My contractor will be installing and finishing approx. 914 bf of IPE and 415bf of Mytlewood next week. We have not finalized the finish we will use.

Typically he prefers to use Bona product. We are thinking that an "oily wood" like the KD Ipe might take something different.

Appearance: I like the thought of the appearance of the Waterlox or comparable Tung Oil type finish ( to bring out the grain and colors in the wood).

Durability: We have a English Bull Dog and two kids 6 and under, so durability is an issue, but I believe they will punish any floor and the Waterlox sounds like it has an advantage in its reapplication of high traffic areas.

Reading the forum sounds like scuffing may be an issue especially if there is not sufficient time to cure. No kids or dog for 2 weeks - might be able to push for another half week.

We have two weeks to install and finish before the 6 heels and 4 paws come back to test our decision.

I am in the wood business so I appreciate that wood is wood not plastic, but I don't want to be reapplying on biannual or annual basis.

Look forward to your feedback.

The Bona products should adhere and perform just fine as long as you use their sealer. Their Traffic brand is extremely durable. I've got kids and dogs too and my Traffic coated floors still look great after 4 years. Thay still scuff and scratch, but when I clean them, they still gleam in the sunlight.

If your floor mech prefers to use Bona products then you should let him. He probably gets the best results using this product and has become very comfortable with it.

I use Basic Street Shoe as my standard finish on most jobs it gets better coverage than Traffic but is still very durable. Basic Coatings has a new finish Revo Tech that should rival if not beat Traffic's durability, I have yet to try it. If you want that "oily" look you could use a universal sealer first (Parks makes one) then the Bona product over that. Basic Coatings has an amberizer you can add directly to their finishes.

Let your mechanic use what he knows.

Here is a photo of Ipe with Zinsser Sealcoat (dewaxed shellac)on the left and Glitsa Snap Dry Sealer (waterbased) on the right. The waterbased sealer gives Ipe a little more color than the Sealcoat. Waterlox gives a bit more color than the others but my customers thought it was too dark knowing the wood was going to darken on it's own and may become very dark. We top coated with Glitsa High Preformance two component waterbased finish.[/img]

I wish Glitsa would get their butt in gear and get their water based finishes stocked down here. Two distributors carry Glitsa but only the acid cure, none of the waterbased. Been trying to get Glitsa to remedy that for two years but it falls on deaf ears. I want to try the HP. Hows it apply compared to Traffic or Street Shoe?

Gary,
H.P. is a high quality finish that you would expect from Glitsa. The ingredients and spec sheet for H.P. and Traffic were almost identical until Bona recently reformulated Traffic. I think the new formula makes Traffic more user friendly than any two-component water-based finish we have used and H.P. is a very close second. We have used some Xterra and Trek Plus with good results but usually stay with what the distributor stocks now, Traffic.

I have no experience with Street Shoe. My brother used it for many years but now uses mostly Traffic.

The Ipe has not been done yet, but we completed the Myrtlewood using Vermeister over shellac. It came out great. Has a hand rubbed looked.
We are sanding Ipe now and will look to do the same process except two coats of shellac with follow up coats of Vermeister.
I pulled the MSDS - non-toxic and little if VOC.

Has anyone on this site worked with Vermeister?