Estapol

[strawberry]

Hi All,

not been around much the past couple of months. I'm in the process of building a house and its taking up all my time and brain space. very frustating thing to do here in Thailand.

does anyone know the Thai equivalent to estapol

Regards Joe

[chownah]

I had to google it to find out what it was. It is a brand name and there are many different products sold under this brand. Which product are you interested in? We used a variety of wood finishes on our house so I'm familiar (a little bit since I didn't actually do the work) with polyurethane, lacquer, and shellac. But I'm definitely no expert.

[strawberry]

Hi chownah,

thanks foryour reply.

I've used estapol back home on a couple of occasions and liked the results although I only used it on floors.

i've had a look at a couple of houses here in the village and am not impressed. The idea I have is to stain the wood with a colour called red cedar and then to cover with estapol ,2 coats. The floors I have done in the past have not been stained before applying the estapol. I'm very impressed by the hi sheen given off by a 2 coat job.

The work I'm looking at doing are floors, the staircase, doors and the railings on the verandahs. I seem to recall a guy painting his house ,outside walls, with it and ended up with a multitude of cracks all over the walls. I think it dries too hard for walls so I'm not considering doing that, besides I'm using cement boards for the outside walls upstairs.

Any advice you can give me would be appreciated.

Regards Joe

[ozzydom]

Hi All,

not been around much the past couple of months. I'm in the process of building a house and its taking up all my time and brain space. very frustating thing to do here in Thailand.

does anyone know the Thai equivalent to estapol

Regards Joe

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hi strawberry, estapol is as chownah say,s ,a brand name but because it was the first we aussies tend to call any polyurethane floor coating by that name,I have parquetry flooring in my place but the coating is definately not polyurethane, it is to soft (scratches far to easy). By chance I am off to Home-Pro shortly and will ask the guy I know in the paint dept about it and get back to you later in day. I have used estapol quite a few times in oz and it SHOULD be when dry and cured extremely hard and long lasting,requiring only a light sand and recoat about every 5 years in heavy traffic areas.It goes on in heavy coats,many cotractors lay it down with a mop .

[chownah]

Hi chownah,

thanks foryour reply.

I've used estapol back home on a couple of occasions and liked the results although I only used it on floors.

i've had a look at a couple of houses here in the village and am not impressed. The idea I have is to stain the wood with a colour called red cedar and then to cover with estapol ,2 coats. The floors I have done in the past have not been stained before applying the estapol. I'm very impressed by the hi sheen given off by a 2 coat job.

The work I'm looking at doing are floors, the staircase, doors and the railings on the verandahs. I seem to recall a guy painting his house ,outside walls, with it and ended up with a multitude of cracks all over the walls. I think it dries too hard for walls so I'm not considering doing that, besides I'm using cement boards for the outside walls upstairs.

Any advice you can give me would be appreciated.

Regards Joe

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I think what you probably used for floors was polyurethane...its really common to use this on floors. We had polyurethane put on our floor....the brand was B-52...it has the picture of a super sonic airplane on the can and I think it is called Unithane....but when you read the smaller print it says that it is polyurethane...the can has english and thai writing. I have no idea of the quality of B-52 brand or any other brand of polyurethane. Ask around for the best quality polyurethane and I'm sure you'll end up buying the most expensive brand...even though it MAY be that they are all mostly the same...I don't know. If I were you I'd google for painting with polyurethane and I'm sure you'll find lots.

The low quality of the floor finishes you saw may be do to the following items all of which I have seen in my village:

1. Use of highly porous wood. Highly porous wood needs enough coats to fill the pores.

2. Not enough coats. They only put one on our floor and it would surely be better with two...or three....or...

3. Not sanded enough/properly. Most floor sanding people charge by the job so the sooner your done the sooner you get paid and the pay is the same. Also, sanding technique is not equivalent to western standards for fineness of grit and direction.

4. Removal of sanding debris before painting. Painting is usually contracted by the job and the sooner you're done the sooner you're paid and the pay isn't getting any bigger by doing a slow and meticulous job.

