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Bona Novia Wood Flooring Lacquer Review Page
© Copyright Author Gary Hughes/Woodfloor-Renovations
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Bona Novia is a one-component waterborne finish for the surface
treatment of wooden floors in domestic areas and other areas subject to normal - heavy wear. Bona Novia can be combined with any Bona waterborne primer but also works well applied directly to wood and brings out a warm colouration to many timbers.
• Easy to use, no primer needed.
• Self-cross linking, acts as a 2-component product but without requiring any mixing.
• Good resistance to wear, chemicals and scuff marks.
• Non-yellowing.
• Quick drying
The above text is the standard Bona product introduction, but Novia does exactly what the manufacturer says it does - and then some.
This is Bona's starter lacquer product and has been on the market since September 2008, and having used Bona Novia on countless occasions we have nothing but good things to say about it.
The product is easy to apply with pretty quick drying times as well, which can be as little as an hour if the site conditions are right and the product is properly applied, Bona rightly say that with Novia no primer need be used, you basically use the first coat as the primer, then apply the following coats as required.
No Primer i hear you say - whats that all about - Well using a Primer on newly prepared wood flooring is a subjective issue which i won't be going too deep on in this article, suffice to say it depends on a number of factors whether or not Primer is used as the first coat or not, but such is the versatility and quality of Novia that you have no need at all to worry about using Novia as the priming coat.
Bona Novia has many plus points, one of which is that it has been designed to minimize grain raise in the timbers to which it is applied, secondly the chemists at Bona have made Novia particularly easy to use when the floor has to be 'cut back' or in layman's terms lightly sanded after the first or second coat of the product has been applied.
Applying water based lacquers to wooden floors will often cause 'grain raise' which is basically the grain of the wood 'popping'. This can leave the floor feeling slightly rough to the touch, even after the 2nd and 3rd coats of lacquer are applied. This is where 'cutting back' the floor will add extra quality to the project, and leave the floor feeling much smoother, both to the touch and underfoot.
In my experience, whether you are using a roller to apply this product onto your wooden floor or using a more professional 'T' bar type of applicator, Bona Novia applies easily and if you apply the product as you should it will look superb and leave you with a hard wearing surface that will give you years of faithful service if properly maintained.
A Floor sanding professional will use a buffing machine with a 120-150 grit sanding screen to lightly sand off the area after the 1st or 2nd coat of Novia has been applied and left to properly dry, this process will leave the floor smoother and slightly abraded in readiness for the subsequent coat or coats of Novia.
[Thoroughly vacuum and tack cloth the area after cutting back]
With other lacquer products, sometimes the grain raise nibs can get very hard when cutting back the floor, almost like little grains of sand, these can clog the sanding screen, and if you are not careful, badly scratch the floor leaving unpleasant marks and swirls which the following coats of lacquer won't hide.
Thankfully Novia doesn't do this at all. There will be virtually no 'nibs' clogging up the sanding screen, which means no unsavory scratches or swirls to have to sort out late in the day - hurrah i hear you say - hurrah indeed, this is a big deal in professional floor sanding, and is also a big bonus for the DIY er.
Below is a brief summary of the main features of Bona Novia
- Novia can easily be used as a base coat for Bona Mega, or Bona Traffic
- Excellent Chemical Resistance
- Beautiful Deep Colouration
- Environmentally Friendly Product
- Very Easy to use - No Primer is Required
- Quick Drying
- Non Yellowing
- Nice Even Finish
- Almost Odour Free
- V.O.C compliant [VOC= Volatile Organic Compounds]
- Excellent Levelling Properties
*Remember* - Maximum hardness of this Lacquer is achieved after 72 hours
The coverage is also excellent, we get at the very least 10m2 per litre of Novia, often 12m2 + is achievable but this is dependant on many variables.
Bona specify an application rate of 8-10m2 per litre of Novia
Novia comes delivered in a 5 litre or 10 litre can [with a filter] and is available in 3 different sheen levels which are:-
Matt [25% Sheen] Silk Matt [45% Sheen] and finally Gloss [85% Sheen]
All these finishes look superb when properly applied and it would of course depend on the individual choice of the end user as to what aesthetic sheen level best suits the particular area/room that this product is being applied into.
APPLICATION
We are often asked 'How many coats of lacquer do i need' the simple answer is as many as you like, but this always relates to cost & the time frame involved in the project. As a general rule of thumb a Professional Floor Sanding company will specify 3 Coats of Lacquer or 2 coats of Oil as standard for a domestic situation, extra coats of lacquer will be at an extra cost, anything between £4 - £6 per coat per m2 eg. For a 20m2 lounge to be given a 4th coat of lacquer should cost between £80 - £120
If in doubt just ask your Floor Sanding Professional.
Bona Novia can be applied to a wood floor in a number of ways, a floor sanding professional will use a variety of application methods depending on the size of project, but if you are looking to apply lacquer to for example a 20m2 lounge, Oak strip, a 9" roller would be perfectly acceptable, the roller refill you need should be a 'medium pile' with the pile length being approx 8mm, a decent quality roller will have that information on the packet, use an inch and three quarter roller and cage, these are more robust and just better than the cheaper inch and a half alternatives.
- Look out for a light blue line around the roller refill, this designates that the pile has been thermo fused onto the actual roller sleeve and is highly unlikely to shed hair/pile into the lacquer.
For cutting in we would recommend using a 4" Mini Paint Roller with a foam refill, these products are cheap but do the job extremely well. You don't always have to buy the manufacturers recommended products, which are normally twice the price of perfectly suitable alternatives.
The opinions and views expressed in this article are those of Woodfloor-Renovations through our experiences with the numerous Floor Sanding & Sealing projects that we have undertaken.
** No guarantee whatsoever is offered with this advice **
REMEMBER - ALWAYS follow the manufacturers instructions and read them carefully.
If you are not sure about any aspect of this article consult a Professional.
Woodfloor-Renovations is a genuine  certified contractor,
you can find us on Bona's Find your contractor page on their website |
The products listed below are in no particular order
The links below are Product Technical information sheets from the Manufacturers and should be of use. They are all PDF Files and clicking on the links will open your computers PDF reading program.
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