|
|
   
|
FLOOR FINISH DECISIONSThe process of choosing the right floor for your home or business involves both the selection of the wood and equally important is how you finish the wood. Many hours and dollars are spent in reaching a decision about what wood to choose and yet an equally important choice, the floor finish, is left to chance. Sutherland Welles Ltd® believes, “It’s not a floor until it’s finished©” According to our founder and master floor finisher, Frank Welles,” the floor is the picture frame to the room”. Each and every decorating decision must harmonize with your finished floor. Choosing the right finish for your floor is an important decision and it involves many factors including appearance, durability, reparability, toxicity, ease of application, maintenance and cost. With these factors in mind, Sutherland Welles Ltd. ® produces a comprehensive line of products to meet all your floor finishing needs. Our products are formulated with the highest quality ingredients available and the lowest toxicity possible to create a durable, more natural alternative to what is commonly offered today. Choosing to finish your floors with Sutherland Welles Ltd. ® products will insure the protection of your flooring investment, while enhancing the natural patina and beauty of the wood for generations to come! Natural “Hand-rubbed” Look Oiling a floor is a concept that predates the era of synthetic urethane based coatings. The inherent water-repellant properties of Tung Oil make it a natural form of wood protection. Most can recall a general store or hardware store where the floors were oiled and glowed with warmth. This “hand-rubbed” look can be attained today using Sutherland Welles Ltd. ® Polymerized Tung Oil products. The natural, “hand- rubbed” look is the hallmark of all the flooring systems formulated by Sutherland Welles Ltd.® Initial sealer coats of Polymerized Tung Oil saturate deep into the wood, stabilize the wood, fill the pores with a flexible material and define the natural grain of the wood. Subsequent layers of finish bond to these penetrating layers enhancing the patina, while developing a durable protective barrier. Additionally, Polymerized Tung Oil remains flexible and stable and does not crack or peel as the wood’s moisture content varies with seasonal changes. Most of our competitors offer only surface finishes, such as urethanes, which coat the top of the wood, producing a film which creates a “plastic-coating” look. These manufacturers formulate with less expensive oils such as Soya or linseed which yellow the wood immediately and even more over time. Additionally, these inferior oils lubricate the resin for application purposes, but offer nothing to the final coating properties. While the wood may look good initially with these surface finishes, they lack the patina, flexibility, adhesion and moisturizing qualities of a penetrating Polymerized Tung Oil. Polymerized Tung Oil, which stays color-neutral as the wood ages naturally, is the only oil used to manufacture all our products. Our Old World Concentrated Stains™ can be added to either our layering or surface floor finishing systems to create the “Old World” look or match the vintage colors of antique wood. There are few floor finishers practicing today that are familiar with oiling a floor. Fortunately for all of us, their numbers are increasing as they discover the reparability and beauty that penetrating oil finishes have to offer. It’s very common for a finisher to be reluctant to try a new finish and application technique, especially if a large amount of flooring is involved. Specifications, instructions and technical support are available for each floor finishing system we offer. Together with our 40 years of flooring finishing experience, we are confident that we can assist you and your flooring contractor in producing a beautiful floor. The techniques are somewhat more labor intensive and the finishes are slightly more expensive than the mass-produced floor finishes, but the results are definitely worth it. When choosing the right finish for your floor, durability and longevity are very important factors. The durability and long-term performance of any finish is a function of the quality of its ingredients and the number of coats applied. All of our products are formulated with the highest quality ingredients that produce a superior, low toxic finish. Quality ingredients and the lowest toxicity possible are what drive our formulations and subsequent pricing. The formulation of our products is not compromised in an effort