GBlist: Re: hardwood floor finishes

[Sandra Leibowitz <sleibowitz@earthlink.net>]

On the natural oil finish front, it seems most tung oils today are not "pure" tung oil but are
combined with petroleum distillates--these can have very high emissions, but are more durable
than the tung oil alone, especially where high traffic is expected.  I suspect the same is true
of some linseed oil products, other than those by Tried and True which are polymerized linseed
oils (though none recommended for most flooring applications). There are also some tung oil/
polyurethane combos.  Sutherland Welles www.sutherlandwelles.com makes a variety of tung oil
finishes ranging from their "low-toxic" tung oils to various tung oil combo products.  Tung oil
in particular has a grain-accentuating effect and gives a "historic" look, which may be
required in some situations.  Polyurethanes definitely don't look historic, but given what's
added to tung oils to achieve the durability necessary, I'd say go with the water-based
polyurethane.  And good luck finding pre-finished sustainably harvested wood
flooring--Permagrain's Finewood was the only one I found.

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