I get this question sometimes, especially when people are looking to do whitewashed hardwood floors. The truth is there is NO good paint to use on hardwood floors. In fact, you should NEVER use paint on hardwood floors.
Why is that? Well there are 2 reasons.
First, the paint coats the wood (rather than penetrating it) and doesn't allow the polyurethane to properly adhere nor penetrate. So the floors will not have the proper protection and they won't last as long.
Second, and more importantly, the paint will permanently ruin your hardwood floors as it seeps between planks of the wood. So you will have white lines there permanently...even after you refinish the floors.
Resanding twice won't solve the issue either.
So do yourself a favor if you're looking for a whitewashed look. Either use a white stain or white tinted sealer. You can find out which ones I recommend in this article.
I also share the best types of polyurethane to use for whitewashed floors. They typical oil based poly won't work as it will turn your floor yellow. And, cheaper water borne polyurethanes are not the best either - both because they don't last as long and also because the cheaper ones amberize over time.
There are some websites recommending a paint mixture, and I would avoid those like the plague. They will have the same impact on your floors.
Years ago, I had a customer that tried a mixture with some gray paint. It was terrible and after 30 days, te floors still weren't dry. Then, someone came in to refinish them and of course there were gray lines all over as the paint seeped through. He then had them refinish again, and the lines were still there.
This customer also had stair caps (rather than stair treads), and with all the sandings, they sanded though the caps to the plywood underneath.
He basically needed to start from scratch and rip up all the wood and the stair case and try again. He also had to replace the base molding and repaint. This was new construction, so it was a shame, and he wasn't able to move into his home for many months due to this mistake.
So please please please don't use paint or paint mixtures on your floors. Don't make this same mistake.
