jody

Hello everyone,

After reading tons of posts on this website, I finally decided to register and post a question.

We are in a small community and are building a new home with the help of a local handyman/contractor. He is a one man crew, so we (my husband, myself and grown son) are providing the labor with his expertise.

What final finish (urethane, polyurethane, lacquer etc.) is typically used on interior doors, window casings, and baseboard? Also what type of application, brush or spray?

I am an amatur woodworker, and have used Zip-Guard Urethane in the past. Our contractor I think mostly sprays lacquer on other jobs he does, however he hasn't bulit but a couple complete houses, he mostly does smaller remodeling jobs. Is lacquer as durable as a urethane because what I have seen scratches easily.

JW_in_Indy

Lacquer is generally used in new construction (where a LOT of woodwork trim and doors need to be stained and finished) and it's normally sprayed. The nice thing about lacquer is it dries so quickly and you can "build out" your stain/finish over a single day or two without a ton of sanding and dry times. Cabinetman likes water based polyurethanes which would also give you very quick dry times and I would think, a bit more durability. I've never used the water based poly's though, so I can't really comment too much on them,

GeorgeC

I would agree with JW that poly would be more durable. While I use lacquer almost exclusively for furniture I do not think I would use it in a situation where physical damage is likely to occur. The door frames, doors, molding, etc are all going to be subject to external damage.

G

cabinetman

WELCOME TO THE FORUM

Years ago, the traditional finish for interior painted (color) woodwork was oil base enamel. Interior oil base varnish was used for clear finishes. That being said, there are a few schools of thought.

For woodwork that gets carried to an installation, in other words...pre-finished with a clear finish, to be installed there are a few methods.

If the person has experience in finishing and has used nitrocellulose lacquer, that finish is the fastest and very durable. A waterbased polyurethane, IMO, is as durable and dries almost as fast. I doubt a finisher with experience would be spraying that type of woodwork with an oil base clear finish. At least I wouldn't be doing that.

Beyond pre-finishing the woodwork to be installed, lets for a moment look a bit into the future. Initially, a sprayed finish on uninstalled woodwork would look the best. Once installed, there will always be touch ups and maybe areas that might need another application at a later time.

With that in mind, lacquer would be the most difficult to reproduce once the woodwork was installed. Waterbase polyurethane would be a wiser choice as it's easier to work with, dries fast, cleans up with water, and almost odorless.

For woodwork already installed, most likely to finish/refinish would be done with a brush. If the initial work was done with a sprayed lacquer, it could be recoated at a later time with either an oil base varnish or oil base polyurethane, or waterbase polyurethane, once cured.

So, the question here is considering two variables. The first if the woodwork is to be prefinished prior to installation, and the second is finishing installed woodwork. Personally, I would stay away from lacquer. Brushing or wiping on an oil base varnish or polyurethane done with finesse, can produce a nice hard durable finish. Actually the same can be said about WB polyurethane.

For an all around finish that dries fast, is as durable as the others, and is easy to use, waterbase polyurethane is at the top of my list. I would suggest whatever media is chosen to experiment with some samples. If you decide to use a color and not clear, that's another long story.

jody

Thanks for all the good information and advice!