Scratches on newly finished wood floor
I just had my downstairs floor refinished – 3 coats oil-based poly, looks great. Only problem is, I had pulled the radiators for the flooring guys, and put them back myself. I used those little three-wheel dollies – damned if now I have 3 “grooves” in the floor leading to each radiator – so much for soft wheels on the dollies.
Question is, how quick a repair job is this? My flooring guy says he’s too busy, just sand it with 120 grit and re-poly it.
Should I sand it by hand, use a little palm sander, or rent an edger or something? Will one coat cover it ok?
Any answers greatly appreciated,
Ben
Replies
Ben
Maybe Luvditchburns will come in here and help you out, if not then dont rent the edger, thats for sure, you dont need that unless you are going to sand the whole floor down again.
you mention three groves, by that I assume you dont mean three scratches but three indentations where the wheels rolled across the floor.
How deep are the grooves?
That may help figure this out.
Doug
You're floor guy could have warned you.....rads are too heavy to roll over a floor, even with soft wheels. Always roll over strips of masonite or 1/4" ply.
Anyway, your most likely looking at a total re-do if you want them right again, and your floor guy knows it.....that's why he's too busy.
The weight of the load crushes the wood fibres. You could try a buff and re-coat and finish in matte or satin, but you'll have to do the entire rooms in question, not just the affected areas.
Ditch
Edited 9/8/2003 10:09:51 PM ET by luvditchburns
Edited 9/8/2003 10:12:13 PM ET by luvditchburns
Thanks, ditch. I was afraid of that.
The whole wheels didn't make grooves, it was just the edges of the wheels. The little dollies I have have three wheels, so whatever edge was under the most pressure left a little groove. The grooves are small, maybe a 1/16" wide. I thought they were in the finish, not the fibers themselves, and I was hoping that floating some more finish over it would "fill in" the grooves.
That's what I get for trying to help the floor guy and moving my radiators myself. The one I didn't move looks fine where they finished around it.
Is the furniture back in the rooms? I would at least attempt a buff and recoat. Maybe recoat with a water borne or emulsion. Those finishes are applied heavier than Oil Modified and may bridge the damage.
I usually charge a buck per s.f. for that service. If I'd just done your floors and felt bad...which I do....I'd go .50.
It was nice of you to remove the rads, but most of us can get under them with far less hassle than removing them.Ditch
Ditch, wouldn't you run into adhesion problem when you recoat with water borne over buffed poly?
Tom
Tom,
Most pro finishes are compatible (within the product line). As long as the existing finish is dry.
I use Bona OMU sealer on most of my jobs and top-coat 50% of the time with Bona's emulsion (H20). As always test for compatibility.Ditch
Yeah, the furniture is mostly back. I think I'm going to have to live with it. There's always rugs, right?. Maybe I'll try a buff on a short stretch and see if I get anywhere.
Lesson learned about the radiators. What kills me is that I pulled them in the middle of the night before the guy showed up, tired after a long day. No good deed goes unpunished.
Thanks for all the advice, I appreciate it.
Ben
hey ditch
If worst came to worst couldn't he just buff the floor and than use the buffer to wax it? A pretty simple job for a DYI'er.
Be floored
andy The way we regard death is critical to the way we experiance life.
When your fear of death changes, the way you live your life changes.
http://CLIFFORDRENOVATIONS.COM
"A" Sup?
Wax will contaminate the floor if it doesn't work and he decides to recoat.Ditch
It seems that from a project management standpoint, we can deduce that if the radiators need to be removed and sandblasted and painted, they should be reinstalled before the floorguy is scheduled to start.
rg
Ben,
You could try an iron over a damp cloth to raise the wood fibers. Worked for me on some cabinets the sparky gouged.
KK
KK
That wont work over coats of poly....don't even attempt it.it'll melt!
Works ok on bare wood is all. The way we regard death is critical to the way we experiance life.
When your fear of death changes, the way you live your life changes.
http://CLIFFORDRENOVATIONS.COM
Andy,
The damp cloth prevents the poly from melting. It worked thru finish for me.
Be damp,
KK
Andy,
Sorry dude. Gotta agree with KK. Maybe those late night sessions out in the teepee temporarily skewered your judgment. Uh......be melted. lol
I've done the damp cloth steam routine on oil-based poly surfaces about a kajillion times and never melted one yet. Clothes iron on its' highest setting (wool). Keep the cloth damp at all times.
And of course it won't work well at all if the wood fibers were severed. Dented/squashed; yes.
The problem I've always experienced is that oil-based poly is a pretty darn good vapor barrier so it takes about ten times longer to accomplish the deed than with some other finishes. And that's if you can get the steam thru at all; the more coats of it on the surface, the less likely you'll be able to penetrate. Sometimes the magic works, sometimes it doesn't. Frequently it only half works over oil-based poly and you have to call it "successful". <g> For sure it's most successful on bare wood as you can sand everything back level when you're done.
But from the sounds of it, it's possible that the narrowly dented tracks are entirely in the finish and so attempts at steaming may accomplish nothing desirable anyway. Too hard to call from here. Well, for me anyway.
Knowledge is power, but only if applied in a timely fashion.