Re: Natural/traditional way to seal wood floors?

[Guest guest]

louisvillewapf wrote:

> Friends,

> Is there a natural way to seal wood floors? I am pretty sure

> polyeurathane is really bad on a number of levels, but I know that wood

> floors cannot be left bare (especially with little kids and what they

> will do to them). Much thanks for an ideas!

>

> and

>

Dh makes furniture and is studying Gustov Stickley's work. Since

undertaking this, he has left off using poly and started using shellac

(which I understand comes from beetle carapace, so I'm not sure how

" non-toxic " *that* is). I'm not sure if what's good for furniture is

good for flooring, but when I can grab him, I'll ask if that will work

on that application.

--s

[Guest guest]

If I remember what I've heard on " This Old House " correctly, I think

they used to rub oil into the wood to preserve/seal it. There are

various waxes as well. Personally I'd prefer to stay away from

petrochemicals, and so I'm not sure about wax these days but I really

don't know what it is made of.

> > Friends,

> > Is there a natural way to seal wood floors? I am pretty sure

> > polyeurathane is really bad on a number of levels, but I know

that wood

> > floors cannot be left bare (especially with little kids and what

they

> > will do to them). Much thanks for an ideas!

> >

> > and

> >

> Dh makes furniture and is studying Gustov Stickley's work. Since

> undertaking this, he has left off using poly and started using

shellac

> (which I understand comes from beetle carapace, so I'm not sure how

> " non-toxic " *that* is). I'm not sure if what's good for furniture

is

> good for flooring, but when I can grab him, I'll ask if that will

work

> on that application.

>

> --s

>

[Guest guest]

You can finish with oil, or beeswax. Martha s' website may have

directions - it seems I have read a piece in her magazine about wax

sealing a chair.

I worked at an Appalachian hand and woodcraft gallery and we used a wood

feeder called Natchez Solution, which was beeswax, lemon oil and I can't

remember what. It smelled delicious- I bought some for my home as well-

one rubbed it on and left a thick layer overnight to feed the wood,

wiping away excess in the morning.

The difficulty you're going to have is in the floor being too slippery.

Desh

____________________________________________________________

Save up to 10% - 30% on Visual Basic. Click here.

http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL2141/fc/Ioyw6i3mAsSupuVfWSJ5P0QiTto6biLdtF6D\

BtxnSGmEYE4U7FqzrQ/

[Guest guest]

> Is there a natural way to seal wood floors?

Linseed oil worked great for me. When my daughter was 6, as a single

mom I bought an old mill because it was all I could afford. And I mean

old (built in 1700s, burned by Custer in Civil War --damn Yankees!--

rebuilt, burned, rebuilt (the wood, not the stone). The wood was cedar

siding, and linseed oil was the traditional sealer. The last time the

siding was replaced was at least 20-25 years ago. Again, with the

traditional materials, cedar and linseed oil. It's held up to the

weather and critters just fine. So I figured it would hold up on

interior floors too (even though cedar's not a " hard " wood). Linseed

oil covered that too. Kids, pets, rough stuff... it still looks and

smells great. Also, when I worked with Navy Family Housing on

retrofitting their buildings in a " green " way, they were in favor of

linoleum, which was originally made from linseed oil and cork. But be

careful NOT to use the " boiled " oil -- that contains chemicals from

the process. The following link has a good discussion:

http://www.naturalhandyman.com/iip/infxtra/inflin.html

Oh, on the exterior, it eventually turns black, but that did NOT

happen on the interior floors.

Cheers! joan