Refinish Hardwood Floors... What's with the spots?!? (pics attached) - Contractor Talk - Professional Construction and Remodeling Forum

danimal · 01-10-2009, 09:29 PM

I've begun refinishing red oak hardwood floors. After doing the complete sanding...etc, I've put 1 coat of tinted DuraSeal Polyurethane on. In certain areas, especially around the entry, there are spots that will not take the poly... what gives? Its like oil and water... just doesn't make sense.
The floors are about 30 years old...

Would love you input.

jamestrd · 01-10-2009, 11:33 PM

Thats exactly your problem.."it's like oil and water"

more like wax and poly..

my professional opinion, if you are talking about the spots on the floor, ( and not the wall)...you have contamination on the floor, most likely wax finish residue or murphys oil..
those floors were not thoroughly sanded in my opinion..I can see traces of old finish..

Tinted poly??? You added color to poly?,,,, could be suspension of the mix of tint in the finish causing the contamination.. You are not a chemist, you are a floor finisher.

what did you mix in? stain?

KHouse75 · 01-11-2009, 12:00 AM

I don't do a lot of flooring but it looks like some contamination from an oil based product or oil in the wood.

I have installed many thousands of square feet of reclaimed wood soaked with cottonseed oil from old cotton mills. They are very oily and require special finishing with an oil based product.

I know it's too late now but after you sand off the new finish, you may want to look at using an oil based product in some areas where you know the problem was occuring. We use tung oil on our relclaimed oily wood flooring.

danimal · 01-11-2009, 12:44 AM

I do not know of any wax residue... but obviously I can't know for sure what has happened to these floors over the last 30 years. I am trying to figure out if there is any way to fix it. I did a very thorough sanding job. I guess it is possible that there was still some finish on there, but in round spots?? Seems strange...

the big 12 inch · 01-22-2009, 08:14 PM

If your customer paid you I would give them back their money!!You did so many things wrong on this job and this is the end result of your inexperience...sorry,thats the way it is...its not the floors fault!!

OCRS · 01-22-2009, 08:18 PM

It's either sweat or something you stepped in outside the floor area.

rbsremodeling · 01-22-2009, 08:26 PM

It's called a ****ty sand job and the sealer did not take.

the big 12 inch · 01-23-2009, 05:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ocrs

it's either sweat or something you stepped in outside the floor area.

wrong!!!

Floordude · 01-23-2009, 09:03 AM

What did you use as a seal coat??

Being it is isolated near an exterior door... Tracked in contaminates. Are they using a de-icer on sidewalks? Is there a fresh black top asphalt out side?

It looks like a sanding not deep enough, or no seal coat was used.

sparehair · 01-23-2009, 08:52 PM

Black spots usually come from a metal oxidizing in a water based stain. But those look like fisheyes to me. Did you tack with mineral spirits and then apply water based (i've heard that crackles and not fisheyes though)? Fisheyes are usually oil in the water based application.

Jerry T · 01-24-2009, 05:41 AM

I'm going for not sanded deep enough.

Bob Mariani · 01-24-2009, 11:22 AM

Silicone contamination? Many cleaners contain some of this. And a poly will react with it. Clean the floor better first and this will not occur.

hawaii · 02-14-2009, 02:50 PM

Hmmm.
To me it looks like you have not sanded the floor enough.
On the first pictures I can see there are different colors of finish .
Is the first picture the old look before refinishing hardwood floor ?
There could be two things.
One is there is something in the wood that causes it.
Two there were some dirt in the finish you have used.
Did it happened only in one corner of the room.
Did it happen right where you started to apply finish is yes your applicator was dirty.

Good luck.