Having my Floors redone - Oil or Water based Polyurethane?

[Lasareath]

Our wood floors in our home are 50 years old, When we moved in I used up every single dime to buy the house and move that I didn't have any funds to do the floors then. So now it's really time to do the floors.

I received 4 quotes today, I have 1213SQFT of Hard wood floor and the Quotes range from $2500 to $3600. But two quotes say oil based polyurethane and two say water based.

I have no idea which is better.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Sal

[Face]

Poly is more durable. The only advantage to water based is that the fumes aren't as bad.

[Hawkeye]

I had about 500 sq ft done for 1K Sal. They used the poly and it stunk for several days. Had I know what I did before the sanding, I would have had new floors put down instead of refinishing.

I have several stains (60 year old floors)that did not sand out after several passes with the drum. If you don't have stains, you may have better luck than I did.

Gordon

[F1nut]

The only advantage to water based is that the fumes aren't as bad.

Pretty much, it.

I have several stains (60 year old floors)that did not sand out after several passes with the drum.

They should have bleached out the stains.

[Lasareath]

I had about 500 sq ft done for 1K Sal. They used the poly and it stunk for several days. Had I know what I did before the sanding, I would have had new floors put down instead of refinishing.

I have several stains (60 year old floors)that did not sand out after several passes with the drum. If you don't have stains, you may have better luck than I did.

Gordon

I have 4 to 5 dark stains that we're not sure if they will come out.

Two of the guys are pushing oil and two are pushing water based.

We put a request for quotes on Service Magic dot com and we got 3 calls:

Quote #1: Called 7 mins after posting on ServiceMagic.com, Called 1 hour before appt, Came on time, most detailed Quote, 1 coat stain, 1 sealer & 2 coats Oil Poly. Business card nice with website url but website does not work. $3200

Quote #2: Came on time, emailed quote 10 hours after appt, Called last out of 4 businesses, Very detailed tri-fold brochure, Guy seems to have many years of experience, Finish natural with 1 Sealer & 2
Finish coats of Bona water based finish, buffing between each coat. Website and business card very nice, $3603.00

Quote #3: Called 10 mins after posting, Still waiting for emailed quote, 1 stain coat, 2 coats oil. $2500. Additional coat of sealer can be purchased for $480, Additional Poly coat for $120. Website is nice, they sell blinds and carpet as well.

Quote #4: (found this guy by myself, not through ServiceMagic) Appt set for 3:30PM, I called at 4:00Pm where are you?, He put it down for Friday. He showed up with a worker at 6:42PM. Website is very nice, Nice business card, Seems to be very intelligent, told me the ins and outs of the entire process, Said modern water based poly is more advanced than oil poly, that there are additives in the water that make the stuff stronger and last better, Drying time very fast, very little smell. Sand, Stain Seal, 2 coats Basic Coatings Street Shoe $2945

[Lasareath]

Quote #1 called today to tell me they messed up a calculation and now the quote is $2900

[messiah]

http://www.contractortalk.com/f10/se...sed-poly-2583/

If these are your main living areas you might have to go on vacation :D

[Lasareath]

We like the guy from quote #1, his price is $2900 and he uses oil poly and so we are using oil poly. Hoping to start it Nov 4. We are getting new windows Nov 1st & 2nd so that week seems like the best time since we need to move some furniture anyways. We might as we'll move it all out.

He has many online reviews and everyone gives him 5 stars.

[messiah]

We like the guy from quote #1, his price is $2900 and he uses oil poly and so we are using oil poly. Hoping to start it Nov 4. We are getting new windows Nov 1st & 2nd so that week seems like the best time since we need to move some furniture anyways. We might as we'll move it all out.

He has many online reviews and everyone gives him 5 stars.

Cool Sal, make sure to post up some before & afters!

[quadzilla]

Does this answer your questions?

http://www.ehow.com/about_5577186_oi...or-sealer.html

[TrashyTrucker]

Sal,
Good luck with the home upgrades and maintinence. Congrads on the new home and I seen you guys PF 2010 pics and you lost weight dude

Anyways keep up the good work, And if you dont have room for your 1.2 TL's? I will gladly supply them to a good home with lots of love! ;)

regards,
Matt :D
P.s I must of made F1nut mad at me? He was mentoring me and then now he ignores me :(. What gives? wheres the love?

[opus]

We just had our fir floors done with oil based poly (1 stain and 3 poly) and found it to be much less trouble than we thought. The smell was not a big issue and we left at 730 in the morning and by 4 that night we could walk on the floors.

+1 on the oil based and btw we chose to leave a little of the "character" in the floor to reflect the 120 years of service.;)