Hardwood Floors April/May 2025

SYMPOSIUM PREVIEW: Finish THE SCIENCE BEHIND

Failures

The objective is to help flooring professionals better prevent failures at the jobsite, and to give inspectors a clear direction to begin investigating causes for failure. Finishing a floor correctly is not only an art, but a science. Ethan Erickson, chemist for Arboritec, will be part of this panel discussion. Below, he previews the session by answering some common questions related to finish failures. How has science contributed to increased durability and performance? There have been fabulously performing, very durable finish systems for decades. However, environmental concerns and other factors have pushed scientific innovation and the abandonment, or dramatic changes to, these formulations. There has been an increasing focus on, and innovations in, waterbased coatings, then into lower-volatile organic compound (VOC) versions of the same, then ones with more water-dispersible content (“PUDs,” including, where relevant, aliphatic diisocyanate cross-linkers/and with more water-dispersible content, other cross-linking options and developments),

The NWFA Expo offers a wealth of educational opportunities

for professionals looking to grow and expand their industry knowledge and technical expertise. “The

Science Behind Finish Failures” is one of the education topics that will be covered during the Pre-Expo Symposium on Tuesday, April 15. A panel of finish experts will discuss common finish failure causes, and the scientific principles behind them.

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