Wood floor disaster
Our floor guy put a sealer, Golden Oak Minwax stain, and three coats of water-based satin finish polyurethane on our pine floors. They looked absolutely beautiful — a very even shade of medium brown. But we were concerned the satin finish wouldn’t be strong enough for soft pine floors, so he suggested one more coat…
Our floor guy put a sealer, Golden Oak Minwax stain, and three coats of water-based satin finish polyurethane on our pine floors. They looked absolutely beautiful — a very even shade of medium brown. But we were concerned the satin finish wouldn’t be strong enough for soft pine floors, so he suggested one more coat of high gloss. Though now he says he used semi-gloss. Anyway, so we saw the floors today, and now they are too dark and the color has changed. They look orange, purple, and yellow. Plus the finish is uneven, so they are shiny in some parts, matte in others, and look like someone spilled sticky candy in places. It is totally unacceptable, we have already paid him most of the balance, and we have to move Tuesday. He says he will come back Monday and buff out the semigloss and put down one more coat of satin. He swears the color and finish will be like before. I am dubious. Anyone know? Anyone had this problem before?
Well…..so I went back and looked at the floor before he put on the final coat of poly. It was too dark, so he sanded it some more. I didn’t see it again till moving day. I have to say it does look gorgeous. It’s not the color we initially agreed on or planned, but the floors look beautiful. Very even, typical dipped-in-honey pine color. He really worked hard on it. It’s a great pity I changed my mind midway through the process and requested a different finish. Four coats of satin is definitely enough. Moral of story: Do not mix different finishes. Satin will not change color, semi gloss will deepen it slightly. You probably do not need a stain if you are using semi gloss, whether it is over oak or pine.
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Thank you so much everyone. I hope you are right. Watch — now we’ll end up with 2.5 coats of satin and it will all wear off in six months.
Buff the top layer and put satin poly on.. I think it should be fine.. Unless he did something other than what he told you he did…
I think the proper way to do this is to put the gloss down first, buff it out and then the satin over top. Gloss is the most durable. Don’t see why he can’t buff it all out as long as he doesn’t hit the wood. Sounds like uneven application/too many coats too soon. Pine is not an easy floor to stain.
I think it is possible to buff the top layers of the semi-gloss off. That’s pretty upsetting but try to get as much info as possible here. I think that you might try to have him buff down the top layers of finish (good you have poly). I don’t know why that last coat would change the appearance so much, but try to get him to take that off and see if you can get it back to what you had before the final coat. You would probably need to put some satin back though.
Oh my, I don’t have any advice, but I have a lot of sympathy 🙂
All kinds of colors lurk in these old pine floors. We’ve got about five grades of maple syrup and some thin streaks of cranberry and charcoal going, just with a clear finish plus some poly. It was a bit shocking and we had to rethink the kitchen cabs. But purple? Oh dear.
I’m not sure what to advise, but I don’t think the extra coat of poly will truly prevent damage, and the poly itself scratches. I’ve since learned that oil finishes can be reapplied to mask scratches in a way you can’t do with poly.
That said, wait for some posts with more expertise, but I see little harm in letting him try, so long as you don’t pay if the floors still are purple. Hopefully Senator Street is reading — he usually has much more sound advice in this area.