Understanding Waterborne Polyurethane Finishing 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:

• More durability and the ability to hide abrasion.
   
  
• Specific cleaning products making maintenance and care easier.
   
• Color stability to reduce ambering and discoloration.
   
• Faster drying and curing times mean projects are completed much more quickly.
   
• User-friendly solvents to avoid the choking and annoying vapors of mineral spirits, alcohol and toluene. This not only makes for a more tolerable work site, it also eliminates environmental and physically hazardous vapors, odors and flammable products.
   
• The ability to recoat over itself and other coatings if necessary after extended use.

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.