Waterlox Reviews

Painting Advice and Premium Products from Experienced Professionals.

Why PaintSource Chooses Waterlox

Waterlox Hardwood Floor Finish Option

We talk to clients all over the country with various floor finishing project requirements and expectations. We are many times asked "What is the Best Hardwood Floor Finish?" We seek to help our clients choose the best- looking, best -performing wood finish based on their specific project.

Waterlox’s exclusive process takes tung oil, resin, mineral spirits, and other ingredients to produce a complete wood finish that gives you the look and feel of a naturally-oiled wood, with the additional benefit of forming a surface that is waterproof, stands up to foot traffic, and protects against household spills. Like pure tung oil, Waterlox can be easy to apply, repair, and re-coat .

When choosing a wood floor finish, it is important to consider several factors.

Aesthetics

What look do you want?
Do you you want a natural, non-“plastic” look?
Do you desire a a hand rubbed look?
Do you like low sheen? High sheen?
What type of wood are you finishing?
Are you finishing, or is a contractor doing the work?

Durability

What is the exposure?
Do you have Dogs?

Ease of Application and Maintenance

All floor finish choices offer trade-offs, and there is not a perfect finish. Many of the most durable finishes are difficult to apply , and require a much involved process for maintenance, including sanding, and inconvenience . Most of the commonly used polyurethane floor finishes used lead to rapid deterioration and visible scratching, requiring frequent and inconvenient sanding and recoating. Prefinished floors are difficult to recoat as well.

Our Favorite Finish

A great product we have used and tested for years is a blend of Tung Oil and Resin. Tung oil has been used as a wood sealer throughout the world for centuries precisely because wood absorbs it so readily and because it does eventually “cure,” meaning that it hardens when exposed to oxygen. Essentially, tung oil works by seeping into the wood and hardening, which, on a floor, allows the wood grain itself to take the wear of foot traffic.

Waterlox Original Sealer/Finish gives us a finish that is 80% Tung Oil , mixed with resin, and cured by oxygen. Waterlox imparts a natural low film look to the wood. It enhances natural features of the wood, without covering the texture of the wood in a “plastic looking” finish. The Tung oil is a proven water-proofer, and the resin adds durability exceeding many common finishes. It is much easier to apply with good results than most common floor finishes.

Maintenance is also easy with Waterlox. You just sweep the floor, clean, and reapply a rejuvenating coat as desired every few years. No sanding is ever required, which means no machines, no dust, no inconvenience, and no expense in preparation. Most common finishes are difficult to spot repair, and usually require full sanding and refinishing. With Waterlox, small scratches can be spot repaired, with excellent results. Some clients even buff the finish after a year or two, with excellent results, and extended maintenance.

Waterlox for Textured and Reclaimed Lumber.

Many clients are choosing textured woods including reclaimed, hand-scraped, and distressed. You simply cannot choose a finish that requires sanding on this type of floor. Polyurethanes, Water-based Finishes, and Moisture Cure Urethanes all require sanding to recoat, and represent a poor choice for residential hardwood floors. . To maintain the character of reclaimed lumber, hand scraped, or distressed wood, we strongly encourage our clients to consider Waterlox. To maintain Waterlox appearance, simply clean and recoat every few years to rejuvenate the finish if needed.

Waterlox on Tropical Hardwoods

The performance, elegant appearance, lasting beauty, and the ease of use will usually make Waterlox the product of choice for hardwood floors, cabinets, walls, logs, timbers, furniture and a variety of wood components. While Waterlox enhances and beautifies all types of wood, it is our only choice for tropical hardwoods. Exotic hardwood flooring like Mahogany, Cumaru, Ipe, and Brazilian Cherry has always been a challenge both interior and exterior. These woods are extremely dense and hard, and they are full of natural oils that many times will make adhesion of most finishes difficult.

Waterlox gives superior direct adhesion to exotic hardwood, and is even used as a seal coat under many other types of finishes that are otherwise incompatible with oily dense wood. There is little film building with Waterlox, even with repeat applications. Waterlox is very translucent and natural looking on exotic hardwood flooring inside and out.

Wood floors, countertops, walls, trim, doors, and other hardwood surfaces can be naturally beautified and protected, eliminating the difficult application, maintenance issues, and other disadvantages of polyurethane finishes.

