Sealing your floor can bring it more beauty, protection, and durability, yet, not all kinds of sealing can be used on all kinds of woods. Sometimes, possibly, most hardwood flooring from the manufacturer is already furnished.
Therefore, there is no need to finish that kind of hardwood. If it’s not, the user must get a sealer for his hardwood floors.
Do you need to seal hardwood? Yes, sealing woods helps reduce this pull, preventing discoloration and other effects that may result from the pulling of tannin.
In a nutshell, information would be provided if a particular hardwood needs to be finished, also finished, or not to be finished (if it had been done from the factory).
Sealing is essential as it helps protect the wood from destructive penetration. The unfinished hardwood floors require a coat of sealer with a minimum of two coats of protection finishing.
The first seal coat can be substituted for skin depending on what kind of look the user wants.
However, before condition staining on hardwood, ensure you check for the factory instructions. Some wood’s cell structure and hardness are very selective as to what kind of sealing is suitable for it.
Related: How to Repurpose Hardwood Flooring
Do You Need to Seal Hardwood?
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Sealer coat enables finish to sit on sealer and wood with optimum protection, build, and depth. It also expands the life span of the finish and wood.
Not sealing a hardwood will bring extra work and expenses because the finish quickly soaks into the wood without a sealer.
It also exposes it to unwelcome and unfavourable reactions between the hardwood and the finish. The pull of tannin and other extractives I very possible in wood because it was once a living entity.
However, sealing woods helps reduce this pull, preventing discoloration and other effects that may result from the pulling of tannin.
Also, sealing wood gives it extra quality and authenticity, preserving and improving its color.
The chemical in the finish has the potency of damaging the woods. Sealing the floor would prevent this implication between the finish and the wood.
How to Know if the Hardwood Floor Is Sealed
To test if hardwood is sealed or not is a straightforward thing. You can quickly try if your hardwood is sealed or not with the use of water.
Get a glass of water and a suitable place for passage (to avoid slipping). Drop about a spoon of water on the hardwood floor and wait for a few minutes.
Whether the water soaks or not tells if it is sealed or not. If the water soaks, it means the hardwood isn’t sealed. If the water doesn’t, it means it is sealed.
Read: How to Fix Hump in Hardwood Floor
Does Any Sealer Go for Any Wood?
As said earlier, your kind of wood determines what type of sealing you use for it. Based on the cell structure, hardness, and composition of hardwood, a particular sealer may not be suitable for that kind of hardwood.
You need to check which sealer best suits your hardwood, leaving no side effects. Choose the type that protects your wood well.
Here are different types of wood sealers: project sealers, Brick sealers, Garage floor urethane coating, stains cedars bark, fabric protection (hydro Lok)
Is Sealer Different from Polyurethane?
The generality of wood finish encloses the wood and protects its pores and surfaces to avoid penetration of harmful elements is a sealer.
While all polyurethane is known as sealers, not all sealers are polyurethane. Sealer is the term used to depict the closing up of hardwood.
With this definition, it can be said that polyurethane is a sealer type—a means of enclosing the wood. However, not all sealers are polyurethane.
Read: How to Fix Faded Hardwood Floors
Conclusion
To have that good looking hardwood floor, a sealer must be applied. Of course, the sealers’ necessity isn’t limited to beauty alone; it also gives adequate protection to the floor, preventing it from soaking and discoloring.
Sealing also reduces tanning migration, preserving the color, enhancing it, and providing more quality.
Leaving a wood without sealing deprives your wood of these benefits and exposes them to these side effects. Hence, it is essential to seal a wood floor.
This article was written to give you in-depth knowledge about if you need to seal hardwood floors.
It is our sincere hope that this article helped make the decision easier, if it does, kindly share it across your social media platforms.
