Flooring With The Toughest Finish

They re among the toughest of all hardwood flooring finishes and the most expensive.

Flooring with the toughest finish.

It s easily sprayed on floors and dries fast. With options including spill proof scratch resistant noise reducing and high traffic flooring laminate wood floors are durable beyond measure. Finishes for hardwood floors come in several different types. The most durable flooring woods will be hardwoods such as oak walnut ebony maple ash and pecan.

However it contains a lot of volatile organic. Re finishing note that solid hardwood floors can be re sanded and re finished every 3 7 years which is why solid hardwood can last you a lifetime. They re sometimes called conversion varnish sealers. Still if you want the most durable hardwood floor finish it can last up to 25 years that s also low maintenance and you like the idea of installing wood flooring that s already finished.

Here s a guide to which species are the hardest. If durability is a priority you re going to want hardwood. Softwoods such as fir pine and hemlock rarely work well as flooring materials except in a shop or utility area. Laminate flooring is the best option for kitchens that need forgiveness for everyday life.

Acid cured finishes have extremely high voc content. Moisture cured urethane is the most durable finish for homes with pets. The hardest wood floor finish is aluminum oxide but it only comes on prefinished boards. It comes in both paste and liquid forms.

Lacquer is a wood finish typically made with a solution of nitrocellulose and solvents to make a glossy or matte coating. However it has toxic fumes and is not the most durable finish. Wax is the traditional time tested finish for hardwood floors making it a great choice for antique floors in historic homes. Frequently sprayed on it leaves a thin coat that dries faster than other finishes.

Oil based urethane is probably the most used finish for wood floors because they provide a glossy shine. It can give off strong fumes when applied so apply in a well ventilated area and take necessary precautions. You should avoid leaving pools of water on hardwood flooring. Listed below are some simple descriptions as well as some pros and cons for each type of finish.

Care and maintenance like all flooring treating your hardwood floors with care will improve their performance. Next time you have an accident in the kitchen your floors will be your last worry. Make use of area. If you re interested in buy it for life wood flooring you re going to need to make hardness and scratch resistance a priority in the hardwood flooring industry the janka hardness test is the standard approach to measuring how resistant a wood sample is to both denting and wear.

You ll have to bunk elsewhere for a few days after finishing to give the odors a chance to clear. For the hardest woods you need to look for exotics not domestics. Exotics are sourced from areas like indonesia and south america.