Q: I poly’d my floor with 3 coats, but in one section it was dry. I went over it again and it’s still dry. What should I do?
A: Did you buff or sand after each coat of finish? After applying the first coat on bare wood it would be spotty and maybe a little rough. Sanding it lightly with a fine abrasive would smooth it and help close the surface. With each coat you should see marked improvement with the finish build. 3 coats is generally plenty. Was this applied to a floor which has been sanded to fresh wood, removing all previous coatings? If so, perhaps that area that appears dry may not have been sanded smoothly? If this finish is applied over already existing coatings it may be there was contaminants on the surface which are actually repelling the finish. If this is the case you would have to wet buff with a polisher, maroon or white pad while spraying a cleaner such as Poloplaz Tie Tac to remove contaminants. Worst case the floor has to be done over again from scratch.
Related Questions
Hardwood floor finish is peeling offWe have wood floors that were installed 5 or 6 years ago. I had them recently recoated and the coating is peeling off. The flooring company advised that cleaning products such as Murphy's Oil Soap (which I used on my floors) will penetrate the finished wood in scratches and deep…
White scratches on teak floorQ: We had a water leak and had to replace a small section of teak flooring. The insurance contractor said that we needed to sand the entire floor down so it would all match. They put 3 coats of oil based polyurethane on the floor: satin, then a semi and…
Polyurethane Dry Time Between CoatsQ: Can you walk on oil-base poly during second and 3rd coats to apply them? How soon can I walk on them while working on it? I'm wary about the polyurethane dry time between coats. Varathane instructions say you can re-coat in 4 hours. Do I just walk in and…
Small bubbles on coats of finishWhat can I do on the final coat to help decrease the bubbling? These bubbles are very tiny some are pin heads, smaller than pepper corns. I am going to use a sanding screen on this last one, probably should have on the first coat instead of paper. Went through…
Finishing hand scrapped floorQ: I oil rubbed a hand scraped oak floor. The rough grain is dull, while the closed (smoother) areas are shiny. I need to make it look uniform. Less shine. Any thoughts? I am a flooring contractor, so I do have the equipment. A: Well, of course the open grain,…
Surface scratches in factory finish floorMy solid golden oak floor recently got scratched, a screw from a chair caused surface scratches, also some small gouges. How do I repair these areas without having to remove the boards? The scratches appear to be mostly in the factory varathane finish.