Takeaway. Our opinion – we always recommend oil-based poly for protecting all species of hardwood floors. We strongly believe that oil-based finishes are the best bang for your buck. It's cheaper than water-based products and will last 10 times longer.
I recommend an acrylic finish, and you can go two routes: This has both the advantage of being colorless when dry and, due to the coalescing nature of the way it forms a film, of keeping the finish resin on the surface of the wood.
It would be better to finish with a cab acrylic lacquer or a water based polyurethane to keep the finish clear. Without a stain a water based polyurethane usually has a really bland look on maple. You can counter this by wiping the wood down with boiled linseed oil.
However, over time, high traffic, everyday wear, incorrect installation, or improper maintenance can cause maple floors to show signs of aging. Refinishing maple floors can help restore its original beauty and give your home an updated look.
If you want to brush or wipe on a finish, you also can consider an oil-based varnish. Pratt and Lambert #38 would be a nice choice on maple as it's based on soya oil and has a lighter ``complexion'' than varnishes based on linseed oil. There is no need for ``polyurethane''.
Use Dewaxed Shellac for Your Best “Clear” Finish On Curly Maple. Of all the basic clear topcoats you can choose from, dewaxed shellac provides a surprising chatoyance that you just don't get with other finishes.
Tung oil and linseed oil. Both oils soak into wood and never leave a film finish on top of the wood. Most of the products you will buy commercially are blends or either tung oil or linseed oil, togehter with a solvent(s) and some type of varnish. Linseed oil will definitely cause wood to yellow.
Maple floors are hardy and beautiful in their natural state. For the sake of beauty and durability, it's best to refrain from staining your new maple floor very dark at all. In fact, we don't recommend any type of color other than natural because that's what people will love looking at when they come over to visit.
In short, you should consider refinishing your hardwood floors when they have scratches, fading, and/or discoloration that cannot be removed by thorough cleaning or polishing. And, of course, you can always refinish perfectly good hardwood floors if you simply want to change their stain color.
In fact, with proper care and maintenance, most MFMA maple floors will last for generations.
Because maple hardwood is sensitive to changes in humidity, it's not recommended that you use a wet mop to clean maple floors. Instead, it's best to use a soft broom or a soft rag to keep maple hardwood clean and in pristine condition for many years.
Tung oil has become a staple among fine furniture craftsmen in the United States and beyond. It is eco-friendly, non-toxic, and food-safe. Vermont Furniture Designs uses tung oil on maple furniture as an alternative to linseed oil.
A treatment like a sealer or wood conditioner will help limit stain penetration and support a more uniform color since the wood absorbs stain unevenly.
This yellowing happens naturally, because Maple has the tendency to yellow with age. Fortunately, as soon as you put the sander on it and start sanding this wood flooring, it goes back to a super light color!
Use deeper brown- or black-based stains for a maple look that resembles the appearance of natural walnut or ebony. Lighter stains leverage maple's naturally light color to brighten a room.
The cons of maple flooring
Discolours over time – As with any solid wood, with constant exposure to light it will yellow over time.
However, using the wrong grit of sandpaper can lead to disastrous results. Starting with too coarse a grit can remove too much wood, causing irreparable damage. Conversely, using a grit that's too fine may not adequately remove the existing finish, leading to poor adhesion of the new finish coats.
Ultimately, aim for a season where you have free time and the climate supports a smooth refinishing process. For most, spring or fall are the best choices.
Next, you will need to determine whether the wood floors in your house are solid hardwood or engineered wood. That is an essential distinction because engineered flooring cannot be sanded and refinished like solid hardwood flooring can.
We recommend you use a traditional resin stain over your dye to lock in the color and this will also create good protection from fading. After the resin stain coat has dried seal your maple floor with one coat of dewaxed shellac sealer, OMU sealer, or acid cure sealer. However, you should not use a water sealer.
Maple is hard and dense, so the relatively large pigment particles can not penetrate the wood very well. They even highlight the sanding scratches.
Both Oak and Maple floors are considered among the most durable wood floors and can last for generations. Maple is among the harder wood species, with a 1450 rating on the Janka wood hardness chart. As one of the densest wood species, Maple is ideal for high-traffic areas.
Use microfiber mops to clean and avoid anything that will leave excess water on the floor. Get rid of heel marks using an approved floor cleaner applied with a microfiber cloth or tennis ball.
We do not recommend pre-sealing Maple with a conditioner because it closes up the grain of the wood even more, further preventing color adherence. In the future, just use our water-based stains or gel stains on their own. Do not use liquid oil-based stains on Maple because they will blotch.
It is marketed as a wood floor cleaning product that has the ability to both clean and shine your floors. This is a major appeal to many people because it does multiple things at once. It cleans your floor AND leaves it looking shiny again.