# Forum Home Renovation Flooring  Lightest finish for cypress pine boards

## Aangelique1611

Hi all, 
A few quick questions. Just starting to research my best options for sanding and polishing the floorboards. The place is a 1920's unit and the boards appear to be treated with Black japan around the edges of what I presume is cypress pine (here is a link to another unit in the building that has boards showing: http://i868.photobucket.com/albums/a...eckhand/fb.jpg ) 
In this picture the boards seem to be throwing a lot of yellow and gold hues and although I think it looks nice its too warm for my furnishings. Is there any finish that will result in a lighter colour, more like the boards look when they are just sanded? Alternatively I have heard there is a finish that tends to throw more greys than yellow tones? 
If all else fails I may resort to a small amount of stain to darken the boards slightly to a gritty brown rather than a yellow/organge colour.  
Is anyone able to suggest a finish that would be suitable?  
Thanks in advance.

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## Flok

I am by no means an expert in this area, so please take my post as an opinion, rather than a suggestion.  
I think these old floors are coated with solvent based polyurethane (the smelly stuff), or maybe with oil based coatings. The solvent based finish IMHO is very hard and durable and sits on the surface, but goldens with time.  
If you really dislike the orange finish (I know I do), you could opt to resand the floor (probably need to sand back to bare timber) and coat with a water based finish which is supposedly non-yellowing (but I guess it's not entirely true).  
I've also heard that you can buy additives to add into solvent based polyurethane (the smelly stuff), which would prevent yellowing - not sure how true is that either.  
And finally the oil based finishes - I am not a fan of those, so cannot comment as I haven't investigated them in more detail.

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## Aangelique1611

curious to know why you are not a fan of the oil based finishes? 
From what you have said it sounds like water based is  the way to go ...  
Thanks very much for getting back to me.

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## Flok

I think (but it might not be the case) that oild based coatings are higher maintenance, even though they do look great. The other thing, which might be of interest to you, is that I believe they also tend to yellow. 
So I haven't really spent much more time thinking about them  due to these 2 reasons  :Smilie: .

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## namtrak

Use Bona Mega water based polyurethane.

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## Bloss

But remember cypress is a yellow toned timber and UV exposure causes more yellowing whether treated or not. Most of the polyurethane finishes (oil or water based) have UV resistant additives, but the sun is a powerful force so eventually they all change colour - to a deeper golden yellow in timber with those tones or light timber and to other shades on differently toned timbers. And to the human eye darker too as more of the light is absorbed not reflected by the changes to the coatings and the timber itself. 
My answer is simple and blunt! It's timber - learn to love the wide variations of colour, grain & patterning and ageing processes - or paint it so choosing and controlling the colour and loose the magic of timber. I generally choose timber .  .  .    :2thumbsup:   :Cool:

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## Aangelique1611

Long delay on getting this job started but on the weekend we managed to get the carpet up. There is a heap of black japan around the edges (maybe a meter on each corner as well as the whole kitchen and whole bedroom) but something I noticed was that the knots seem to be a lot "tighter" than other cypress pine baords I have seen and after planing back a section of the black japan the tone of the timber underneath seems slightly more blonde/grey (although the grey may come from the black japan residue? maybe?). I have done a bit of an internet search and would I be correct in thinking that baltic pine tends to have smaller knots and be slightly less golden in colour than cypress?  
Ps. thanks for the comments above re water based polyurethane. I got a look at this used on a plank of wood compared to other finishes and I agree it would be what Im after, it seemed to darken the timber the least of all the other finishes. Thanks again for pushing me in the right direction.

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## TimDavis

The floor in the photo looks more like Baltic rather than Cypress Pine.
Water based poly won't darken timber as much as solvent or oil based poly on application. But, as Bloss says, the timber will still darken and go more honey in colour over time with UV exposure.
The only thing you can do is lime wash then coat the floor, which still shows all the grain pattern but won't go yellow. The timber will have a light/white apppearance that looks very pleasing on Baltic. Alternately you can stain in any colour shade you like, then coat over the top.

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## Aangelique1611

another point of interest I thought I should mention is that the boards were kind of very slightly curved upwards in the centre of each plank (narrow ways) ... I have seen cypress boards before but they looked more or less flat. These boards had a distinct ark in each panel ... I imagine that adds $$$ to the sanders bill as it would result in more sanding being required?  :Rolleyes:

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## TimDavis

Just about every old floor I've sanded has a degree of "cupping' or "peaking", especially old pine. Don't worry, any decent floor sander can flatten that off. It adds more in cost compared to sanding say a new, relatively flat hardwood floor, but is to be expected on most older floors.

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## Aangelique1611

Thanks very much for the info Tim! Good to know its not abnormal. 
The bf wont have a bar of limewashing  :Smilie:  If it were me that would be my choice.  
Im hoping that because the place faces south and gets little natural light due to nearby buildings obstructing the window areas, that the floors will be less inclined to darken, I accept that they will somewhat darken but am hoping they wont go too golden (i.e. like the picture in my above post).

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## TimDavis

It takes months and months to darken, so unless you took a before and after photo you won't notice it happening. Until it comes time to move a mat or permanent piece of furniture, then you'll find a lighter patch.

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## arsenalkl

I am curious as to which finish you have chosen as I am in the middle of having a Tas Oak floor done and want to retain as much of the beautiful, light appearance as possible.
Our floor is a new install that has been sanded and a Bona Novia finish applied but severe streaking occurred. They are coming back monday to sand it back to the wood and start again and I want to specify the Bona coating that will produce the most natural, non-shiny(no shine at all if possible) finish.
I have posted previously(my only other post so it can be found by searching under my user name) with pics attached. Another user responded advising that perhaps a primer should have been used, however, the Bona site states that no primer is required with the Novia.
The site also shows a "new" product called Bona Mega and claims that it "looks almost invisible and resembles natural wood". It is available in an "Extra Matt" finish.
Anyone with experience or knowledge about this product?
Thanks.

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## Ashore

I have found cypress darkens with age , we also have cypress floors , Jap black around the edges, sanded and coated with a clear poly coating.
The prob happened when we extended and used cypress flooring , the new boards though as dark as I could find are mush lighter than the original 1920's boards

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## namtrak

Bona Mega isnt a new product, the product you should be looking at would be Bona Naturale.

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