Refinishing worn floating floor

[kiwigeo]

Seeking a bit of advice from people here on a planned floating floor surfacing project.

Floor went down 5 years ago and is showing wear and tear. The product is some rain forrest timber laminated onto a 13mm fibreboard base. The stuff was laid down pre finished and there are quads fitted where floor meets skirting boards.

Plan is to remove quads and sand back floor. Once thats done Ill put a new finish on the floor.

Any advice on best finish for this sort of floor? Im willing to spend the time to end up with a durable finish and cost isnt too much of a factor.

Any advice/comments most welcome.

Cheers Martin

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

The two commonest choices are:

Polyurethane - good for areas that'll see hard wear, eg. corridors, foyers, kitchens, but once 'tis damaged you really need to strip it right back to replace rather than repair.

Tung oil - not quite so durable and takes more coats to look effective, (which means longer to apply, with 24 hours between coats) but the more coats the better the result and any damage can be simply lightly sanded and recoated. Most common tung oil's have a poly component in 'em nowadays anyway, which reduces the drying time somewhat and improves the durability.

I'll admit I'm biased towards tung oil, maybe overly so, but I'd much rather take my time applying tung and then have a simple time of it if I'm called back for repairs than do a quick job using a poly and then have to do the same job all over again to repair.

Another thing to consider: your floor is laminate, right? So the less sanding, the longer it'll last. That alone'd point me at tung oil.

[kiwigeo]

Thanks for your comments Skew

The floor is a laminate....6mm of tropical timber over 13mm of particle product of some sort.

Id like to have the finish as hard as possible.....what about epoxy products?

Cheers Martin

[Ian007]

How are you intending to sand it?
not with a belt sander i hope as there brutal, I hired a ROS for floors from a place in norwood a few years back it worked a treat on a tassie oak floor, the floor was finished in two pack, very glossy i think it was the stuff they use on basket ball courts.

Cheers Ian

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

I treat epoxy the same as poly, it's not something I normally work with apart from stripping to refinish with something else. So I can't speak from personal experience.

I've a mate still in the trade that specialises in using epoxy on public areas such as stages and sports' courts. I know she can repair it without major work although I don't know what tricks she uses, if any, to make it bond. I should see her next w/end sometime, so if you can wait a week or so I'll ask and post any useful info here.

BTW, Ian gave good advice: use a good random orbital sander, not one of the u-hire belt sanders!

[kiwigeo]

Thanks Skew and Ian for useful info.

ROS would be the go......wont take much to get the old finish off anyway...its pretty thin in places.

Skew..info from your epoxy specialist friend would be useful thanks.

Cheers Martin

[Trav]

I'm looking at getting a solid timber floor laid at the moment. The timber supplier (who doesn't lay or finish it) suggest that the tung/poly mixes are far and away the best product.

Trav