Background
My wife and I recently purchased a 1250 sq. ft. condo that needed some simple renovations. The first floor is entirely Number 1 Common Red Oak, which had likely last been installed 10-15 years ago and had significant wear and tear on the existing oil poly. We decided to hire a highly rated local flooring company to resurface, stain, and poly, all using water-based products. Of course as projects go, things started off on a frustrating note. We were disappointed to learn on the first day that our contractor had subcontracted the work, and that there would not be an onsite tech during evaluation and start of the work.
The First Issue - Oil-based Stain with Water-based Finish
We had originally been told the job would take 3 days to complete, using DuraSeal water-based stain and Bona water-based poly. After the initial sanding was done, we were told that they would be using oil-based Minwax stain. I was hesitant knowing that oil-based stain with a water-based finish can cause issues if not given proper drying time, but trusted they were professionals. After the completing sanding of the first floor on Day 1, we were told they would be able to complete the full job on Day 2. They stained, and then applied three coats of poly between 9am and 5pm, telling us we could walk on in the next day, and move furniture in” after 72 hours. I was surprised to hear they had finished so quickly, but was not onsite to check out the work as I was traveling at the time.
Upon arriving at the condo 72 hours later, it was evident that the job was not complete - the floor had significant issues with raised-grain from the water-based poly, and was legitimately rough to the touch. We spoke with the contractors and they agreed to come back, screen-sanded the floor, and again applied two layers of water-based poly. It seemed to be resolved and we moved on with our renovations.
One Week Later - Failing Finish - Peeling & Chipping
A week later, we encountered additional problems. We hired painters to come in and repaint the entire condo, and knowing the issues from the previous week, I was present three-times per day during the work. Making sure drop cloths were down, ladders weren’t on bare wood, and nothing was being dragged across the new flooring. They were comparatively immaculate, and took precautions everywhere with the new flooring. However, despite all of this, when we removed the drop cloths yesterday, we found massive issues with the flooring finish failing. The poly finish is now flaking, chipping, and peeling off in numerous spots across the first floor. Not being an expert but attempting to figure out what went wrong, my suspicion is that the rushed job and combination of oil-based stain and water-based finish led to an issue with surface adhesion of the poly to the wood itself. Inadequate drying time for oil-based stains seems to be a culprit here, and everything being rushed in one day would make this the obvious problem. Perhaps the screen sanding and additional coats did not help things either
Contractor's Proposed Fix
We immediately sent photos to the originally hired contractors and expressed our frustration. The owner called us and apologized, promising to send his crew in and that he would personally oversee fixing the issue next week. His resolution, however, is to sand the finish off and reapply again. I am very skeptical of this – how can they be sure they’ve sanded the finish off in full, but have left the stained wood intact? Shouldn’t they just be restarting the job from bare wood in total, re-staining, and re-finishing? We pushed our move-in date back a week to deal with this, and should we have another issue with failing finish, we will have significant problems in how to deal with our moved-in furniture.
TL;DR
Flooring contractor’s subcontractor botched a flooring resurfacing job. Finish seems to be failing, and I am guessing rushing water-based finish over oil-based stain is likely the culprit. Contractor wants to simply sand the finish off and reapply, however I am skeptical if this is actually the best course of action versus restarting the job and making sure it’s done the right way.
Video showing close-up of failing finish.
