Monday 14 January 2013

Whats the Difference Between Bona Mega and Bona Traffic ?

Hello and welcome to another Woodfloor-Renovations Blog post.

Today's question is one I get a fair bit of correspondence over, and it's to do with 2 of the giants of the wood flooring lacquer world.

The direct question was "Whats the difference between Bona Mega & Bona Traffic ? "

Both these excellent lacquers are from the mighty 'Bona' stable of wood floor lacquers and coatings, both are equally capable wood floor seals, and both will last the end user many years if properly applied and looked after.

The main difference is that Bona Mega is a single component lacquer, meaning you only use what you pour out onto the surface of the wood floor, whereas Bona Traffic is a 2 component lacquer, where you mix part b into part a, give the can a good shake up, leave for a few minutes for the different components to mix together properly then you are good to go.

Bona Traffic is often used in busy areas where there is a lot of foot traffic and the surface coating needs to be durable and hard wearing to stand up to the wear and tear and rigours of a high traffic situation, in busy commercial areas it is normal practise for a floor sanding contractor to apply a four coat lacquer system, such as 1 x coat of Bona Prime followed by a further 3 coats of Bona Traffic.

What you must bear in mind with Bona Traffic is that it has an approximate 5 hr pot life, meaning if you have mixed too much product and you won't be using it within 5 hrs then its pretty much unusable and will be wasted...

Bona Mega is not quite as hard wearing as its big brother [Bona Traffic] and is often used by contractors in domestic situations, such as Hallways, Dining Rooms, Reception Rooms etc. most contractors will specify a 3 coat lacquer system with Mega, a typical system would be 1 x coat of Bona Prime, followed by a further 2 coats of Bona Mega.

As i mentioned earlier in the article that unlike Traffic, Mega is single component so you only use what you pour out, whereas with Bona Traffic it's a 2 component product, so if you are using a fairly small amount of product then the end user will need to properly measure out the correct amount of product and hardener that will be needed.

With specialist flooring lacquers like Bona Mega and Bona Traffic I find its horses for courses in that certain situations demand certain products that will best suit a given area.

For example it wouldn't make much sense putting a 4 coat Bona Traffic system in a low use bedroom or reception room, and on the other hand it would make no sense putting a three coat Bona Mega system down in a very busy Entrance Hallway...horses for courses !!

If I were to be put on the spot and asked which is the better lacquer then i'd have to say Bona Traffic, but bear in mind it is more expensive than Bona Mega, both these products are in my opinion really easy to apply to a properly prepared wooden floor surface, both have excellent flow and levelling properties as well, both will dry in good time also given reasonable drying conditions.

It's all about choosing the correct product for your project, take your time, do your homework and choose whats right for your given situation.

Thanks for reading...Regards Gary