5. Method of application. Using the wrong type of brushes. Thick and thin. No technique to eliminate brush marks.

6. Leaving windows open during drying so dust can come in and settle on the floor.

These things are not done through incompetence. They are done because this is the way all the high quality floors in our village are done and it is what people expect here. They've never seen a really good quality floor finish unless they've visited some palace in Bangkok. Of course there are good floor finishers in Thailand, just not in our village...and in most villages as far as I can tell.

You should look on the web but I think that you don't want to use polyurethane on floors outside where they will get wet...like probably your veranda floors. I don't know about the railings. I'm basing this on the fact that our veranda was done with polyurethane and it has cracked and peeled. We are building really slowly and after the floor was done we built railing with those fancy Thai style cut out boards. In Thai they're called 'chaloot' or 'chaloop'...something like that. I will have to refinish them every so often due to the weathering so I'm thinking of not using polyurethane...but instead using teak oil. It has to be done more often but doesn't crack or peel (or so I've been told...don't know for sure)and I'm hoping will not require sanding before refinishing. It doesn't have that hard gloss finish which (I think) is what you are after. It has a soft glow which I prefer.

Anyway don't rely on my input alone....check out other sources...the web has got tons....let me know what you find/decide.

By the way, we used a shellac base coat followed with lacquer to do our interior walls which are wood. Came out really nice and you can get anything from high gloss to matt finish with this technique.

[ozzydom]

Hi All,

not been around much the past couple of months. I'm in the process of building a house and its taking up all my time and brain space. very frustating thing to do here in Thailand.

does anyone know the Thai equivalent to estapol

Regards Joe

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hi strawberry, estapol is as chownah say,s ,a brand name but because it was the first we aussies tend to call any polyurethane floor coating by that name,I have parquetry flooring in my place but the coating is definately not polyurethane, it is to soft (scratches far to easy). By chance I am off to Home-Pro shortly and will ask the guy I know in the paint dept about it and get back to you later in day. I have used estapol quite a few times in oz and it SHOULD be when dry and cured extremely hard and long lasting,requiring only a light sand and recoat about every 5 years in heavy traffic areas.It goes on in heavy coats,many cotractors lay it down with a mop .

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I have used estapol on parquetry,cork and tas oak hardwood t&g flooring ,all with good results. the normal sequence of events is sand floor to remove all imperfections putty where required,clean spotlessly. Apply sanding sealer then sand and clean again ,apply one coat estapol ,not to heavy resand /clean .then either one or two heavy coats estapol. sanding between all coats is a must to aid bonding. estapol having a low viscosity is self levelling,hence the glass like finish.

most polyurethanes are no good exterior use as it is to hard to expand/contract and just cracks,if estapol is used on skirtings ,lay them out and carry out same procedures as floor but they must be done laid out flat prior to fitting.

[chownah]

Hi All,

not been around much the past couple of months. I'm in the process of building a house and its taking up all my time and brain space. very frustating thing to do here in Thailand.

does anyone know the Thai equivalent to estapol

Regards Joe

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hi strawberry, estapol is as chownah say,s ,a brand name but because it was the first we aussies tend to call any polyurethane floor coating by that name,I have parquetry flooring in my place but the coating is definately not polyurethane, it is to soft (scratches far to easy). By chance I am off to Home-Pro shortly and will ask the guy I know in the paint dept about it and get back to you later in day. I have used estapol quite a few times in oz and it SHOULD be when dry and cured extremely hard and long lasting,requiring only a light sand and recoat about every 5 years in heavy traffic areas.It goes on in heavy coats,many cotractors lay it down with a mop .

