B&Q Floor Varnish - not very durable

[Colin Eberhardt]

Hi All,

I have recently redecorated my bathroom. The previous flood was solid wood laminate, which was badly stained and patchy. However, with a belt sander I was able to take a few millimetres of the surface leaving a very nice wooden surface.

I applied 3 coats of a B&Q brand teak floor varnish which gave a very nice deep brown finish.

A couple of days after the last coat I vacuumed the floor. Unfortunately the plastic wheels of the vacuum cleaner left dull scratch marks all over the floor!

The B&Q varnish claims to be suitable for medium load, which should imagine would be suitable for a bathroom.

Has anyone had experience of this product before?

What should I do to remedy this? Do I need to fork out =A350 for one of the Ronseal 'heavy duty' varnishes and apply a thin clear top-coat?

Regards, Colin E.

[JoeJoe]

I have recently redecorated my bathroom. The previous flood was solid wood laminate, which was badly stained and patchy. However, with a belt sander I was able to take a few millimetres of the surface leaving a very nice wooden surface.

I applied 3 coats of a B&Q brand teak floor varnish which gave a very nice deep brown finish.

A couple of days after the last coat I vacuumed the floor. Unfortunately the plastic wheels of the vacuum cleaner left dull scratch marks all over the floor!

The B&Q varnish claims to be suitable for medium load, which should imagine would be suitable for a bathroom.

Has anyone had experience of this product before?

What should I do to remedy this? Do I need to fork out £50 for one of the Ronseal 'heavy duty' varnishes and apply a thin clear top-coat?

On advise from this NG I have always used Ronseal Diamond Hard (I think this is what it is called). It really does what it says on the tin... ;-) It is very durable indeed.

[stuart noble]

IME the Rustins 2 part products are genuinely hard wearing. You could try their Liquid Plastic product, which sounds horrible but, sparingly applied, gives a not too shiny finish. It's also 100% waterproof IME. IIRC it comes in a 500ml size, which might be all you need for a thin coat wiped on with a rag. A lot of "high-build" type consumer products are bulked out with pigments and extenders which give you an instant result but lack durability. The trapped solvent syndrome can also result in a soft finish i.e. the first coat wasn't completely dry before the 2nd was applied.