Waterlox is our product of choice for exotic hardwood. It does bring out the natural beauty of the wood, darkening and enhancing. Waterlox addresses and overcomes almost every disadvantage and performance shortcomings of traditional polyurethanes, new acrylics, and other products (drying issues, film-building, lap-marks, poor adhesion, peeling, short-life, poor appearance).
Oily hardwood requires a compatible sealer for positive adhesion. Thick polyurethanes lay on the top, where they are prone to lose adhesion. A Tung oil and resin blend like Waterlox can offer the ease of maintenance, and lack of peeling of an oil finish, but with the hardness of varnish. Waterlox soaks in and cures with oxygen, hardening the surface, with no film buildup. It does not give a "plastic" look to wood, but gives a hand polished, natural looking finish.

On Waterlox, scratches are much less visible than on a polyurethane, which is prone to show "whitish" scratching. Polyurethane scratches on dark hardwoods are even more pronounced. The other big advantage of Waterlox is that no sanding is never required for recoating. Just clean, and refresh every few years. This is just an elegant finish for exotic hardwood flooring.

Waterlox Review

Other Finishes

Occasionally, individuals may mistakenly allow another factor to outweigh the benefits of Waterlox:

Many homeowners seek a low odor finish and fast dry finish. Waterlox is mineral spirit-based, and requires 24 hours between coats.

Allow time for proper floor finishing in your project schedule.

Some clients seek a $20 per gallon finish. Waterlox is expensive due to the premium ingredients and processing method.

Floor finish materials cost is a minuscule percentage of the total cost of a hardwood floor finishing project.

Some clients allow their contractor to choose their finish for them. Seeking low bids forces contractors to cut cost by using an inexpensive finish.

Choose and specify the finish of your choice, and separate material cost from the bid process.

PaintSource chooses Waterlox.

Waterlox Main Page

Waterlox for Log Homes

Our product of choice on most interior wood is Waterlox. Waterlox is a superior water-proofer and finish for most Log Home Applications including Walls, Timbers, Logs, Wood Floors, Cabinets, furniture, Exotic Hardwood, and Reclaimed Lumber. Also for rejuvenating sheen, and waterproofing existing finishes. Waterlox gives a Durable, Naturally Beautiful, Hand Rubbed Look. A superior alternative to most commonly used finishes.

Waterlox will certainly protect wood surfaces and make cleaning much easier. The Sealer/ Finish is the simplest system, with 3 coats to most wood (4 coats on floors), giving a semi-gloss sheen. If you want a lower sheen, you could apply 2 coats of Sealer/ Finish, with a topcoat of Satin Finish. We urge most clients to test a sample when selecting final sheen.

Floors

Waterlox is widely used for hardwood floors, including pine and antique lumber. Waterlox on wood floors is much more natural looking and the most easily maintained as preferred by most log and timber home owners. All wood floors eventually need recoating and maintenance. One great feature of Waterlox for floors is the fact that the floor does not have to be sanded before applying a renewal coat. Polyurethanes, and water-borne finishes require sanding for rejuvenation. Waterlox eliminates the dust, mess, and cost of future machine sanding. Repeated sanding also destroys the character of many beautiful floors. Waterlox is easy to freshen and rejuvenate. Just clean the floor, and easily apply additional coats depending on wear and tear.

Waterlox Video Floor Finishing Guide

We like to see at least one coat applied to backside, edges, and end-grain saw cuts before and during installation for the ultimate in wood stabilizing. More info here

Cabinets:

All interior wood finishes perform in a variety of ways. Lacquer based products have traditionally provided a great finish for interior wood cabinets. Unfortunately, it is difficult to spray apply lacquer in a residential jobsite. Waterlox is a great alternative to lacquer and varnish products for wood cabinets in that it can easily be buffed and recoated on site.

Waterlox Advantages:

Hand rubbed look

Unparalleled wood protection on a variety of interior surfaces in the cabin.

Ease of touch up and refinish.

Safer and more serviceable than lacquer for cabinets and walls.

Natural Wood tone Enhancement and Beauty

Use on :

Wood Flooring
Historic Reclaimed Lumber
Cabinets
CounterTops
Wood Trim
Doors
Wood Windows
Walls
Bathrooms and Kitchens
Furniture and Railings