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I have used estapol on parquetry,cork and tas oak hardwood t&g flooring ,all with good results. the normal sequence of events is sand floor to remove all imperfections putty where required,clean spotlessly. Apply sanding sealer then sand and clean again ,apply one coat estapol ,not to heavy resand /clean .then either one or two heavy coats estapol. sanding between all coats is a must to aid bonding. estapol having a low viscosity is self levelling,hence the glass like finish.

most polyurethanes are no good exterior use as it is to hard to expand/contract and just cracks,if estapol is used on skirtings ,lay them out and carry out same procedures as floor but they must be done laid out flat prior to fitting.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

What do you think of using teak oil for the veranda railings, fancy work, and exterior wood stairs?

[ozzydom]

Hi All,

not been around much the past couple of months. I'm in the process of building a house and its taking up all my time and brain space. very frustating thing to do here in Thailand.

does anyone know the Thai equivalent to estapol

Regards Joe

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hi strawberry, estapol is as chownah say,s ,a brand name but because it was the first we aussies tend to call any polyurethane floor coating by that name,I have parquetry flooring in my place but the coating is definately not polyurethane, it is to soft (scratches far to easy). By chance I am off to Home-Pro shortly and will ask the guy I know in the paint dept about it and get back to you later in day. I have used estapol quite a few times in oz and it SHOULD be when dry and cured extremely hard and long lasting,requiring only a light sand and recoat about every 5 years in heavy traffic areas.It goes on in heavy coats,many cotractors lay it down with a mop .

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I have used estapol on parquetry,cork and tas oak hardwood t&g flooring ,all with good results. the normal sequence of events is sand floor to remove all imperfections putty where required,clean spotlessly. Apply sanding sealer then sand and clean again ,apply one coat estapol ,not to heavy resand /clean .then either one or two heavy coats estapol. sanding between all coats is a must to aid bonding. estapol having a low viscosity is self levelling,hence the glass like finish.

most polyurethanes are no good exterior use as it is to hard to expand/contract and just cracks,if estapol is used on skirtings ,lay them out and carry out same procedures as floor but they must be done laid out flat prior to fitting.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

What do you think of using teak oil for the veranda railings, fancy work, and exterior wood stairs?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Teak oil is a great product chownah it offers great protection, allows the natural colors and grain in the timber to stand out and is simple to recoat, I used it on all bare exterior timber (bare) on my fishing vessels including masts and spars, its sometimes called scandanavian oil .

[ozzydom]

Hi All,

not been around much the past couple of months. I'm in the process of building a house and its taking up all my time and brain space. very frustating thing to do here in Thailand.

does anyone know the Thai equivalent to estapol

Regards Joe

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Had a look at Home-pro strawberry, there are some good brands of polyurethane available here, T.O.E. brand ,first coat is straight single pot polyurethane and second coat is twopack 1to1 mix ,really good sample finish (hi-gloss) and directions in english.

[roscoe]

Hi All,

not been around much the past couple of months. I'm in the process of building a house and its taking up all my time and brain space. very frustating thing to do here in Thailand.

does anyone know the Thai equivalent to estapol

Regards Joe

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Had a look at Home-pro strawberry, there are some good brands of polyurethane available here, T.O.E. brand ,first coat is straight single pot polyurethane and second coat is twopack 1to1 mix ,really good sample finish (hi-gloss) and directions in english.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

If you want to apply it with a roller (you can) do NOT use a foam one ,without testing it first as the wrong type will instantly expand by a factor of 10 and rend apart .Visually impressive , but no good if any falls in the mix.

[strawberry]

Hi All,

WOW great advice. Its been about 40 years since I did any floor work but some stuff is coming back. Seem to remember using a lambs wool roller to apply the estapol/polyeurathane. I will deffinately use teak oil on my doors and windows.

Think it might be difficult to find some one here in the village to do the floors that will give me the effect that I want. all the floors I have seen here seem to have been done by hand on knees, whereas when I was doing it we had a machine looked a bit like a lawn mower and you adjusted the height of the roller by hand on the handle.

I find Home Pro to be more expensive than other places that I go to that is pretty important for me as I'm now almost down to paying for stuff with my monthly super pension.

Many thanks for the great advice.

Joe