Applying a satin finish over gloss

[jumbuck]

Hello. I have gloss (polyurethane/estapol) cypress floors in older house. The floors were originally stained and after purchasing the house back in '94 I removed the carpet and applied the clear gloss finish over the stain. I would like to give it another coat as it has Quite a few scratches ect and was wondering if a satin coat (hopefully wont show minor scratches as bad) can be applied over the gloss and if theres any thing special I will have to do first. I might add that sanding is not really an option as the boards , though in good condition , are not perfectly flat and sanding would remove the stain on the high spots . I don't really have enough money to have it sanded down to below the stain . Sorry if this has already been answered (I did search) and if it has could some one point me to the necessary thread(s) . Thanks.

[RufflyRustic]

Hi Jumbuck, I would suggest you use the same brand of poly you used first time round. Check the maker's website for any additional hints and tips, - I suppose I'm saying here look for compatibility of products.

If you aren't going to re-sand the whole floor, then the poly might not 'stick'. Any new coats are going to need a keyed surface, and that means sanding. I can appreciate not using the sander, but the only other idea is to simply get some knee pads on and hand sand enough to keep the levels where they are, but key the surface enough to remove some of those scratches and enough for the next coat of poly to 'stick'.

Is there an inconspicuous area where you can test all this first?

cheers & Good Luck!
Wendy

[Dusty]

Yes. You can do a Satin finish, however, I would recommend that you do a fresh coat of gloss before attempting a coat of Satin.

Here's why. Seeing as you applied the last coat way back in '94 I'm guessing that a lot of 'stuff' has landed on the floors surface in that time. Some of that 'stuff' like, fly spray, furniture polish, laundry spray, things of that nature will of left a residue on the floor.
The Satin coating most probably won't adhere very well to your existing finish, particularly if there are contaminates as I've described. For that reason I highly recommend that the floor gets a fresh coat of gloss first, which is much easier to apply and has great adhesion properties and will hide just about anything that the floor has copped over the years. This new coat of gloss creates an excellent base for you to have a trouble free coat of Satin as your final finish.

If, on the other hand, you just try and apply a coat of Satin over what you have there now there is evey chance of you having a host of problems with delamination, spots, bits where it won't take properly, rough patches that sort of thing.

First up, you will need to cut back the floor pretty severly, which is a light sand that completly scratches up the entire surface of the floor leaving the whole thing uniformly dull. I've added a couple of photo's down the bottom to visually show just what a decent cut back looks like. The second photo shows how dull it should look.

So, cut it back, vaccum and then apply a coat of Wattyl 7008 2 pac. Then cut it back again, vaccum and then apply your Satin coat. I recommend Polycure Super Satin, which will have to be purchased either off a local floor sander or floor sanding supply company.

Good luck.

[jumbuck]

Thank you both for the replies .
It would seem that I will have to hand sand , its funny how best way to do anything always seems to be the hardest .
As I've been reading through various threads I can't help but wish I'd had access to such a informative and helpful forum back before I originally done the floor.
Thanks again
Garry

[Extracare]

If you are going to hand sand you will probably want to wash the floor first to remove as much of any contamination as possible.

Use a 50/50 water and metho mix and pay particular attention to corners and along benches etc as this is where grime accumulates.

[jumbuck]

Thanks Extracare I will do that. I was going to use sugersoap (I don't know much about painting).