Rubio Monocoat hardwood floor has SHINY areas instead of Matte - help

S A W

5 years ago

CURRENT PROBLEM:

Where I hand refinished the floor is it now SHINY instead of Matte.

The areas I worked on are fully cured, as I did the refinish work a few weeks ago.

Need to make the shiny areas matte like the rest of the floor.

See video:

backstory

Initial problem:

The workers walked across the wet floor and left 100 sneaker footprints on the finished floor.

The footprints are areas where there was excess Rubio product in their shoes and it left a sucky residue on top of the finished floor.

What Rubio then asked me to do:

1) Wait for floor to fully cure.

2) Hand sand with a maroon pad -

enough to sand off the footprints, and expose a bit of wood fiber - BUT not enough to go 100% done to bare wood.

3) Add another thin coat of Rubio Chocolate.

Note: This reactivated some of the Rubio Oil from the first coat.

4) Finished with wiping with Terrycloth

Instead of spot sanding each localized footprint, I did it by the board /large area. This way there were not light highlight areas on each footprint.

result:

Where I hand refinished the floor is it now SHINY instead of Matte.

Approximately 33% of the 1,500 sqft floor is now shiny, in patches. Ugh.

goal:

The GOAL is to get the patched “fixed” areas to become dull matte like the rest of the floor.

attempts at a fix:

Things I have tried:

• going over the shiny area with a hand pad of Extra Fine #000 - does not help.

• Rubio’s Ides: applying water to the entire floor with a microfiber cloth and letting it naturally evaporate - does not help.

I have talked with Rubio over 10 tens about the issue. Their last idea was the “apply water and let it evaporate.”

details

finish:

Rubio Monocoat, Chocolate on European white oak.

process:

• Sanded the floor. Used a Clarke Orbital Sander with 100 Grit

• Water popped the floor (applied water to the floor and let it dry to open all the pores of the wood - this is the method to get deep, dark, rich, color tone.)

• Used a Clarke Orbital Sander to apply the Rubio: Red pad, White pad, Terrycloth

Please help me figure out a solution.

I have spent 20 hours getting out footprints, but now have this new shiny problem to contend with.

See pics:

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Comments (6)

PRO
G & S Floor Service
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
You need to match the original scratch pattern of the original sanding. Sanding mineral, grit, pattern and machine. Also, did you shake and stir the product well?
S A W
Original Author
5 years ago
G & S Floor Service Yes, I was very thorough about mixing up the product.

So, I used the same pads, but the Matte floor was done with the Clarke orbital sander with a terrycloth final step - whereas the Shiny repair areas were done by hand. Do you think it is necessary to rent the Clarke orbital sander again and do a third pass on the repair areas?
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I'm a floor dealer but I have done some of my own floors with Rubio products and I've made samples with WOCA. What Cancork says is 100% correct. Both products are fairly unforgiving in that they will expose flaws in the sanding but have some measure of forgiveness in that if you have a small flaw, it's not too hard to correct. I used Rubio White on my dark exotic floor. I got a little overspray on my floor. I scraped it off carefully, used an orbital sander to fine sand and applied a coat of oil. It blended in seamlessly. Since the Rubio has some wax in it, it might be easier to remove stuff, but it may also be a little more slippery. A minor flaw in my application method left a line where I applied oil on the first run. I used a small water bottle with small holes in the cap to squirt catalyzed oil on the floor, then buffed it in. For the next run I followed along with a foam brush to spread the oil slightly. Next time I'll fabricate some type of squeeze applicator with an integral rag or brush. The Rubio is costly but it goes a long way. Keep in mind that the floor must be scrupulously cleaned before oil application, probably more so with the Rubio. The Rubio is done in one coat where the WOCA requires more coats. You're going to need a buffer for either finish. A workman just left who did his first WOCA job yesterday. He said it's pretty similar to the Rubio. I used the WOCA cleaner to do an Oak job a few years ago and the water popped the grain, keeping it from getting the desired smoothness and sheen. Now I use denatured alcohol instead. On my own exotic floor I used acetone to tack the floor and remove any oiliness. These may not exactly conform to their instructions but they work for me. Sorry for the wordy response.
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Stay away from Minwax! It is low-grade DIY stuff. Don't pay a professional to use stuff that costs $30/gallon on the shelf at Home Depot. The colour your are showing can be achieved using Red Oak. This will help with costs (Red Oak is normally cheaper than White). Please be aware that the gloss in those photos is NOT matte. It is satin. And there is a big difference in "livability" between matte (hard to live with) and satin (much easier to live with). It is my understanding that Rubio has a product that will increase the gloss level a snick. In other words it is not a flat matte. It has a lovely "glow" to it without being shiny. If you go with Rubio, please make sure you work with that product. It is easier to live with a floor with a slight glow rather than a matte that shows every sock print you create. Nordic Seal and Bona both produce a satin finish as well. I think you can get the colour you want with the slight glow you *will want with any of the above products (minus Minwax).
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PRO
G & S Floor Service
5 years ago
You can use a deep cleaner to remove some of the oil and re-oil as suggested by rubio. You just need to make sure you remove the excess oil.

