From Craig’s About Us page, for his business site at FaceLiftFloors.com:
I am excited to let past and prospective customers know that I have made what I consider a major floor finish upgrade. Poloplaz, a U.S. based company that specializes in
Poloplaz floor finish has higher solids than I usually use, which means a thicker finish film. It dries better and faster (even under poor conditions) and cures harder than any other oil based finish, including 2 part water borne urethane finishes. Poloplaz boasts tremendous durability for this product. I will now be following, for the most part, a finish system that sees one coat of Poloplaz fast dry sanding sealer (2-3 hours dry time), and a coat of Primero gloss polyurethane applied generally in one day, followed by a coat with the sheen of your choice. I have not used separate sealers in the past, because of the particular type that has been used in the Toronto area, which I highly dislike. (See my comments far above.)
Poloplaz sealer is different. It is a polyurethane based sealer with near the same solid content as my current floor finish, except it penetrates the wood well to protect it in case the finish itself became damaged. It dries incredibly fast, allowing 2 coats in one day. This will be good for me and good for my customers, as it will cut a day off the finishing of the floors.
Poloplaz has a complete line-up of finishes to meet any need, including a huge urethane/stain colour line which also dries fast and seals the floor in one application. They cover all the Dura Seal/Minwax colours. All their finishes are lower VOC and compliant to regulations in the U.S. All products have a high flash point, above 100 F. I consider this product an important upgrade which I am happy to now be able to offer all my clients.
I will, of course, continue to watch for the latest and greatest products.
Related Q: We recently put a new maple glue down floor down in a highrise. We had many issues with a flooring person who didn’t know how to stain wood. He and the new person we hired sanded the floor several times. The new stain is perfect colorwise, but the satin finish scratches and scuffs if you breathe near it! The new person, buffed it out once already and put down another coat of waterbased poly, but it is still a mess. The floors were allowed to dry 24 hrs before walking on them. It is bubbling in some areas.. thoughts?
A: Water based coatings particularly set up and dry very quickly. The bubbles could have been caused by air movement across a certain area, or the finish simply setting up before it could flow out evenly. Easy marking? Maybe they should use a better finish. They are definitely not all created equal.
Follow-up Q: What would you recommend as a top coat? Can he just buff again and apply a new?
A: I’ve used all kinds of finishes over the years including Bona Kemi, Dura Seal and now my favorate are products from Poloplaz. I particularly like their Primero, but it isn’t water based. They also make water based coatings. Bona kemi flagship product is Traffic. It is very expensive and is a two component finish which means you end up with likely a lot of wasted product since once it is mixed the pot life is very limited. Primero is easy to work with and very consistent in performance. It applies very well with a 1/4 or 3/8 pile roller. In any case the existing finish will have to be buffed with fine sandpaper along the walls and the main area with a polisher and fine screen or buffing pad.