We here at City Floor Supply have various panels of hardwood floors to test all sorts of products on. When we test a product, we put it through more harsh and stringent situations than what you’d encounter on an average job site.
When we received Basic Coatings Easy Street finish we decided to test it on a panel of maple wood.
We did that because maple is a wood type that is notorious for showing blemishes and other cosmetic flaws when a wood finish is applied because it is a dense wood that prevents finishes from permeating the wood fibers. It is a wood that is tough to apply any sort of stain or finish to. This makes maple flooring perfect for the sort of stringent tests we put products through.
The Easy Street finish comes in four varieties. There’s Gloss, Semi-Gloss, Super Matte, and Satin. We chose satin for the tests. Any brand of satin finish is more likely to telegraph streaking flaws and flow and leveling issues on a maple. Even sanding flaws like chatter marks and grit progression scratches are more prominent on maple floors. These facts about maple’s difficult nature made for a really tough test.
What we found was that the Easy Street satin worked flawlessly on our 128 sq ft maple panel. There was no blemishes present on the panel. No streaks in the finish. The finish laid out smooth and all the bubbles broke. In fact, we put six coats on the test panel and there was no difficulty to the process. Even after six coats, there was no “combing effect” or film thickness difference streak or shadow.
Not only does the Easy Street finish perform well, it is also an easy to use product. This is something that you can trust with your A, B, and C level mechanics to use. It’s a single component finish. No more worries about correctly mixing in another product to use. Single component also cuts down on waste. You can combine different containers of the product without concern. Also contributing to the longevity of the product is its unlimited pot life. This product, unlike dual component finishes, will not harden when left inside a bucket. Another beneficial aspect to this finish is that can be pulled or rolled in its application. That’s rare for a finish, but it means your mechanics can use the application method they prefer.
Easy Street is a crystal clear finish. Most people who want maple floors want to see its natural hardwood floor color. Even if you want to stain maple or use Easy Street on an entirely different type of wood, the clear finish will let the color of the wood or stain shine through. Colors of wood floors come in and out of fashion fairly frequently. With a clear finish, you won’t have to worry about finding a color finish that matches up with the client’s needs. The variety of use a clear finish like Easy Street offers makes it an invaluable resource.
While the Easy Street finish is relatively new on the market, Basic Coatings has a 20+ year history of being one of the top companies in the hardwood floor industry. Their track record speaks volumes about how well their products perform.
