My timber floor dents - is this normal?

[Larry McCully]

[Tell me about it.

[Extracare]

Great post by Larry. All of these factors play a part in deterioration of your floor.

A good tip is to buy one of those micro-fibre mops. They have a wide flat head and are very easy to sweep around the floor with once or twice a day. You should do high traffic areas as often as possible.

The mop will remove any grit, sand and stones that will soon scratch your floor when someone scuffs a foot across them.

I have seen floors that look brand new after 3 years and the common factor is a no-shoes policy in the house. You simply can't scratch a floor in your socks or moccasins.

[Dusty]

Get someone to have a sqizz.

Radiata Pine is notoriously soft, if you drop something reasonably heavy on it the floor will dent, if you rock back on the rear legs of a dining chair it will dent, if you have some large sheila, in high heels, tottering around all over it drinking Chardonay, it will dent.

However, sticking your thumb or finger nail into it should not dent it. So, the problem doesn't lie in the Pine it's self, it's the coating. After ten weeks with correctly applied urethane (either single or two pack) your floor should be almost glass hard, as far as poking your digits into it.

Me thinks the contractor may of added a flowing, or thining type additive to the coating in an attempt to make it flow and settle better in the cold weather. He might of just been a little heavy handed, which may contribute to a less than tough coating.

[woodsprite]

Had new radiata pine floor boards put down about 15 years ago in our main living area. Sanded them, stained them and then put a 2 pack finish on.The floor is nearly as good now as it was then - apart from a couple of very small areas where chair legs scrape when moved. I wonder if the pine 15 years ago was a bit toughter than it is these days?

We do get some scuff marks from time to time, but nothing serious. I also give the floor - and the big area of cork floor in the other living area - a coat of Selley's (I think) floor restorer stuff. Looks like milk and has the consistency of milk. Mop it on, dries in about 10 minutes, and it puts a really tough gloss finish on the floor. It is self sacrificing, so after maybe 10 weeks or so starts to lose a little of the gloss, but still seems very tough. Works a real treat on the cork floor which is now 10 years old and should have been re-sealed about 5 years ago!

As a side line - our local community hall had a new jarrah floor installed about 12 years ago and the poly finish on it died badly after about 6 months, due to the heavy foot traffic - looked awful. I happen to also clean the hall and for about 2 years could find nothing that would bring back the shine to the floor. Started using this Selley's stuff, and the floor looks better than new. I re-coat every 12 months, and just mopping it every couple of months cleans the floor and brings back the shine.

Good luck with the guy who did your floor - sounds like he may have stuffed it a bit.
Jeff

[Evalina]

Hi!
Thanks for the replies, just got back from visiting my mother in the country and have popped backiin to see what was going on.

My floors are actually 35yrs old, the house was built in 1971. So no new wood here. And since I had radiata pine in my last house (built in 1972) and got that polished as well (with a different contractor) and had absolutely no problems with the floor (a couple of scuff marks where the lounge was and that was it in three years), this one is completely different in its lack of durability.
I thought it could be the contractor not putting enough coats on the floor, supposed to be three, but the time the job took it didn't seem long enough to do three coats Took them five days.....two to sand it, punch down the nails etc, one to put on the stain, then supposedly two days to give it three coats of urethane.
Now I know that the contractors spent no more that 3 hours each day for the first two days, then no more than two hours each day on the final three days. I know that because we were in and out of the garage of the property because we were movng stuff , and mowing etc. Is it possible to put three coats on in two days, assuming that you would have to wait for each coat to dry enough to walk on so you could sand down air bubbles and then apply another coat?

Maybe there is a way to do it.......but I don't know. Also, the guys who did my floors arrived in a van with a completely different name to the company we actually called....I assume the company use subcontractors when they need too, perhaps these subcontractors cut a few corners thinking to save some money.

What do you guys think?

[Dusty]

Hi, nowadays contractors are able to apply three coats in one day, so the chances of them putting down three coats over two days is very real. It still doesn't mean they did do three coats. But it's possible.

However, that's still not the problem, even with two coats the final surface still should be hard enough not to be able to dent with your finger nail.

I'm still thinking that the final coat has not cured correctly for some reason or another.

Find out the name of the coating they used, if possible.

[Extracare]

It's only possible to put down 3 coats in a day if you use water based coatings and these aren't as hard-wearing as poly.

Sounds like they maybe used a barrier seal as the first coat and two coats of poly.

Was there a strong smell of thinners? If so, that's polyurethane.

Can you show us photos of the damage?

[Dusty]

It's only possible to put down 3 coats in a day if you use water based coatings and these aren't as hard-wearing as poly.

Sounds like they maybe used a barrier seal as the first coat and two coats of poly.

Was there a strong smell of thinners? If so, that's polyurethane.

Can you show us photos of the damage?

From the ladies original post she refered to the god awful smell that she encountered when she went into the house. This leans it towards being either a single or two pack polyurethane finish.

Wattyl have a three coat in a day polyurethane system
1 Quick dry. 20 to 30 minutes

2 Fast "A". Their 7008 product with the part 'A' of the mixture having a quick drying agent. One and a half to two hours ready to cut back and coat.

3 The normal 7008 two pack as the final coat.

Also, a Sydney mob called Urethane Coatings have the same sort of set up I.E. a fast seal, followed by an accelerated second coat, and a normal finish coat.
The Wattyl product is the more superior of the two.

[Extracare]

I didn't know those products existed - cheers. They sound like they wouldn't flatten out as well as slow acting two packs etc. Ever used them?

Given that the guys were in and gone within two hours on the last 2 days it seems that even these products would have been hard pressed to cure in time.

Photos would help as I don't think we really know how badly the floor dents and whether the dents are in the wood or only in the poly.

I reckon you can always put a mark on a pine floor with a thumbnail no matter how old the floor is. A picture would help us see how badly it dents.

[Larry McCully]

ahhhh sweet memories of using 7008. It has the most brilliant gloss level i have ever seen. I remember coating 100 sq mt floors in summer in north Queensland when i was a lad stater and coming out as whacked as and everything was white before my eyes. The isocyanate used to do something to the pupil in the eye and all you saw was white. Very cool i thought. I would still use it if it was specified, but now days i am more into single pacs. also i know of that company in Sydney called urethane coatings. I am one of marks customers.
Fast a 7008 does level out, you just have to be quick in getting it down.