Toughest floor finish

[Jeffrey]

I'm in the process of refinishing the steps to the second floor of our home. We have two dogs whose claws are scratching up the finish. I'm using water based poly to finish the treads. Is there a stronger or tougher finish that I could be using? I've got 4 coats of poly on each tread. My wife doesn't want carpet and I can't keep resanding the treads.

Thanks,

Jeff

[Dragon]

You are either going to have to put some kind of covering on the steps, declaw the dogs(not recommended), or eventually replace the treads from all the sanding you will have to do.

You aren't going to find a finish that will hold up to that particular kind of abuse. Dog claws are tough!

If they are small dogs you can clip their claws. Just stay out of the quick.

[giddonah]

you might try hard plastic strips. They'll start to look really hazy as they get scratched, but it'll be a lot less work changing them compared to sanding.

[CThomp]

What about that stuff they use on the front of cars now instead of bug bras? That transparent plastic adhesive stuff. Seems like that would be some pretty stout covering.

[David]

What about that stuff they use on the front of cars now instead of bug bras? That transparent plastic adhesive stuff. Seems like that would be some pretty stout covering.

But what do you do once it *is* scratched? How do you get that stuff off?

[CThomp]

I think "it's" supposed to be pretty scratch resistent being that the stuff is put on the front of cars.

Why not do something other that wood for the treads then? How about slate? Do wood risers and slate treads? My father in-law did that to his staircase. It looks awesome. He used a dark grayish slate and red oak risers with an american cherry stain. He used red oak bullnose for the trim work. The tiles are small 4 inch or so tiles.

[Animal AKA Will]

One option is to use a two-part epoxy on those steps. It will take longer to dry but it will last for a long time. I did that in a commercial building mill restoration on a floor in the break room. The drawback is it took almost three days to dry.

[CThomp]

They use two part epoxies for marine applications as well. Hadn't thought of that.