to compete in the price sensitive market of wood finishes. Our clients are looking for a superior look and performance and we provide it! MILLIE’S ALL PURPOSE PENETRATING TUNG OIL ™ –SATURATING PROCESS Our Millie’s All Purpose Penetrating Tung Oil ™ is formulated with Polymerized Tung oil, Di-Citrusol ™ and beeswax. It contains no chemical driers and is our least toxic finish. Typically, three applications of Millie’s will be needed to saturate the wood. The final coat is wet buffed into the wood using a buffing machine with a #1 steel wool pad. The result is a soft, matte, natural looking surface. Millie’s is commonly used on dance floors, as it is soft to the touch and allows for gliding. Use of Millie’s on high traffic floors, such as commercial establishments, eliminates the excessive wear patterns created by surface finishes. Regular maintenance of daily washing and regular re-oiling create a lovely surface that will never require sanding again. Millie’s is easy to spot repair or to re-coat only areas that get excessive wear. The surface should only be cleaned with a mop, water and vinegar or ammonia for stubborn dirt. A fresh coat of Millie’s burnished into the wood will provide a deep cleaning, rejuvenate and further enhance the wood’s patina for a floor that will never require sanding again and becomes more beautiful with time. INTERIOR POLYMERIZED TUNG OIL – LAYERING PROCESS Our Original formula, Interior Polymerized Tung Oil finish is formulated with Polymerized Tung oil, mineral spirits and minimal drier. The layering process is also available in our Botanical formulation which features our low toxic solvent, Di-Citrusol ™. Either formula is applied using a layering process, where subsequent layers chemically bond to previously applied penetrating layers. Sealer coats penetrate into the wood bringing out the grain and developing a natural patina. Interior Polymerized Tung Oil topcoats of Low, Medium or High luster are then applied. The Polymerized Tung Oil is burnished into the wood using a buffing machine with a # 1 steel wool pad or wiped by hand. The higher the luster you are willing to accept, the greater the protection and durability you will have, as the solid content is greater. A floor finished with our Interior Polymerized Tung oil creates a smooth, clear surface that feels like furniture. It should not be scrubbed with any type of cleaning agent other than a damp sponge with water and vinegar. High traffic areas will require periodic maintenance. These areas are quickly and easily revitalized with a light sanding, if needed, and a thin reapplication of the topcoat Lustre. Our Interior Polymerized Tung Oil finish will protect the wood while enhancing the wood’s patina as it ages naturally. MURDOCH’S URALKYD SYSTEM – SURFACE PROCESS Our Murdoch’s Uralkyd 500™ Floor Finish is our hardest, most durable floor finish. This surface system is formulated with high quality pure urethane/alkyd resins for durability and longevity. Additionally, this finish contains a scuff guard which makes a surface coating more resistant to scratches and abrasions. As with our layering finish, sealer coats, containing predominantly Polymerized Tung Oil, penetrate into the wood to bring out the wood’s grain and keep the resin topcoats flexible. Subsequent layers of Murdoch’s Uralkyd 500™ topcoat in Matte, Satin or Gloss bond to these penetrating layers creating a durable, yet flexible finish. These topcoats contain no oil, making the surface very hard and more durable. The Uralkyd coats are applied with a brush or short-napped applicator and left on the wood to cure; no wiping or burnishing is required. This surface floor finish is recommended for bathrooms, kitchens and high traffic floors where water exposure, durability and ease of maintenance are of concern. A floor finished with the Murdoch’s Uralkyd System creates a smooth, clear, hard finish that allows the wood to age naturally. This surface will never peel or delaminate. Scratches and abrasions eventually occur with all surface finishes. They are easily repaired with a light sanding and re-coating. Unlike our saturating or layering finishes, which allow for spot maintenance, the entire floor must be recoated. Any floor finished with the Sutherland Welles Ltd. ® Murdoch’s Uralkyd system will offer years of natural beauty, durability and easy maintenance. MAINTENANCE AND PREVENTION In the world of floor finishes it’s important to note that nothing lasts forever. Oils and urethanes will both wear off a surface requiring renewal. How frequently this will occur