I was impressed by how quickly the waterbase poly dried. 20 minutes to walk on, and absolutely no objectionable odor or 'headiness".
Three coats in a short day were easy.

Now, two weeks after. The floor looks and feels great. Time will tell. Should hold up fine now that the three kids and five dogs are out of the house.

Bottom line, I will use the water base on anything I don't want to yellow.

ps

A first coat of shellac was used before the urethane as a sealer and adhesion enhancement. Plus it's easy to observe and repair any blemishes that were missed during the sanding operation.

Most of the water based polyurethanes on the shelves of the big box store specifically say "NOT FOR USE ON FLOORS", so make sure the one they use in suitable.

In general I find the WB to be less durable.

I have stopped using poly altogether, I now use Waterlox. It is tung oil mixed with some phenolic resins. It is mostly oil, so you just mop it on and let absorb into the wood. After two coats it starts to build. It looks much better than polys as you see more of the wood's natural beauty.
Poly is just like laying a sheet of plastic on top.
Waterlox doesnt seem to finish as quite hard as poly, but you can recoat any time with minimal work. But it also doesnt have the plastic feel of poly. Waterlox will never peel, it just gets dull when its starting to wear.

Exactly what he just said previously, if you can't find Waterlox give General Finishes a try, they have some of the best out there for floors.

The wood floors in my mom's house had an oil finish so I put a new coat of tung oil on it. Looked great for a couple of months and then got dull and didn't look much better than before I did all that work.

Steve

I have used Bona Traffic - two part water based polyurethane. In my residence for about 6 yrs now and also recently in a rental, both oak floors. I buy the semi-gloss - looks like a satin finish to me. About $105 per gallon on-line (May '15). I tend to apply a bit on the thin side and make up for that by applying an extra coat. I use a floor refinishing T-bar with a short fuzzy nap pad.

Traffic is / was (may now have been superseded by a new Bona line)used for commercial floor refinishing such as gyms.