Hardwood Floors June/July 2019

By Kjell Nymark HARDWOOD HINTS

Dealing with Peeling Finish

• Surface contamination below the finish • Not abrading or using too-fine of a grit abrasive between coats • Hot coating a subsequent coat after the windowof opportunity for hot coating (manufacturers specifyhow long afinish can sit before it needs to be abraded) • The elasticity of the coat beneath being incompatible with the elasticity of the coat applied • Stain that is heavily applied, double stained, improperly dried, or insufficiently wiped off • Using a stain that is not meant for flooring

• Naturally occurring oils from some species • Improper tacking solvent used between coats All of these causes must be considered when a peeling issue is discovered. Thankfully, these issues can be avoided. It is important to refer to the manufacturer's application instructions when finishing newly sanded floors and consult with the manufacturer before recoating over an existing finish. For more information regarding peeling finish, please refer to page 64 of the NWFA Technical Publication Problems, Causes, and Cures. g

Peeling finish can be a frustrating issue for floor finishers. Sometimes the coats will lay down flat and smooth and look good after the floor finisher has left, only to later separate from the floor.This often leads to some head scratching and trying to figure out how it happened.There are many causes for this, so one really has to reverse-engineer the sanding and finishing sequence to figure out where things went wrong. Some of the most usual causes include:

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