ClassicSeal may have the word “seal” in its name, but it is designed to be a base or primer coat only!

Bona ClassicSeal is the foundation or first coat of a three-coat water-based system, so don’t just use it for all your layers, thinking you are being clever and saving money.

This is not meant to be the tough outer layer – it is designed to a bonding layer. It is runnier than Bona’s topcoats (Mega or Traffic) so that it soaks into the wood and grabs hold. Those high-solid topcoats just don’t go into the wood as well as a sealer does. But the topcoats adhere easily and well to this sealer. And layers of polyurethane are only protective if they can bond to each other.

Seal coats like this help prevent “side-bonding” which is the tendency for strong finish coats to literally glue boards together along their edges, which prevents floorboards from gapping evenly during the dry seasons. And finally, sealers are an important first coat on oak floors because topcoats are known to pull the tannin up out of the grain and into the finish, leaving blotchy appearance.

Bona makes six different sealers, each a slightly different under-color.

Bona ClassicSeal is the clearest of the six – it does not add the warm, amber color that oil-based sealers or polyurethanes do. ClassicSeal keeps you floor looking very close to its raw, natural state. This is neither good nor bad – but it is an important aesthetic truth that you need to know about this product before you choose it!

If you need color in your wood, you should stain your wood first or use an AmberSeal basecoat. You cannot tint this coat.

ClassicSeal is designed specifically to work under either two coats of Bona Mega or two coats of Bona Traffic.

It is a foundation coat only. But it lets those topcoats be all they can be.

ClassicSeal has one challenge: it can be very difficult to sand it.

Why would you need to sand it? If you applied a coat of ClassicSeal and it raised the grain and felt too rough for your preference. Or if some debris landed in the wet coat and you wanted to sand it out. If you try to use a traditional buffer with an abrasive screen under it, you will find that the ClassicSeal balls up like rubber cement, even when perfectly dry.

Our recommendation is to apply one of layer of finish over the ClassicSeal and allow it to dry for twelve hours, then screen it with a 180 grit screen or conditioning pad. The top coat is harder and more brittle and doesn’t stretch when you sand it.

Available in gallons only.

Sealers do not come in different sheen levels; choose your sheen level with your topcoats.

This product is not freeze-thaw stable, so don’t let it freeze. Because we ship this product from Minnesota, there will be days where we will not ship this product until weather conditions improve. Call the store at 651-698-5888 if you are trying to order in winter and have a tight time deadline.

Pete’s has a 30-day return policy – what’s up with that?

It may seem draconian but hear us out. We set this return limit because waterborne finishes are chemically delicate. If they are stored at very high or very low temperatures, or temperatures that fluctuate, the de-foaming agents become unstable.

The longer a gallon of finish is out of our control, the less we know about how it was handled and stored. If we can’t be sure of how a gallon of finish will behave, we won’t resell it. But if we can’t resell returns, we lose our already low margin. So, yes, we are firm on 30-day returns on all finish.