Water based polyurethane a more recent development than the solvent based variety dries more quickly thus making single day floor finishing feasible.
Water based polyurethane for floors dry time.
Water based polyurethane on the other hand mostly contains a negligible trace amount of voc thus making it safer.
The drying time of water based polyurethane.
The chart below shows the average dry time for different finishes dry time allows us to have access to the floors in between coats.
With water based finishes we can do 2 coats on the same day in some circumstances.
With water based poly can save you several days in the drying time so that you can move in faster and paint faster.
How many coats of polyurethane for hardwood floors.
48 hrs you can walk on it with shoes.
That s how we can apply multiple coats in a few days.
Our installer applied three coats of oil based duraseal and i would like an additional coat.
We just had red oak hardwood floors installed in two rooms and the adjoining rooms were all sanded and refinished.
Hours 24 48 you can walk on the floors with socks.
Drying is the first stage but there is also curing time.
It takes oil based polyurethane 24 hours and water based polyurethane 6 hours to dry enough to be able to walk on it in socks and proceed to the next step of the application process sanding or applying the next coat.
Require less maintenance over time.
Don t confuse dry time with curing time which can take up to 1 month depending on conditions.
In this time the floor should appear dry and not tacky at all.
Although it takes longer for a solvent based product to dry both water and solvent based products take several weeks to completely harden or cure.
After just 6 hours following the application you can walk on the finished surface.
Oil vs water based polyurethane pros and cons.
24 hrs before you can walk on the floors.
Oil based polyurethane floor finish.
You should remember to have your socks on and not barefoot while walking over the surface.
And make sure your pets who usually have bare feet do not walk on the floors during this time.
Avoid shoes and bare feet.
Oil based polyurethane takes longer to dry than water based poly.
The water based polyurethanes are the first drying ones.
Please note that these times are estimates and times can vary especially based on humidity levels.
Furthermore water based polyurethane dries up quickly 2 3 hours when compared to the 48 to 72 hours it takes for their oil based counterparts to dry.
For oil based poly it usually takes 30 days to.
Water based finishes dry fast most within two hours so you can apply several coats in a day.