WoodFlooringGuy.com

Q: How do I change from a clear gloss finish to a semi-gloss finish on hardwood flooring? A: Very straight forward. Prepare the existing coating to receive the shine level of choice, in this case semi-gloss. This means you have to buff/sand or abrade the coating which creates (hopefully) tiny scratches which the next coating [...]

Q: First let me say “THANK YOU” for this website! We just had our red oak floors refinished and added add’l red oak so now the entire 1st floor is hardwood. Our installer put three coats of satin finish (we had semi-gloss before). The floor doesn’t appear to be as wear and tear friendly as [...]

Q: I’m a flooring installer. I do lots of tile and pre-finished wood flooring, but never sand and finish. I have a good friend doing the sanding as it’s his expertise, but I’m going to finish it. I’m trying to find out what I should use for the finish. I want to see the difference [...]

I put 3 coats of polyurethane on my hardwood floor and it still doesn’t shine, so I just let it go. Now after a couple of months have gone by I would like to know what I can do to make it shine, since I am going to refinish the dining room which is right next to the living room.

I just purchased a condo apartment that’s 1000 sq. ft. There are many windows with lots of light and sun all day. I am having the (common red oak) parquet floor refinished. I have selected a rich dark maple/brown stain. The contractor uses minwax products. I love the look of a shiny wood floor, and so I am leaning towards a high gloss oil-based finish. The contractor; however, strongly argued against going with high gloss, recommending instead we use semigloss. He says hardly anyone chooses high gloss. And that because there is so much light coming in, that it wouldn’t look right. PS. I have one cat. Please any comments on my going with high gloss.

My question is about hardwood flooring finish, satin vs. glossy: which of these floor finishes show more scratches, smudges, dirt, etc.?

Can I put a satin polyurethane over a smi gloss finish, on a hardwood floor?

I asked if it would be possible to put a coat of the satin on top. I think he is willing to do this, but he says that every coat added makes a floor shinier, by it’s nature. Is that true?

We have just refinished our floors in an “ebony” stain. We did one coat, so it is more like a dark brown. We now have to put the final touch on. Semi-gloss finish or satin finish. Any advice on how to decide, or which one looks better?

I have just had prefinished ******** 3/4 inch cinnamon maple hardwood installed in my living room. It is weaved into the existing floor where it meets the kitchen. The kitchen floors are the exact same product, but two years older. The stain color matches exactly, but the finish of the old floor is more shinny. Why is this and is there anything I can do to minimize the difference in sheen?

I sanded a pre-finished birch floor. The previous finish did not come off entirely where the ends of the boards joined as they were ever so slightly offset. To remove the remaining finish in those areas, I used a random orbital palm sander. It looked fine until I applied 2 coats of clear water-based semi-gloss polyurethane. Now that the floor shines, the spots at the ends of boards now look like little dents when light is reflected. I was so disappointed when I noticed this. I very much doubt there is anything I can do to fix this except to sand the entire floor again. I was thinking about using a satin finish over the semi-gloss for the remaining coats to reduce the sheen. Is it alright to apply satin poly over the semi-gloss?

Polyurethane will be the final step for the hardwood floors in the house. We would like to have the satin finish like we have in the condo presently. So, is the polyurethane semi gloss the same thing as the satin finish? If not what would you recommend for the polyurethane that would get us our satin finish?

What polyurethane sheen should I use on recently sanded and stained stair treads? High gloss, satin, or semi?

I just put hardwood floors, pre-finished, into my new condo. I love the color and grain of the wood I chose, but it is not shiny enough. my floor installer told me that adding polyurethane will only make it shine for around a month. Is this true?

What type of top coat do you recommend on hard maple flooring? We already have two coats of gloss; however, our contractor stated that he will apply a finishing top coat when all other work has been completed in our new construction home. The contractor recommended matte finish. What are the differences between the finishes?