Q: I have sanded and applied 3 coats of oil based semi-gloss polyurethane to an oak hardwood floor. Unfortunately, I have an inconsistent sheen. How can I even out the sheen? Can I simply wipe it down with mineral spirits or sand it with a fine grit paper? What do you suggest?
A: Any finish with less shine than gloss has a paste added to lower the shine and has to be mixed thoroughly to keep it in suspension while applying it. I would suggest sanding the floor down lightly but thoroughly, cleaning it up to remove all dust and applying another coat. I would highly recommend Poloplaz Primero which has always performed consistently for me. They appear to have found a way to keep the dulling paste suspended in the finish without much stirring at all.
Follow-up Q: Thank you for your response! So, I guess sanding or wiping the floor with mineral spirits would not blend the finish?
Do you know where can I purchase Poloplaz Primero? Do you recommend application with lambs wool pad or a roller? If a roller, do you know where I can obtain a 1/4″ nap mohair roller?
A: I would just call their office to find out where the nearest distributor is and failing that if they would ship to you directly. I couldn’t find ΒΌ” pile anywhere. Roller is fine and this product does roll on nicely with no issues.
No, wiping the floor down with mineral spirits will not help.
Similar Q: I have shiny and rough spots on a re-sanded engineered oak floor. It was previously finished with oil. The contractor has now finished it with Bona laquer in matte. There are quite a few shiny spots in odd places and it’s looking quite patchy, even where the surface is matte. I can send you some photos. What has gone wrong?
A: I’m about 100% sure Bona doesn’t make a lacquer finish. What did the contractor do to prepare this floor? Clearly, if he has gained adhesion you are going to need several coats. Water based coatings can raise the grain on the first coat. I can’t explain the high shine except he did not adequately stir the product.
Related Q: We recently decided to refinish our wood floors. We sanded them and used M***** Polyurethane for floors on them last night. The problem that we have is, one of the cans must have been mislabelled because it did not give us the same finish as the first can. We chose Semi-gloss so the first can came out with a beautiful shine after about 4 hours. We could see a huge difference where we started using the second can. There was no shine whatsoever and we noticed that the consistency was much thinner and created white streaks when applying. After a long trip to just about every Home Depot and Lowes in South Florida we were able to find one can of M***** for Floors left (they are being discontinued) and went over the area where the second can failed us. Side note: it turns out this last can was about 1/4 gel-like in the bottom… like the liquid had congealed.
Now to my question: Should we pick another brand and apply another coat? I would like to have at least 2 coats of good poly.
A: Save yourself a lot of heart ache and order Primero from Poloplaz or one of their distributors: www.poloplaz.com
Related Q: We just sanded, stained and put semi gloss poly on our bedroom floor. Half came out shiny and the other half dried to a matte finish. What did I do wrong and how can I fix it?
A: It sounds like you didn’t mix the finish well enough to evenly disperse the silica flattener. Buff floor with fine abrasive and apply another thin coat. Stir well.