In early September 2012, a top-rated flooring company which was subcontracted to my general contractor completed installation and finishing of new white oak floors in two upstairs rooms and the downstairs den of our new house. The floors were stained and finished with three coats of Bona High Traffic. Each coat was allowed to dry several days before re-application. They also sanded the existing pine floors in the living room, dining room and hallway, stained them, and finished them with three coats of Bona High Traffic. The floors looked beautiful, but my wife and I immediately noticed a strong odor, despite the insistence of the flooring man and the general contractor that this was a "green" product with no smell. I had been working in the house almost every day for five weeks before the floors went in, and had never smelled this odor before the floor installation. Nonetheless, I tried to believe that perhaps it came from some other source, or that it would go away quickly. Just before we moved in, the house was cleaned and dusted extremely well by a maid service, including removing the covers on the baseboard radiators, and thoroughly vacuuming. Despite all this, after moving in, the odor became more noticeable. My wife and I first thought it might be due to the boxes or dust generated by moving. However, even after we had cleaned up the boxes and vacuumed several times with our excellent Miele vacuum with HEPA filtering, the odor persisted. I tried to think of ways to ascertain whether the smell was coming from the floors or from some other source. After a lot of trial and error, two simple experiments finally convinced me that the source was the floors: First, the smell was only present in the rooms where the floors had been treated. In the kitchen and breezeway, where we eat and sit for long periods, there was no such odor; also not in the basement where I spend time at the workbench. Second, by kneeling down and putting one's nose against the floor, the odor could be intensified. This odor cannot be detected in the kitchen, bathroom, or breeezeway floors where no Bona High Traffic finish was applied. The worst of it is that now, four full months since the application, I wake up every morning with a runny nose and sneezing from the irritation caused by the smell. It is worst in the rooms where the oak was installed. Naturally, it is most offensive in the bedroom where one spends 8 hours every night. By leaving the windows open a few inches with cross ventilation, as I do every night even in the cold, the odor is reduced, but still not completely eliminated. The only good news is that the smell is gradually receding. It is not annoying me anymore in the rooms with the pre-existing pine floors. I'm sure that after some finite amount of time the outgassing will be complete in the oak-floored rooms as well. But how long? It is four months already, and the improvement is very slow. There is no question in my mind that the odor problem comes from the floor treatment. This does not prove that it is the Bona High Traffic by itself. As the floors were also stained, it could be the interaction of the Bona High Traffic finish with the stain. Either way, there is an odor problem with the Bona High Traffic product that has not been forthrightly acknowledged by the manufacturer . The product should be able to be applied in conjunction with stains, and not leave such a persisting odor. It is disconcerting to hear people who have an interest in the matter, such as contractors who use the product, or designers who recommend it, imply that there is no odor problem. This entry is intended to cause them to hesitate before saying, "In so many years of using the product, I never had a complaint." I have suffered the odor problem, and so did two other people on this page. How many more, who haven't troubled to write it up? I think that the company needs to carry out a scientific investigation, and try to determine what is the problem (perhaps an interaction of two products, or of the product with certain woods?). It should be noted that the term "green" or "natural" does not mean odorless. A skunk is natural, but it stinks. So does sewage, or the organic esters that produce the smell of bananas. So let's get real here, acknowledge that this Bona High Traffic product affects at least some people adversely with its persisting odor, and try to get to the bottom of it an honest and scientific fashion. Thank you for hearing me out.

You say that you sense the smell mostly in the air. Is it possible that this particular area is just an area where other household odors accumulate? We have two such areas in our house, where odors will collect and linger- one is in a central area in the entryway, the other is in a bathroom that is in a back corner. One of those I can see having limited air circulation, but the first seems like odors would move through quickly, yet they don't and odors from other parts of the house will essentially leave those parts of the house and collect in these. I was just wondering if it was possible that the smell is coming from elsewhere (say a nearby bathroom or laundry room?) and is hanging there? What happens if you put a small fan in that area later in the day? Would the smell still be in that area with the fan on or off? The other thing that comes to my mind is bed linens- particularly any down or feather product. I've had issues on occasion with these getting funny/smelly odors that come and go, and it's very hard to pinpoint the issue, even when smelling the comforter or pillow directly. It's only by removing the item from the area/house for a little while, that we were able to pinpoint exactly what it was. I've noticed this problem more when the humidity is higher and it was worse later in the day when temperatures in the house had increased, and like I said, it smells fine some of the time and then other times there is a weird funk. I hope you can find the source. It sounds very annoying.

That's gorgeous! LOVE all the stained wood and the incredible ceiling. If the trim in our house was ever stained, it was painted long ago. I know people in the neighborhood who stripped all of their trim, but it's a huge job, and heaven knows how much of that paint is lead-based. I'm just going to live with my painted trim! I particularly envy that ceiling. I don't think we ever had beams and coffering, and some fool put popcorn on Every. Ceiling. In. The. House. The remodel got rid of it in the kitchen, dining room, and bath; I personally scrapped every inch of our bedroom. The living room and my son's room have got to be done, but I'll hire someone to do it in a few years. It's an awful, awful job.

You mentioned having a front porch so it sounds like there is space between the (assuming) concrete porch and the foundation that is getting larger and allowing the water to penetrate down the foundation. But that is just my educated guess. Depending on which direction your front door faces, you may be getting the rain directly hitting that side of the house and dripping down. An overhang for your porch may help but I wouldn't completely discount waterproofing companies. We had some water dripping down one of our basement walls and had a couple of companies come out and give us free estimates on how to fix the problem. In our case we had mulch that was covering up the weep holes. We had that fixed, along with a few foundation cracks that happened with normal house settling before we finished the basement.