I have a contractor in refinishing my hardwood floors. Couple things have cropped up and I need some info, thought I would try here among other places. This morning they did the sanding and applied first coat. (I must say it all looks GREAT!) 1. I wanted 3 coats of polyurethane. I think that is what my contract calls for (need to check on this). Now contractor is putting 2 coats of moisture cure urethane, claims this is a harder finish and doesn't require 3 coats. Any info? 2. ONe room, we are replacing the floor (what is in there is really REALLY Bad). I asked for Bruce hardwoods, prefinished. NOT specified in contract. Getting Somerset prefinished. Contractor says it is comparable color is fine). All I can find out so far, Bruce is Home Depot, Somerset is Lowe's so no real difference. If anyone out there has any experience with this stuff, I sure would appreciate hearing from you!
I don't have much experience with hardwood floors but if the estimate says 3 coats then the least you should get is a rebate for the time and materials that were not used. Good luck. Wildkow
I thought most finishes consisted of a sealer and two top coats. I had a product called Street Shoe (water-based) applied to a floor that looks like koa (the wood) that had black sap/veins in it. Anyway the Street Shoe which is a highly thought of product allowed the black sap to seep through the finish so had to resand and ended up using an oil base product which solved the problem. Water base is nice for the installers but won't give as rich a finish as the oil based products. My friend also tried the Street Shoe on new oak floors but could never get it to cure correctly and it would turn out blotchy so redid his floors with an oil based also. The time to research is before you start the work and get everything in writing up front so there are no surprises. It's possibe there are new products that require only two coats, check with the manufacturer to see what is recommended. The manufacturer's customer service/tech department that I have called have always been very helpful to me.
I've ripped out, layed down, and finished hardwood floors, real and pre-finished. All I can add is that if the contract calls for a certain level of work then that's what should be expected. Period. He either performs the work or is in breach of contract. Period. As for the Bruce versus Somerset: I don't know. I have Bruce pre-engineered in my entryway. At the time, Depot was the only game in town so I didn't have a choice. I would just make sure that he's not price-comparing materials and charging you a fixed price. That is, if you agreed to $x.00 per square foot and he finds materials for less, then he's making a higher margin on materials cost. But if you agreed to a fixed cost without specifying the materials, you might be stuck with that one, especially if you're going to argue the "three coats" part.
Yes, as Tony stated, it depends on how the contract is worded. The 2 vs 3 coats may or may not be something you can nudge on.
Thanks again. Well, it seems that moisture cure urethane is much more expensive and a much better product that poly urethane. And 2 coats is all that is called for. It is used on bowling alleys. VERY hard, does not amber over time. As I have 15 pets that was what the floor folks were suggesting I go with each time I spoke to them about this issue. So I went with that. As for the Bruce and the Somerset, the Somerset will be installed, I really couldn't find much difference either way. BTW my contract does not specify a price per foot, so that isn't a concern, but good that got mentioned. Many thanks to all of you. The refinishing is done, oh my, they look fantastic!
It's nice to see you have so many black cats. The last time I visited an animal shelter they had way, way more black cats than any other color. If it were near Halloween time I'd understand because I know they won't adopt out black cats in October, but this was May. We'll be refinishing our hardwood floors in the future (children's wet clothing and towels, not pet problems) and I found this thread useful. Thanks for starting it.
