Hardwood floors

[My Name]

I contracted with a local retail flooring company to refinish my hardwood floors, including: - Sanding/patching - Staining - 3 coats of polyurethane

Instead of 3 coats of polyurethane, their subcontractor actually installed: - Stain - 2 coats of Urethane (alcohol-based Baaca) - 1 coat of Polyurethane (Minwax)

They did a great job sanding, patching, and staining.

But my concern is that they installed the Polyurethane ON TOP OF the Urethane, all in about a 36 hour period. I plan to be in this house at least ten years, and want the floors to last!

I don't know much about Polyurethane vs. Urethane, and can't find ANY info about whether it's okay to put one on top of the other. The local flooring company says that it's fine as-is, but has offered to put an second coat of Polyurethane. Is this okay?

Any advice/thoughts would be appreciated!

[George]

My bet is the polymer and the monomer will coexist comfortably - if indeed it is a monomer anymore.

Professional outfits generally live or die by word of mouth. If your floor causes you to badmouth....

[Dave Mundt]

Now...if it is "engineered" flooring, what you are looking at is, basically, a very good quality photograph of oak planking, printed on vinyl, and coated with a very strong clear-coat. It is amazingly hard to tell it from the "real" thing, these days, as it is very good. Short of taking a pocket knife to the flooring, one can tell that it is engineered by laying out the pieces in a box or two...you should find some pieces that are clones of each other. I am not entirely sure that it is possible to put enough pore filler on real oak to make it that smooth, and still have it look good. The grain is just too rugged. Regards Dave Mundt