Putting New Ultimate Floor Finish To The Test

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When it comes to floors, I have always been a traditional, oil-based sort of guy. But when I heard about all the advantages of the water-based Minwax® Ultimate Floor Finish, I had to see for myself what the buzz was all about.

I decided to experiment on a section of raw, freshly-sanded red and white oak flooring I made in my workshop. I stained one section (left) with an oil-based stain. On another section of bare oak I applied Minwax® Sanding Sealer, as recommended on the can of Ultimate Floor Finish, then let each section dry.

A new synthetic applicator pad spread my first coat of Ultimate over both test sections very smoothly. As promised, the first coat dried in just two hours, and with very little odor.

I came back with a second coat without sanding the first. Now, I could have sanded the first coat, if I really wanted to, but as long as I applied the next coat within 12 hours, it really wasn’t necessary.

 

Two hours later, my second coat was also dry, so I pushed ahead and applied a third coat. Typically, three coats of an oil-based finish would begin to show an amber tint, but you can see that after three coats of the water-based Ultimate Floor Finish, both sides—stained and un-stained, were still crystal clear, as promised.

Might just be time to start a new, water-based tradition.

Until next time,

Thanks for stopping by!

Bruce