Child friendly finishes for Tassie Oak

[allblack]

Hi all, first post and all that.

I am in the process of having recycled tassie oak floorboards put down. They are going on top of ply which is on top of plastic which is on top of concrete.

Next step is the sanding and polishing obviously. What I am looking for is a polish which is hardy but I also have a 9 month old baby which I would prefer doesnt suffocate or become poisoned by my choice. Can anyone recommend what sort of polish I should be looking at. I will be having a professional do the job but when I ask about low VOC stuff they just glaze over.

Thanks for your help

[robyn2839]

Hi all, first post and all that.

I am in the process of having recycled tassie oak floorboards put down. They are going on top of ply which is on top of plastic which is on top of concrete.

Next step is the sanding and polishing obviously. What I am looking for is a polish which is hardy but I also have a 9 month old baby which I would prefer doesnt suffocate or become poisoned by my choice. Can anyone recommend what sort of polish I should be looking at. I will be having a professional do the job but when I ask about low VOC stuff they just glaze over.

Thanks for your help

they probably just glaze over because they are professionals, and they dont suffocate or poison children because they use safe products,how many kids do you hear of being poisoned or suffocated by floor finish,leave it to the pro,s ......bob

[robyn2839]

oh , and welcome to the forum, you can learn lots of things from this site,i did.....................................bob

[Different]

I,m with Bob on this one!
The media just love to fill the airwaves with horror stories based on nothing but Green Naxi propaganda about every chemical on the planet. I doubt if there has ever been a single case of significant harm from being in a house with a newly finished floor. Babies are not as frail as the nanny state would have us believe.
Worry about heart disease and prostate/breast/skin cancer they are the real killers in this country.
Developmental issues are far more likely to be the result of a shallow gene pool that what dad got the floor painted with! Present company excluded of course.

Ross

[Ron Dunn]

I'm not qualified to comment on any of these, but the following search might point you in the right direction:

http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=e...cr%3DcountryAU

[tomnewby]

geez you're being a bit harsh fella's. he's just a dad trying to do the right thing.

i know nothing about finishing floors, but i'm sure someone will come along with something more than a rant about non-existent nanny state's.

welcome to the forum. it is an absolute fountain of knowledge.... about woodwork.

**oh and allblack.... you're boys are in trouble against the bok tomorrow night. i wish the all blacks all the best but that bok pack is one of the best.

[Marginata]

allblack, we had solid boards laid several years ago and they used a water based coat. It is very safe but looks bad. Quite milky, tough as a Wallaby but doesn't compare to a two pack. I think you may find that the two pack pro quality product is really very safe once cured. Don't go anywhere near the house while curing though. Not all forum users demonstrate scant regard for the very real dangers posed by isocyanates etc. See if Beckers Acroma do any floor finishes. We use their 307 acid cure lacquer at work and is safer than polyurethane two pack while curing. We can't and won't spray the poly stuff. It then releases far lower amounts of formaldahyde once cured than comparable products.

[Different]

geez you're being a bit harsh fella's. he's just a dad trying to do the right thing.

i know nothing about finishing floors, but i'm sure someone will come along with something more than a rant about non-existent nanny state's.

welcome to the forum. it is an absolute fountain of knowledge.... about woodwork.

**oh and allblack.... you're boys are in trouble against the bok tomorrow night. i wish the all blacks all the best but that bok pack is one of the best.

Nobody is giving allblack a hard time ! I was pointing out that people like him have been made scared by green media hype when he has no need to be.
As long as his kids are not playing with an open tin and breathing in tons of fumes he shouldnt be overly worried.

Ross

[Chris_jhgg]

hi there im actually a 3rd yr apprentice floor sander if u want to use a product that is not goping to be harmfull to the health of your baby you have 3 options option 1 u can use an oil modified polyurathane witch is still a pretty glossy coating and doesnt smell too bad but still has got an odor to it (we use persless pro dual coat) option 2 u can use a waterbased finish witch i wouildnt personaly reccoment as they look c*&p but if u want to go with that option when we use this at work we either use feast watson 2 pak waterbased or bostik single pak water based and option 3 is there is a bees wax product that we have used called wittle waxes (http://www.whittlewaxes.com.au/) witch is actualy a realy good product easy to apply scratches can be removed with out re coating the whole floor(when it gets scratched) and barley any smell at all not the bade part its expensive i think from memory its about $200-$300 for 5 litres but it goes miles its spreads about 25m2 per ltr

[hoopy]

I am trying out the danish soaped finish, google it, there is not much information but it looks nice and apparantly there are some floors in Denmark 100's of years old that still look good.