WoodFlooringGuy.com

Q: We just purchased a new home and the entire home has dark bamboo floors. We love them, but the coating seems to be peeling off and flaking in some areas. We were told not to sand bamboo. We are planning on buffing ourselves then resealing. Can you give me details on exactly how to [...]

Q: We have protected our floors with 4 coats of oil based F***** product. Sanding between each, and tack clothing, etc. We still have lap marks in long lines where we used the recommended F***** applicator and pulled the product down the hall in the direction of the wood grain. Also, we have the ‘start’ [...]

Q: My daughter and I just stripped and primed (oil base) the hardwood floors. With one coat of oil base polyurethane there are visible lighter areas throughout all the rooms. I did notice when the primer was dry the edges were darker, but thought it was due to the brush. With the first coat of [...]

Q: I put a final coat of polyurethane on my wood floors and noticed that I missed a spot where my roller didn’t overlap in application after the floor completely dried. I tried touching it up by rolling on some poly but the finish is matte and somewhat cloudy from what I first applied. Any [...]

Q: We are having wood floors installed in a relatively new house (10 years old) on the upstairs bedroom floors. We are using a well regarded installation company. They put the floor down in one day, stained the second day and put the first and second coats of polyurethane on the third and fourth days. [...]

Q: Conflicting advice for tack cloth: Do I wet the tack cloth or not after sanding? And if I wet it, what with? I’m using a waterborne. Some experts I’ve heard say use mineral spirits, some say use a fluid with the same base as finish (i.e. damp cloth), and some say none at all. [...]

Ok, these sample boards I’ve been working on. I’m trying to show the difference in appearance between oil modified and water borne urethane. The samples are on steamed walnut (that is the sample with the consistent colouration), unsteamed walnut, quarter sawn white oak and plain sawn red oak. On the white oak I’ve also stained [...]

Q: I have central air. Should I leave it on while the floor sanding/staining is in progress? Or is it better to turn it off, and turn it back on after a few days? A: That is a bit of a tricky question. If the company doesn’t use a dust control vacuum system with their [...]

Q: I’ve never used a shellac on floors, but in a quick search online, I gather it can be used as a “primer” when refinishing wood floors (to hide any problem areas). I didn’t catch in reading, whether the (oak) wood grain will still show through? Or whether oil polyurethane will adhere to it without [...]

Q: Some shoddy workmen applied high gloss polyurethane to my sanded oak (80 years old, at least) LR and DR floors, without clearing the dust from the rooms! The next workman, trying to correct this, sanded with a fine grade grit (120?). While the floor FEELS SMOOTH, you can still see the dust spots as [...]

Q: Do you know of a good source for information to give customers for oil finish maturity? Like the PDF Glitsa has on their website under their “What to expect during curing process” link(http://www.glitsa.com/maintenance.php). We don’t normally use Glitsa for obvious reasons. We use Bona oil base and cannot find that kind of a list [...]

Q: How do I change from a clear gloss finish to a semi-gloss finish on hardwood flooring? A: Very straight forward. Prepare the existing coating to receive the shine level of choice, in this case semi-gloss. This means you have to buff/sand or abrade the coating which creates (hopefully) tiny scratches which the next coating [...]

Q: I painted my BR floor and put polyurethane on it. It yellowed. I didn’t know that some finish yellows, what can I do? A: Virtually all solvent based finishes will amber to some degree. I think I would “screen” the heck out of the polyurethane to remove as much as possible and give it [...]

Q: I will be using a Bona oil woodline poly satin. I usually use a padco paint pad for the edges and a t-bar with the same kind of pad for the middle. Do you think lambswool would flow better? A: I had used a lambswool for years to apply polyurethane. It is the way [...]

Q: I just got my floors refinished and I was under the impression that the waterborne finish would be the most durable from scratches. I can easily scratch my floors with a light rub of my fingernail and I am concerned because I have 2 dogs who I’ve not let on the floor yet, and [...]

Q: Should I use a roller or lamb skin to apply polyurethane? If I use a lamb skin pad, do I need to wash it out first, before using, to get rid of any loose hairs? A: I often run a new lamb skin through a wash cycle and lay out flat to dry before [...]

Q: After refinishing a hardwood floor hallway with coats of polyurethane, there is a white cloudiness on some parts of the floor that will not wipe away or go away. What can I use on it or how can I repair it? A: Was this a water borne polyurethane? It sounds like you didn’t allow [...]

Q: I sanded my 50 year old hardwood floors and applied stain. The sanding and staining went well. I ran into a problem when I applied the first coat of water based polyurethane satin gloss. There are places where it looks white and patchy. We discussed this with the stain supplier and they mentioned that [...]

Q: We had our floors sanded and poly’d. After 2 coats we had air bubbles. The company came back, buffed and reapplied the poly. Now we have even more air bubbles than previously. Why has this occurred? Should we have someone else come to fix it? Is this a sign of poor application by the [...]

Q: I have recently had my floating floors fully sanded back to bare wood then recoated with a base and 2 coats of poly. I have lots of bubbles all over the floor. He has since re-sanded lightly and recoated with another coat of poly, though this has only slightly improved the finish. To the [...]