Thread: Finishes to Cyress Pine flooring

Rule out Solvent & oil based coatings (anything that requires wading up in turps or thinners) as they will mostly all develop a yellow tone over time; and they're all high voc.

Organ oil are all oil based so not as enviro friendly as their name suggests. Are petro-chems organic because they're from out of the ground? Their website says they're product is a bit hard to use as well Organoil - Flooring Oil.

For non yellowing, low voc flooring look at water based floor coatings.

Rod,
Yellowing is always an issue with Cypress. After all it is the natural colour of the timber, particularly old boards. Peerless put out some very good oil finishes and easy to use polishes. In my building projects I have used their Tung oil floor finish for many years and have been very happy with it. The company have good tech reps who can advise you on whats available. They are at Seven Hills.

Originally Posted by rod13

I have just purchased a house with Cypress pine floorboards that I wanted to sand and re-finish and am looking for help with what product would be best to finish them with.

At present they have a polyurethane finish.

is the polyurethane two- pack (usually identifiable by a glass like appearance in areas not subject to wear) or single pack?

Thanks everyone,

I'm pretty sure the polyurethane is two pack, it is very hard and glass like.

Originally Posted by rod13

I'm pretty sure the polyurethane is two pack, it is very hard and glass like.

in that case I suggest that you locate an inconspicuous piece of the floor, maybe under the lounge, and have a go at removing the finish down to bare wood.
that way you can decide if the result obtained justifies the effort required

good luck

Hi Rod13

I used Feast Watson tung oil based finish on my cypress floor, however this is oil based with solvents similar to mineral turps used as a thinner. Result has been very good and it has worn very well. However mine was a newly laid floor, not a recoat job.

Some of the newer urethane and other 2 pack finishes available are not compatible with existing finishes and will require sanding back to bare timber (I thought from reading your original post that was what you intended). The advantage of using a tung oil based finish is that it can be touched up at a later date to repair any damage, although that is probably the case with some of the newer finishes as well. There are lots of good finishes available each with their pros and cons. As previously posted it is probably worth your while to sand back a small area and give it a test with whatever finish you intend to use.

Regards
Dave
(Twosheds)