hello jennifer, i don't know how many coats can be applied before it's too much. i do know however, that wood has variable densities. because of that , some spots may soak up finish like a sponge, other spots it'll just puddle and dry on the surface. that may be the cause of "dry finish" spots. or it could be the finisher screwed up. and by the gunk left in the finish?...well... either way it should be taken care of. abrading the finish will make it smoother for the next coat. but it's doubtful it'll get rid of the visible gunk and stuff.

now comes the part that confuses everyone. putting on more finish will not get rid of the cracks alone. the fact is, the thicker the finish the more pronounced the cracks. (eye, and there's the rub.) there are ways of getting rid of them but at this point it's a real pain. they should have been taken care of before the colored coat.

i'm smart enough to not give advice, even on the net. but expecting a smooth and even finish is not being unrealistic. i hope this helps your problem . feel free to chat me up for more info.

Thanks for you input. We had floors refinished in another house 20 years ago and I don't remember having any issues with the finish. But with three little kids I might have been too busy. The debris under the finish drives me crazy everytime I clean my floor. Doing it by hand makes me feel and see everything. In my main cooking area I swear this is a cookie crumb (yep, fed the guys cookies!). I am constantly trying to pick it off. At this point they are planning on abrading and re-coating. I am going to vacuum kitchen cabinets and clean the ceiling fan, close the heat registers and just hope for a smooth finish. I had heard a rumor that the more layers you apply the finish could start to peel up.

Thanks!

as long as the floor was properly prepared the new finish should have good mechanical adhesion.

A seal coat plus two finish coats is usually sufficient unless the finish was applied too thin. An extra coat should not be too much.

No urethane applied on site will be completely free of trash and defects. There are things that can add to it like a dirty finish bucket, windy days, people coming in and out of the house, a/c cycling on, poor vacuuming and others. There's no fast hard rule on an acceptable amount. It's a matter of looking at the particular job and determining how close you can get to perfect, and how close you are now.

Bona sells several water based urethanes. Ask your finisher which finish he applied and ask if you can pay an upcharge for a better product in addition to investigating what caused your scratches and trying to eliminate the source(s).

The main reasons for peeling finish are surface contamination and poor surface preparation. If you use Bona Hardwood Floor Cleaner exclusively, you should not have to worry about peeling finish in the future.

That scratch is in the wood, its more an indentation, my guess is the finish isn't cured yet. to fix it will require sanding to bare wood. How many coats of finish are on the floor currently?

There is no finish that will prevent a dog from scratching the floor.

Maple is hard, very hard, but a dogs nail will scratch the hardest wood.

Keep the dog's nails trimmed and do your best to avoid letting him get wound up.

As gregmills correctly points out, that's not a scratch in the finish. It's an indentation in the wood. A dog's nails can apply enough force to the wood surface to compress the fibers. No floor finish will avoid that. Maple is somewhat harder than Oak but is also generally quite smooth, so scratches are more apparent.

Back to your original question, your floor almost certainly needs more finish judging by the latest picture. It does not have the proper finish buildup IMO.

Yes I wondered about the finish. A friend stopped by with their puppy and well you know.. There is an amber seal coating and 2 Bona finishes. I'm not sure of which kind though other than satin. They are coming to reapply more finish (I guess they abrade) it again and re coat. I'm sure the scratches will still be there but a lesson learned. Any advice for the best finish? And how long dog it really take to cure? This stuff has been down for a few weeks now. Thanks everyone. Ready for my house to back in order. The final carpet gets laid tmrw then floors done Friday and Monday!

Bona Traffic is usually the go to when people ask for best. Its the best 2 part component water bourne urethane Bona makes. its also $120 a gallon.

Bona Traffic says 7 days to fully cure, in the right environmental conditions, which is usually like 70 degrees and I think 35% rel. humidity.

The floor does look "Dry", and as jfcwood said the finish build up doesn't look right. Hopefully after this next coat, it will look better.

edited for spelling

Are they thinning the polyurethane for the finish coats? Your floors look like mine did when I had them sanded to bare wood (although mine are 88 year old heart pine) and then applied 3 coats of satin oil poly. I couldn't figure out why the floor looked and felt so "bare" until I called another flooring guy to look at it. He said the first guy had thinned the finish coats too much. So after he applied 2 more coats of semi-gloss oil poly (directly from the product can), the floors now have a nice, smooth warm finish with the same glow as the rest of the house. Btw, be sure to give your new floor finish time to cure properly even though it's water-based poly. You still don't want to drag furniture on it even though you're eager to get your house back in order.

I have no clue what they did or used. But will be finding out. I know the pole they used broke and they had to do it by hand with the sponge applicator. They moved my stove and fridge and it was fine but next time I think we will give it more time before using the table and stools. Thanks for all the input! Appreciate greatly.