Is pine good for a
bathroom vanity?

With a polyurethane topcoat over the stain, or with the paint itself. Our vanities come in three finishes:

• —Stained: your choice of stain, with a polyurethane topcoat over it.
• —Painted: one paint color of your choice. The paint is the finish: we don’t put a clear coat over it.
• —Raw wood: sanded and unfinished. Seal it before it goes into a bathroom.

On pine, a pre-stain conditioner evens out the stain. Our build guides call for one, and for a test on an offcut (a scrap of the same wood) first.

On a stained vanity we use an oil-based stain, then an oil- or water-based polyurethane topcoat. Water-based yellows less over the years, but it’s less durable than oil-based. We wipe the polyurethane on, 8–12 coats for the best finish, sanding between every coat, in a satin or semi-gloss sheen.

It takes that many because wiped coats are thin: finish makers’ data sheets give about a quarter of a mil for a wiped coat, against one to two mils for a brushed one (a mil is a thousandth of an inch). Brushing builds the same protection in fewer coats; wiping goes on smoother.

Cure time depends on the finish. Most polyurethanes take light use after about a day, and some makers give weeks for a full cure: General Finishes gives 30 days for its oil-based topcoat and 21 days for its water-based one. So go easy on a newly finished vanity for its first month.

With a water-resistant topcoat on every face, the cut holes most of all:

• —Seal every face of the top: the underside and the edges as well as the surface.
• —When you drill the drain and faucet holes, seal the cut edges of each hole too, before the sink goes on.
• —Seal the cabinet as well: even left unstained, it needs its topcoat before it goes into a bathroom.
• —Staining it first? Use a pre-stain conditioner, and test the stain on an offcut.

Any interior oil- or water-based polyurethane will do. Finish makers call for about three brushed coats, or many more thin wiped ones, sanding lightly with 220 grit between coats.

Work with good ventilation. Rags wet with stain, oil, finish or solvent can catch fire on their own as they dry: spread them flat outdoors, then keep them in a closed metal can of water.

The drain and faucet holes matter most. Their cut edges are end grain, the open ends of the wood’s fibers, which soak up water fastest, and the USDA’s Wood Handbook notes that a finish slows moisture change only if the end grain is sealed too. Give each hole several coats.

Fig. 1Detail · sealing at the drain

Before the sink goes on, wait until the last coat has cured to the finish maker’s “normal use” time, typically about three days. Then set the bowl and drain on a bead of silicone, and keep water off the top while the finish cures fully, over the next few weeks.

Spar or marine varnish? No need indoors. It’s made softer and more flexible, for outdoor wood that swells and shrinks in the weather, and it’s no more water-resistant than an interior polyurethane, which wears better.

Wipe up standing water, especially around a sink. Clean with a damp cloth and mild soap, and skip abrasive cleaners.

We’ve never had to recoat ours; how often you will depends on how hard the vanity is used. It’s time when the finish looks dull or worn in patches (usually in front of the sink), white marks show where moisture got into it, or bare wood shows through. To recoat:

1. 01Clean the top with dish soap and water, and let it dry. If it’s been waxed, wipe it with mineral spirits to take the wax off.
2. 02Scuff the old finish lightly with 220-grit sandpaper, and wipe off the dust.
3. 03Test the new topcoat on a hidden spot, such as inside a door, to make sure it sticks to the old one.
4. 04Wipe or brush on fresh coats, as many as it takes for an even sheen.

If the wood itself has turned gray or black, water has gotten into it, and it needs sanding down and refinishing, not just a recoat.

Our one-year limited warranty covers defects in our workmanship under normal indoor use, such as a finish we applied that peels, flakes or bubbles. It doesn’t cover water damage, whether from standing water, a leak or a raw piece that wasn’t sealed, or damage from very high or very low humidity.

Every standard size is pine. For red or white oak, maple or hickory, ask for a quote.

Oak, maple and hickory are heavier than pine, have a dressier look, and cost more. They’re also much harder, so they dent less. On the Janka hardness test (the force it takes to press a steel ball halfway into the wood), they compare like this:

For a bathroom, white oak is the better oak: its pores are plugged, which is why it’s used for barrels and boats, while red oak’s open pores let water travel along the grain. And the common pines (white and ponderosa) move less than any of them as the humidity changes: their total shrinkage, from freshly cut to dry, is about 8–10%, against about 14–17% for these hardwoods.