Brazilian walnut finish is tacky

Q: I recently finished a remodel job on a one level home in Northeast Tennessee. The species of the wood is Brazilian Walnut. The troubles and learning experiences outweigh the cost of labor.

The home had 1100 sq ft of pre-finished Brazilian Walnut in it already and I installed 300 sq ft of the unfinished. The pre-finished floors were 5/8 x 2 3/4 and the new unfinished wood I installed was over a sunken living room which I raised up to be level with the rest and made a picture frame design because I was unable to find the same floor. So the wood I installed is the 3/4 x 3 1/4 boards. Extremely heavy bundles! Sanding the pre-finished floors were impossible to do with the standard Norton Abrasive papers which were 36 grit. We special ordered the Norton Blaze and the Norton Red Heat and spent $480 on the paper alone and also added 35lb plate from weight bench set and tied it down on the Hummel. We eventually were successful in sanding the floor.

We put a sealer coat on, then applied a coat of Synteco 35 classic, matte finish. The next day I covered the floor to protect as I was finishing some crown, baseboard, and shoe base before the final coat. So a week later I finish the work, pull the paper up, buff the floor like I have always done for the past 15 years and applied the final coat of this tremendous product we use for the final coat. It is oil based and takes usually 8 hours to dry. I used to use Synteco for all coats even final coat but the fumes were starting to affect me and my cousin turned me on to this process of using just one coat of Synteco and using the Niles Black Bucket Super 95.

This process has yielded so many gorgeous floors and very happy customers. My problem now is, it’s now been 5 days since final coat applied and still tacky. I have learned the hard way about Brazilian Walnut. It’s definitely the toughest, heaviest and oiliest floor I have ever done. I’m wondering if I buff this floor eventually when it dries because it didn’t dry correctly and my roll marks are visible where I sectioned it off, which is the reason I love the final coat product, because how nice it evens out. Can I apply a water based finish if I get the oil based finish to come to a dust? The crazy thing is that the newly installed wood is flawless, it’s the pre-finished wood that’s still tacky. I have been looking for answers and solutions desperately, can you please help me?

A: I’ve not worked with Brazilian walnut (thankfully) but have worked with Jatoba. It was really heavy too. All these woods are oily. Poloplaz has one finish they recommend as a seal coat over these floors to block the oils. Prism is my memory is correct. Well, you are beyond that step now. It’s my experience that you can apply water borne over solvent or oil based. But you have to be sure all the solvents are out of the coating. I’ve had a few times where the finish appeared fully dry and ready for another coat. There was no tackiness. No heavy smell of solvent in the air. The finish powdered when screened. And when I applied the next coat, it wrinkled. Only a few times, but given the slowness in your case I’d give it extra time. Put some heaters or fans in the room if need be.

Prefinished floors are miserable to deal with because the coatings are abrasion resistant. The recommendation is to skim the coating with a 60 or 80 grit to break the surface. Then go to a rougher grit to flatten the floor and remove the rest of the coating.

Synteko! Oh man, I haven’t used those Swedish finishes in years. Very tough but the fumes are unbelievable. You could contact Poloplaz for information on a coating they recommend. Perhaps ask for Bill Jauernig. I use their Primero. The stuff is so consistent. I bet the floor with the boarder looked really good. I’ve only done a couple.

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