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Difference between urethane/alkyd and polyurethane varnishes and lacquers


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Right, I seem to be going round in circles. I'm looking for a good quality hard wearing lacquer/varnish for both upstairs and downstairs wood flooring.

 

The choices which all the manufacturers tell me are super brilliant tend to differ between urethane/alkyd or polyurethane 2 or 1 pack. I'm trying to understand the difference  and if it's even relevant? Prior experience is that polyurethane shows scratches quite easily. A couple of manufacturers say that the urethane/alkyd type remains flexible and therefore more resilient?

 

We had a floor varnish in our last place that lasted perfectly for more than 12 years even with kids but I can't find the same varnish anymore but looking at the updated manufacturer products theirs now contains Acrylic and Ethylene oxide urethane so wonder if this is largely the same as urethane/alkyd?

 

I'm tending towards urethane/alkyd.

 

Can anyone shed some light and personal experience on this yet another mind blowing topic please?

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5 minutes ago, stu w said:

Osmo hardwax oil,  expensive but very good 

 

1 minute ago, markc said:

The Osmo stuff is brilliant, think the one for floors is  called Polyx oil 

 

Thanks, but I should have said, no Osmo hardwax oil suggestions please 🙂 I have tins of it at home along with Rubio Monocoat. For other applications yes, just not for this.

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Difficult one this.

 

Polyurethane is made up of many urethane molecules.

This changes the structure and may affect how well it bonds to different materials and the type of surface finish.

I suspect that most sold are actually polyurethane, but the lazy marketing department have misnamed them.

 

I have a parquet wood floor, a very cheap one.

I used a brush/roller on, single part, polyurethane floor lacquer.  Has been brilliant.

As it was 20 years ago, I can't remember who made it and don't have the tin anymore.

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