Otherwise, the sanding and prep need to be done the same way with the clarke. Unless, you have a hand held orbital that will produce the same sanding pattern. You will need to use the same type of sand paper in the same exact grit sequence. This is critical for a proper match. If, you use a different type of sand paper. The scratch depth will be different and your result will be different. 120 grit ceramic will cut deeper compared to zirconia or aluminum oxide. The motion of the machine will have to match. It's all about replicating the previous process. If, the machine was a 3 loop orbital, don't use a 5 or 8 loop motion. The scratch pattern will be different. So your result will be different. The cleaning process can be done by hand, but no oil should be leftover. Oil left behind will turn into a shiny film. Which is what you have.
Brian Adamczak
3 years ago
Did you every get this fixed and if so how?
S A W
Original Author
3 years ago
@Brian Adamczak I had to redo The Entire Floor by hand. I did not re-sand, instead I put on a second coat of Rubio to make the whole floor shiny. This is because I could never get the shiny spots to dull and become matte. I tried everything!

My steps were:
- apply 2nd coat of Rubio chocolate product, wait 5 minutes
- wipe up as much as possible with a terry cloth towel by hand
- use a clean terry cloth towel under a handheld sander (Black & Decker Mouse Detail Sander) and get more of the product up and out
- use a Viva - like cloth - paper towel under the handheld sander to get the last bit of product up and out of the floor. I went through about 20 rolls for 1250 sqft.
- did not walk on the floor for 7 days
I was (am) frustrated with Rubio Monocoat for not being honest about the situation and resolve. I spoke with them at length a dozen times. They were in denial of the problem - even though it happens quite often when you start asking around.

Rubio does not recommend applying a second coat. But the problem was that the shinny spots (1% of the floor) soaked up more oil. Therefore I had to get the rest of the floor (99%) to also soak up more oil. It was all about making the sheen uniform with oil. Note, doing 2 coast did darken the color a bit.

To be honest, I prefer the matte look over the shiny. In the end the upstairs has 2 coast and is shinny & darker. Downstairs has 1 coat and is matte and lighter. But the extra oil in the wood upstairs makes it more water spot resistant (that is helpful, because upstairs is where the kitchen is.) Whereas, downstairs with 1 coat, there is a tendency for the floor to spot when water gets on the wood.

My goodness it was a lot of work.

Best of luck!
Brian Adamczak
3 years ago
Thank you for that reply.

Rubio Monocoat hardwood floor has SHINY areas instead of Matte - help

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Rubio Monocoat hardwood floor has SHINY areas instead of Matte - help

Comments (6)

G & S Floor Service

S A WOriginal Author

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G & S Floor Service

Brian Adamczak

S A WOriginal Author

Brian Adamczak

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S A W
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