Weird Hardwood Floor Issues - Poly

[DrinkMore]

We had our den floor tore up a couple years ago and new hard wood floor put in. It was by Bruce and the name of the wood was Tiger Wood. Really nice floor, solid wood, not cheap. Just as it was finished, I noticed what appeared to be a scratch. I ignored it and as the months went on, the floor was a magnet for scratches. It was like putting pine down on the floor. It "dented" easily. I don't know how to describe it.

Anyways, after a while we decided to clean the floor real good and seal it up with some polyurethane. I went for the gloss finish as it looks really nice. Well, I applied the stuff over the course of 2 days. I did 2 coats. Even coats. I let it dry a day between coats. Then after all was said and done, I let it dry a week with no traffic the first 3 days. After that I put down thick brown paper for light foot traffic. After 7 days, it was full fledged moved into. Furniture put back on and carpets put down.

However - here is the really weird and odd issue. The poly lasted less than a month. Areas where there is traffic appears to be NOTHING there. It's dull and dingy. Back to the wood again. Some areas look like there is poly but hazy. Then finally where furniture is - when you move it - the floor looks brand spanking new with shiny poly. Like it should.

I want to do this again, however - I don't want to waste my time and it happen again. What happened? Anyone have any ideas why the poly lasted less than a month? I am really not understanding it. We do have 4 dogs and the nails can be rough but other parts of the house with hardwood and nice shiny poly still look nice and new and they were done the same time. I am at a loss at what the problem is here.

If anyone out there has any ideas I would love to hear it. I am thinking of contacting Minwax and Bruce flooring to see if they can offer any insight Monday.

[Moefiz]

Drink...you might need to strip the floor completly before applying the new poly coat.

[DrinkMore]

Really? Not sure I can do that honestly. Also, there was nothing on the floor to start with. I mean it was a matte finish but it just looked like smooth clean wood. I dunno wtf happened honestly.

[My_Two_Cents]

Originally Posted by Moefiz

Drink...you might need to strip the floor completly before applying the new poly coat.

You at least need to sand down the surface. It's never a good idea to apply Poly on top of anything that hasn't been prepped first. In between coats, did you sand? Sounds like the Poly is just wearing-off.

Is it true hardwood, or laminate?

[Blu-Raider]

You really need to Google poly finishes. If the original "finish" was a tung oil, etc, you just can't put poly on top of it. As stated above you need to sand it down to bare wood or nothing will work. By the way, if you do study up on the subject, you'll quickly discover polyurethane isn't the miracle finish it's made out to be.

[DrinkMore]

It is a true hardwood. It's actually an exotic hardwood. Ugh, don't have the means to refinish a 2 year old floor right now. I would have thought it should wear much better than that.

Poly is good, but I do agree - it's not the end all of finishes. I have experience it's lack luster performance in another area.

[Moefiz]

Originally Posted by DrinkMore

It is a true hardwood. It's actually an exotic hardwood. Ugh, don't have the means to refinish a 2 year old floor right now. I would have thought it should wear much better than that.

Poly is good, but I do agree - it's not the end all of finishes. I have experience it's lack luster performance in another area.

You just need to strip it completely and then re-apply your poly..check you local yellow pages i am sure you can find someone in there that would just strip it for you.

[DrinkMore]

Originally Posted by Moefiz

You just need to strip it completely and then re-apply your poly..check you local yellow pages i am sure you can find someone in there that would just strip it for you.

Along with my monies! No thanks. We have tried that before - 3 times. All ended up poorly.

[Hammie]

Not sure how large of a room you have, but I refinished my son's room (10x14 of yellow pine) over the span of a single weekend.

I think it was about $100-150 for the belt sander and power hand sander and then about another $50 or so in sanding sealer and poly.

I stripped the whole floor down to bare wood. I used the power hand sander for the edges. Some areas like the deep corners, I had to just use sand paper on a wooden block to rough up the existing finish. I did not use oil based, but used high gloss poly. I also used a sanding sealer on it before applying the poly.

It has been about a year and it look better than the entire first floor of the house where we hired a professional. Makes me sick that I did a better job than they did.

Anyway, good luck.

[DrinkMore]

Originally Posted by louhamilton

Not sure how large of a room you have, but I refinished my son's room (10x14 of yellow pine) over the span of a single weekend.

I think it was about $100-150 for the belt sander and power hand sander and then about another $50 or so in sanding sealer and poly.

I stripped the whole floor down to bare wood. I used the power hand sander for the edges. Some areas like the deep corners, I had to just use sand paper on a wooden block to rough up the existing finish. I did not use oil based, but used high gloss poly. I also used a sanding sealer on it before applying the poly.

It has been about a year and it look better than the entire first floor of the house where we hired a professional. Makes me sick that I did a better job than they did.

Anyway, good luck.

I guess it's average size. Problem is, the room is one that connects all the rooms of the house. If work is started, there is no way in or out of the house. It's a main area that connects all areas. Maybe in the future we will fix it, but I was hoping not to have to sand and refinish a floor that is only 2 years old.

[Anthony P]

I did not see it mentioned, but make sure you have the right product, there are special ones for floors