On Aug 17, 6:58 am, RickH wrote:
On Aug 16, 6:29 pm, Firas wrote:



I just bought a house and spent the last weekend sanding and staining
the wood floor. Everything has gone according to plan until last
night. On Monday I applied oil based polyU and let it try for 2 days.
Last night I rented an orbital sander to buff the floors but the pads
they gave me didn't work. They were very "sticky" and the sander could
not spin at speed. Basically I could not finish the floors.
My question:
1) Do you need to buff/sand after applying an oil based PolyU. I see
conflicting advice online and it seems that the floors are fine right
now. There are some small areas that have bubbles which I could buff
out with a small hand sander but do I need to sand the whole house?
2) The PolyU manufacturer recommends only one coat. The floors right
now look good and seem well protected. Any advice here?

Thanks
Firas

The buffer was grabbing because the finish was still too soft, you
need at least a week to be able to do that with oil poly. The first
sanding is just to knock down the stubs. With oil based poly or
Flecto Varathane, etc., and only 48 hours, I like to just get on my
hands and knees with some 220 grit paper and give it a very light
circular hand sanding "wax on , wax off" (if you've seen the karate
kid movie). Wipe it up with some tack rag, then do the final coat.

Most people are using the water based polys these days, those dry very
hard in 24 hours and can take a buffer for your first coat knock
down. Still have to tack rag it, then put on the last coat. Having
used both I like the water-based poly better.

Thanks - looks like that is what I will be doing next week.