Can I sand top coat of water based poly?
Can I sand the top coat of my just finished water based polyurethane floor? I just finished the last coat and it is a little rough and I noticed that when I sanded between coats it really helped smooth things out. This is a basic benwood low lustre poly that client requested for $ and low VOC. Any thoughts would be great. Will the sanding hurt the durablity or lifespan?
Replies
If you sand the last coat it will dull the finish. How many coats were applied? I put H2O based poly in my house at the wifes requestand the dogs have killed it! 5coats. Poly is not as durable as oil!!!!!
You can buff it with a floor buffer with a screen disk on it and then vacuum, tack cloth and apply another coat. This is standard practice. Most water based poly floor finishes are not as durable as oil based finishes and it is very difficult to sand and recoat a single room with out showing the line where the recoat meets the original. Finally water based poly tends to edge bond oak flooring so when the dryness of winter hits the cracks develop every three or four boards instead of between every board as with oil based poly and are therefore three or four times more noticable.
Avoid the use of steel wool.
What about bumps in oil based poly? I have done a few floors. Sanded, swept, vacumed and tacked. Applied varnish with lambswool mop head, plugged up the heating vents to avoid dust air circulation, and I still get lots of bumps in my finish. I sand between coats (then repeat the sweep, vacume and tack) but I am still getting bumps. What is the secret to a smooth finish?