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4 hour old blue tape pulling polyurethane off of 5 day old refinished hardwood

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54K views 46 replies 25 participants last post by  Newman's floor care  
E
#1 ·
So long story short, we were supposed to come in and paint on the main level of this house, and the floor was completed last Wednesday. I specifically mentioned (in front of the HO) that we'd be using blue tape and paper to protect the floor and mask it, and the owner of the flooring company said that would be fine. Of course, after only 4 hours of being down today, the tape pulled up much of the polyurethane.

Report from my guy on the site doing other work while they finished the floor: the guy stained and put the first coat of polyurethane in the same day, which I thought was a big no-no. He didn't think to mention it until I asked specifically what the guy did while he was there. The poly is water-based, 3 coats. I have attached a photo.

So my question is this: will the adhesion ever be good on a floor like this, or will it always be an issue and start to flake off as the floor moved and gets walked on? Also, is it reasonable to expect after 5 days of curing for a new floor to be able to handle 3M blue tape?
 

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#39 ·
IMHO-coating with water borne finish the same day you put down any stain = gambling.
I think this floor will need to be re-sanded, stained, wait a day, then coat.
In my experience, if you stain, wait until the next day to coat if you're using water borne finish. It's cheap insurance.
You can (sometimes, depending on local conditions) put a first coat of oil based finish down in Nutmeg after two hours drying time (using a quick dry stain).
We is Bona Quick Dry stains, and Pallman water borne finish, and never coat until the next day. Period.

Best of luck here.
 
#46 ·
If tape is pulling up any finish after any reasonable cure time it was done wrong. Prep for finishing is the most important part. Putting a scratch in most coatings is a must. Letting the stain completely dry is a must. You should stay within the system - if you use minwax then use a minwax topcoat. If you use an oil based stain use an oil based finish, same with waterborne.

Standard testing for adhesion is to apply the clear, let it cure fully, take a razor and score the finish so it has a 1/16" grid. Apply your tape and burnish it for full adhesion. Rip the tape up and most all the squares should remain if not all.
 
N
#47 ·
Yes the water bass was put on too fast most water-based finish requires 48 to 72 hours drying time before putting water-based finish over oil based stain. and when using tape when painting you should pull the tape up with wet paint on it because if the paint dries only tape it will bond it to the floor or oil base or latex. This information comes with the experience of over 30 years of painting and refinishing hardwood floors
 
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