Help after DIY Bona finish on hardwood floors

4 years ago

last modified: 4 years ago

We stripped off the stain on our red oak floors to get the nautral Scandi effect. After sanding and applying a Bona sealer, we used Bona Naturale Traffic HD. For the most part the floors look great but the edges are discolored. We already tried sanding after applying the sealer but it still looks uneven and dark in some spots. Help?

Featured Answer

PRO

G & S Floor Service

4 years ago

You did not completely remove the existing finish. That's what those dark yellow spots are. You will need to re-sand the floor and start all over.

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Comments (6)

tatts
4 years ago
Need photos.
User
4 years ago
Bad sanding job. Bad application job. Nothing was done correctly. Do over. With a Pro this time.
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My best guess is it was still 'fresh' when you moved in. It should be at its toughest by now. Even though these finishes SAY they are fully cured in 10 days (10 days=95% cure = 'full cure' to the manufacturer) they still need another 2 weeks to get the last 5% over and done with. Again, this is HIGHLY dependent on the ACTUAL product used. And the 'cure times' are greatly affected by the humidity and heating/cooling going on IN the home before during and after the finish was applied. Traditionally the finish is applied over 2-3 days (day 1 = primer + 1 coat finish; day 2 = 2nd coat finish + light sanding + 3rd coat). The primer and first coat of finish *can be applied on the first day...but they don't have to be. But these coats need to go down sooner rather than later (too long between coats means more abrading). Once these coats have been applied the house is left in a livable state (heating/cooling system on as if someone were living there). After the first two weeks of cure, the floor could then be 'covered' with ram board to protect it from the rest of the trades people moving in and doing 'finishing' work. Once the ram board is taken off then the floor is 'babied' for another couple of weeks just to be sure. My 'finish' senses are telling me this was a fresh, delicate floor finish that may not have been fully 'hardened'. A rush to move into the space may have lead to a soft floor at a time when you needed it to be super tough. It needed to be babied for the first two weeks that you moved in. I'm going the 'worst is over' when it comes to scratching...but the damage is done. Talk to your builder and get the name of the product and the application schedule. At the same time ask if there is anything that can be done to add more finish (buff and coat) in the Traffic HD (offer some financial incentive to get this moving faster). But it will mean you will need to move everything off the floors, and then allow the final coat to 'toughen up' for another few weeks. You will have to be SUPER careful while you wait for the Traffic HD to harden. If you were in a hurry to get into the home in the first place, I'm going to guess the 'buff and coat' is not going to be easy to manage.
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Your first picture shows very faint evidence of chatter, which you can read about online. It generally involves vibration in the drum/belt sander, which requires inspection and repair. Removal requires starting over. Using a multi-plate sander like a Lagler Trio in the regimen generally eliminates chatter. Your second picture shows some light swirl, which you're likely to have at least somewhere on every floor. Your picture can't be used for evaluation since it's obviously taken to close to the floor. The generally agreed upon height for evaluating a wood floor is 50". If you have some light swirl that's not apparent from 50", it's not an issue. If you can see it from a standing position, it is an issue. There's a fine line between sanding the floor so slick that it won't absorb sufficient stain, and leaving faint swirl marks in the floor. It's not unusual to see swirls in the dry stain which don't show up in the finished product. I've seen this before and panicked, but it went away with the finish application. Penetrating stains are used on flooring, so when you get some on the raw wood during staining, it's taken care of by the staining and wiping, as is any dust that might get on the floor.
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SJ McCarthy
4 years ago
As others have suggested, the sanding job was imperfect. The darker areas are most likely left-over finish that was never removed completely. If you bring in a professional, s/he *MIGHT be able to sand/patch specific areas. Might. No guarantees. And if this is present on every wall in every room, then the 'sand and patch' isn't going to be possible. It is faster and cheaper (labour costs for a professional) to have them sand it all down and start again.

If this is left over finish then it is underneath the new application. To deal with it properly you must remove everything ON TOP so that you can sand down to raw wood once again. Sigh. Yes that means you need to do a sand/refinish once again. Edge sanding is a real b!tch to deal with. As you have discovered. It must be done in a specific way with machines (palm sander anyone)....which must follow the same grit levels as your big machine. That means if you used the 80, 100, 120 grit system on your big machine...then the palm sander must have the same 3 grit levels used as well...in the same sequence.

The next question you are going to ask is, "Can't I just leave it if it doesn't bother me?" The answer is simple: "Sure....BUT you could get finish failure because of the two different chemicals decided not to bond properly."

It is your decision. You can leave it as-is for now. You can move back into the space and hope for the best. The best case scenario is you cover everything up (because the issue is at the walls = furniture covers most of it) and you don't notice it for the next 20 years.

Worst case scenario is it starts to bubble and peel in a short amount of time (less than 1 year) and it requires a full sand and refinish very quickly after you move all your furniture back in.

It's your call. It is your home and your floor. Right now you have the benefit of an empty home and (probably) still have access to all the equipment needed. To achieve a full fix is very simple right now. If you leave it until later you will have to move everything out of the way again...
PRO
Oak & Broad
4 years ago
Whew! I dont even know if you want to give the original contractor another try at that one.
Aurimas Knepa
last year
Our problem is way worse. We have stains after each drop of food, coffe, etc. Our floor is only 7 days old! Three layers of Bona Domo were used.

Help after DIY Bona finish on hardwood floors

G & S Floor Service

Comments (6)

tatts

User

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