Maple floor sand, poly and "CHIP"

[Paul J]

I had hired a company called Custom Floors to do my kitchen floor which is maple that has been covered for 50 years or more by at the least four layers of various flooring materials, UNBELIEVABLE. Anyway these guys were in and out in 2 days. The job looked good but we had several problems like finding long hairs and trapped dust in the Polyurethane, so they came back several times to buff and recoat. Months later I was doing some work on the walls and taped off a doorway but dropped a piece of duct tape on the floor, which came up with a huge chunk of poly. Then I started to notice that were ever the floor boards would give when walked on the poly was pealing and cracking. I seems that the poly did not stick to the wood. Did they not cleanup properly prior to the poly? or Did they not use the right poly? I asked for oil based. WHAT THE HELL DID THEY DO????????

[ToolMiser]

I am guessing (not a professional or claim to be one) that the floor had been waxed and that didn't come up with the other preparation. We had some floors professionally sanded, and the contractor said to never wax ours or we could never apply a finish again..

[Hylourgos]

Hi Paul,

The causes for this could be several, so don't immediately jump to the conclusion that it was CF's fault. In fact, one of the causes you yourself observe (loose floorboards). It's possible that even a quality coating, properly applied, will fail under such pressure.

Try to note every single place where the finish is failing. Is is where the sub-flooring give every time? Then you have your answer.

You might also go back to CF and ask what exact finish they applied. Then contact the manufacturer and talk with them about the failure to see if it's unusual.

Waxing a floor should have nothing to do with later finishing. A good prep involves chemical and sanding-finishing of the prior coating, so the wax won't really matter. It's more of a pain to strip off, true, but it's not that hard.

Regards, H.