For decades wood floor contractors have used powerful sanding equipment to refinish wood floors. The advantage has always been “time and speed” and little consideration was given to how much wood was lost in the process. We are now paying the price of that approach as more homeowners discover their wood floors can’t sustain traditional sanding. This is why The Rosebud Co. takes a non-standard approach and removes only a fraction of the wood when we refinish. Our expertise in historic restoration laid the foundation and strategy that we now bring into our private residential work. Why gamble with other contractors who take a one-dimensional approach to such a valuable asset?
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Home / The Rosebud Process / Waterborne Products
The last 20 years have seen dramatic changes in products for finishing wood floors. At the top of this list are waterborne polyurethanes. These finishes provide superior performance, are easily maintained and provide homeowners better options than ever before. For these reasons, I recommend and use waterborne urethanes through all my work. It has been on my own floors for more than ten years and I wouldn’t consider using any other product. Many homeowners have either never heard of this product or have gotten mixed messages about its quality. Let me give you a little background information.
What originally caught my attention about waterborne urethanes was the performance I saw on my own kitchen floors when my daughter (now a teenager) was about eighteen months old. It took everything she threw and poured on it and proved to be very easy to clean and renew. As I began using waterborne finishes in more demanding situations (kitchens, breakfast rooms, houses with young children, pets, etc.) I continued to be very impressed by the products' performance.
The list of benefits is long and is getting longer:
As enthusiastic as I am about waterborne urethanes, my feelings are not shared by all of my competitors. Waterbornes are difficult to work with, expensive and mistakes are difficult to correct. Many contractors simply don’t want to pay more than $100 a gallon for a product they don’t feel comfortable working with in the first place. I can appreciate that but I can also identify with a homeowner who wants to gain the benefits waterborne products offer. I mentioned that I have waterborne on my own floors and I also go back and check to see how well it is holding up on older projects where I used it. I have no qualms about recommending it and will be happy to put you in touch with satisfied clients who are experiencing the benefits of these superior coatings.