I’ll be installing bald cypress flooring soon. I’ve a dog and two kids that like to ride their bikes in the house. I know that cypress is relatively soft, but a local mill has sold me some nice stuff that is largely heart and yellow sapwood, not the white, marshmallow consistency you often find at the lumber yard. It’s about as hard as cherry.
A lot of the stuff I’ve read recommends an oil varnish like Waterlox so the dents in softwoods don’t show up as white scratches.
But, I don’t want the yellow look of an oil. Also, I’d like to dye the floor to better match the heartwood and sapwood. I really like the orange-red color of the heartwood and would try to match to that. My thought is that with a soft wood like cypress, I’d need to apply a wash coat of shellac first to prevent blotching and the Waterlox probably wouldn’t like that.
So, I’m thinking of a water based polyureathane. I’ve used this over shellac on furniture and am very happy with the result. I’ve always used General Finishes brand, which isn’t too plastic in its appearance. But this doesn’t come in floor finishing quantities.
Two questions: what is a good water based poly that won’t look too plastic or cloudy and should I apply a wash coat of shellac before dying the wood?
