Pall-X Clear is designed to be a base or primer coat only!

It is meant to be 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 designed to be the tough outer layer – it is designed to be the best bonding layer.

It is runnier than Pallmann’s topcoats (Pall-X 96 Nexgen or Pall-X Power) 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 can really get a good bond to the 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, preventing 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.

Pallmann has two different undercoats or primers – Pall-X Clear is the crystal clear version. If you need darkening, use Pall-X Color.

After your base coat of Pall-X Clear, you will need a minimum of two layers of either Pall-X 96 or Pall-X Power.

Will this sealer work under other top coats?

Probably, but if the topcoat you are considering has its own, proprietary sealer, we suggest you choose that first. Product families tend to behave better when used together.

Pallmann roller (or 3/8″ nap microfiber) or t-bar application

No sheen to specify – choose the sheen of the topcoat

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.