Floor Finishing: Benefits of Water-Based Finishes
Whether you are a homeowner, floor finisher, or business owner, there are many benefits to using water-based finishes.
Homeowners
As a homeowner replacing, refinishing, or installing hardwood floors for the first time, the last thing you would want is a fire in your home. Lacquer sealers are very common among some floor finishing companies and that product is very dangerous. The product's vapors are highly flammable. Additionally, wood dust from sanding can spontaneously combust. To protect yourself and your home, insist that your floor finishers use water-based products as they are are less flammable. Be sure to follow MassCOSH's Consumer Safety Fact Sheet, Floor Safety Checklist, and Consumer Safety Fact Sheet on Contractors.
Floor Finishers
What is more important than your health and livelihood? As a worker, you are risking your life and health when using lacquer sealer. MassCOSH provides tools to help you create a safer work environment for yourself and your coworkers. Protect yourself by completing the Safety Checklist prior to starting each job. Be sure that your boss provides you with training and certification in your native language. Ultimately, it could save your life.
Floor Finishing Companies
When your workers are constantly exposed to lacquer sealer, their health and lives are in danger and the house itself is at risk of fire--which would be a huge business loss. Lacquer sealers are never necessary for a good finish, and can even ruin a floor's appearance when certain types of finishes are applied over them. If you are looking for the amber color that lacquer sealers produce, you can use stains or other products to get this same color. Viet-AID can give you free information on this.
Viet-AID offers free trainings in both English and Vietnamese for you and your workers about ways to improve your floor finishing techniques so that you can make more money while using safer products. For information on these trainings, call Viet-AID at (617)822-3717 x22.
You may be used to using oil-based finishes. The use of water-based finishes is both safer and more efficient. Using these, your workers will not get headaches, dizziness, or damage to the nervous system. Your workers will be more productive because their health is in tact. Water-based finishes also dry faster, allowing for more jobs to be done in less time, and are more durable which would give your company a better reputation among homeowners. Your customers will be happier because they will be able to live in their homes right away without any bad odors. To promote the safety and health of your workers and to create more productivity, provide them with trainings and certifications in their native language. Designate a certified worker to be responsible for completing a Safety Checklist and provide a Floor Finishing Safety Fact Sheet to homeowners to be signed.
