Bona and their many naturals

8 years ago

Can anyone explain the difference between the 3 different "natural" products Bona offers? I have new white oak floors installed and am trying to achieve the look/color of the floors below. I realize some of these may be rift and quarter sewn oak which I don't have but you live and learn.

I currently have a sample of one coat of NaturalSeal with one coat of satin Traffic and another sample of NaturalSeal with matte Traffic HD on the floors.

How would using Bona Traffic Naturale differ from the above approach? Does it look different? Does it still require a sealer?

Then there's also the Bona Drifast Natural stain but I'm assuming that's not what we're looking for.

I've included pictures of our samples. Will these look like the inspiration pictures? In our current house I messed up the stain selection the first time and had to have them resanded so I'm a bit nervous about not picking the right approach.

Also, satin or matte? All the pictures of this color seem to have matte but we've always had satin on our floors so that seems like the safest choice because we know we've like it. Then again our floors have always been dark so maybe matte is the way to go with light floors.

(I know people have opinions about Bona but it's what almost all of the experienced, qualified hardwood people use in our area, including the flooring sub that my builder uses. We've always had Bona Traffic and have been happy so we're sticking with our builders preferred sub who does great work.)

Thank you so much!

Featured Answer

SJ McCarthy

8 years ago

Work with the satin. It is a much easier gloss level to live with. And there are MANY people who HATE their low-gloss matte floors (in fact 90% of "I hate my floors" come from the MATTE finish than any other characteristic).

The satin will offer you a glow that is appealing (you have lived with it and understand it) even on light floors. That glow will slowly "dull down" as it ages. This is natural and normal.

The matte finishes are very hard to live with - even with light flooring like yours. I've come to the conclusion there are "clean shiny" people in the world who believe a clean floor is a floor with a glow/gloss to it. If they live with a low gloss matte floor they OVER CLEAN their floors. They always say, "My floors only look clean when they are wet - right after I mop them." This is the hallmark of a "clean shiny" person. Satin is the LOWEST POSSIBLE gloss level for that personality.

Ask yourself how you FEEL about a "freshly cleaned" floor. Do you feel GOOD (warm fuzzy feeling) about the glow you get from a clean floor? If you answered "yes" then you fall into the category of "clean shiny".

That's fine. Don't be afraid of it. It is part of who you are. So long as you admit that is part of your "happy place" in your cleaning routine, you can PLAN for your flooring gloss level. If you feel you are a "clean shiny" person, then satin is the answer.

As I always say, "Homeowner, Know Thyself."

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Comments (11)

Jennifer Wamboldt
8 years ago
Have you made your decision by chance? I am in the same boat I believe and I need to make it decision by tomorrow! Was curious what you decided based on your post :-)
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cac546
Original Author
8 years ago
The floors haven't been done yet but we've decided on NaturalSeal with the Traffic HD in Extra Matte. The reason I went with that over the Traffic Naturale is that the Traffic Naturale is even more matte, which didn't seem necessary, and also apparently imitates the texture of unfinished floors where I was definitely looking for the smooth, non-textured finish of a standard top coat, just without the gloss.

Good luck! I'd love to know what you decide and see pictures when they're done.
Jennifer Wamboldt
8 years ago
I want a natural look without the yellow. I’m being encouraged by the builder to use Loba Invisible but I’m still concerned. I’m a little frustrated with my builder because my samples are all over the place and not in a line where I really can compare. I would really like to try the Bona NordicSeal but don’t know if we will have time. That seems to give them whitest of there looks. Such a hard decision! Good luck.
cac546
Original Author
8 years ago
We had samples of both done on our floors and they were almost indistinguishable. The NaturalSeal just had a bit more warmth (yellowness I suppose) that made it feel richer on our floors. We also had a sample that was two coats NordicSeal but that one was much cloudier than we were looking for.
momwifenurse
7 years ago
cac546 I was wondering how your floors turned out and if you love them. Our Floor contractor put down a sample of bona natural seal and I was thinking about doing nordic seal because It looked little more yellow then I wanted. Could you please post a picture. Thank you!
megslam06
5 years ago
Momwifenurse what did you wind up doing? I am choosing between natural seal and Nordic seal - thought I wanted natural but am leaning towards Nordic for the same reason you were considering it
lisacarnovale
5 years ago
I saw your comment megslam06 and I had to chime in! Be careful with NordicSeal....I wanted that also, as I loved the look of it that I had seen online. It was gorgeous. So, we went for it!
Nordic Seal dries very quickly and after the first coat we could see all of the overlap marks - like white lines throughout the entire house. We ended up having to re-sand the everything and start again. We hired someone who works exclusively with Bona products and even he said that in theory Nordic Seal is a great idea (when you try it in on a small patch of wood as a sample), but in practice it is almost impossible to get a flawless finish with no overlap. Anyway, we went with Bona Natural and Traffic HD Natural on top, as we really wanted the look and feel of unfinished wood. We are so happy that we did. Good luck! Would love to hear what you decided!
megslam06
5 years ago
Thank you! So helpful!! Will go the same route!
Sofia Akhter
5 years ago
@lisacarnovale, do u have maple floor? How many coats of Natural and Traffic HD did you do? Thanks!!
venexiano
4 years ago
Do you have any picture of the final floor, Lisa and Meg? Lisa, what did you use as finish, you said Bona Traffic HD Natural, but there is not such a thing, there is Bona Traffic HD and Traffic Natural (non-HD), see here: http://resources.bona.com/books/uwei/#p=9