Q: I have had trouble with a flooring company. They pushed to do a job quickly, said it could be done in two sections in two days. Now I have two different colors or sheens on my flooring. I told them I wanted satin finish. They used Absco Grandgray label which is semi gloss. They said it will be a satin finish.
They sanded three rooms and put one coat on then left. They came back next day started to walk on it, and it was sticky, but they placed another coat on them anyway and left. They came back the third day and moved furniture back onto the floor.
Then they started the next two rooms, sanded out one, put a coat on, went to lunch, another coat. I ended up with two different looks from one room to another. Using the same stuff from Absco.
They made sure they got last payment. I called them, told them to come back, they said it needs a few days. Now two days later they come back with a can of polyurethane, put a little on, saying that should fix the problem, “we’ll be back on Monday.” So now this is 5 days on a 2-day project. Should I get another company to fix it?
A: First, I’m surprised they got away with applying a second coat of finish on top of the previous one, which was still sticky. These finishes generally wrinkle under these conditions. But on the second part, they applied two coats a few hours apart. So they had to have used a water based coating. It’s going to be lighter. They need to use the same product throughout. I would also say, two coats of oil based polyurethane on a non stained floor is just barely adequate. 3 coats is generally recommended. Two coats of water base is not enough. These coatings are lower in urethane resins so leave a thinner finish layer.