is a function of the quality of the finish, how many coats are applied and the degree of traffic. Quality finishes along with timely maintenance and prevention are the keys to coating integrity and longevity. All of our finishes are easy to apply, maintain and revitalize. Sutherland Welles Ltd© Dust and Tacking Oil™ on a dry mop will remove dust and dirt. We also recommend the use of rugs in high traffic areas such as entrances, thresholds and in front of sinks. WHAT MAKES OUR URETHANE COATINGS SO UNIQUE? Everyone always asks this question. It has a very simple answer - quality of ingredients and the way they are formulated. First, the two most commonly heard complaints about polyurethane center on plastic-like appearance of the coating on the wood and poor bonding or more specifically chipping and flaking off. Most polyurethane systems combine the oil and urethane together. The coating is extremely viscous therefore it tends to "sit" on the wood rather than penetrate into the wood. Also with such a thick coating, getting adequate "through-dry" is difficult, especially as the pressure to turn a lot of square footage is ever present. The coating eventually dries (tack free), but it often doesn’t completely harden or cure properly which may cause it to peel away from the wood as there is nothing locking it down into the wood. Sutherland Welles Ltd ® Murdoch’s system separates the Polymerized Tung Oil and urethane/alkyd topcoats. The first two coats are always predominately Polymerized Tung Oil as it saturates deep into the wood, stabilizing the wood, filing the pore with a flexible material and defines the beautiful grain of the wood. In our Murdoch's Hard Sealer, a small percentage of the solid in that formulation is part of the urethane/alkyd topcoat and therefore acts as the chemical bridge from oil-only to a urethane-only coating. Murdoch's Uralkyd 500™ Floor Finish is not thick or viscous. The strength of the coating chemically is not directly proportional to the viscosity - in fact the opposite tends to be the case. The Murdoch's topcoats have no Polymerized Tung Oil in them at all. Removing the oil makes it a harder, more durable surface. The addition of our "slip" ingredient helps grit to roll across the surface and helps the surface resist scratching. The high quality flattening agent in our Satin and Matte formulations is vital in providing a crystal clear, color neutral film .Secondly, in other urethane coatings, the oils used for "modifying" the urethane are rarely decent finishing oils. More and more formulations are heavily based with Soya oils as they are cheaper than linseed and much cheaper than Tung Oil and extremely cheap compared to Polymerized Tung Oil. They lubricate the resin for application purposes, but they aren't finishing oils themselves so they offer nothing to the final coating properties. Linseed oil is often used but that along with cheap resins tend to discolor the wood tremendously and slows the curing which why they add an aggressive chemical drier which can be the most toxic component of the finish. The only oil ever used in any of our urethane coatings is our Polymerized Tung Oil. Unlike linseed oil based coatings, our urethane systems do not accelerate the normal photo reactivity of many woods such as cherry, fir, mahogany, maple and oak. It will occur naturally and is a function of the amount of ultraviolet exposure the wood receives. In extreme exposures, rather than enhance photo reactivity, the sun can actually leech color from the wood. This is a common problem with intense exposure near windows and on exterior applications. Lastly is the issue of toxicity. It is becoming increasingly more difficult to formulate solvent based coatings as the EPA continues to pressure the architectural coating industry to lower the VOC's in solvent based systems. We continue to formulate all our coatings with the highest quality solids with the lowest toxic, VOC compliant, solvents available. Our citrus solvent, Di-Citrusol™ is used in the Murdoch's system which has both a finisher-friendly and environmentally sensitive approach to formulation. Moreover, we minimize the use of chemical driers to the point that we are below reportable thresholds on Right to Know declarations (MSDS) and the driers we do use, have the lowest toxicity possible while still working to oxidize the coating and make it a commercially feasible finishing product. ©Sutherland Welles Ltd. ® 1/04, 2/06 All rights reserved |
|
Send mail to
webmaster@tungoilfinish.com with questions or comments about this
web site.
|