Our house has pre-finished tongue and groove maple floors. It's
solid 3/4", not the 3/8" plywood stuff. There's a stain on top with
some sort of clear finish, probably polyeurethane.

The problem is that the finish is coming off in some places. It starts
from the edges of the boards. At first, I thought it was water damage
because the finsh came off near a plunger that was wet in the bathroom.
Then I remembered that our previous house had a similar floor (that
one was oak instead of maple) but it was cheaper stuff, and the finish
never came off.

Then I found a board nowhere near the bathroom that was doing the same
thing. In all cases, the adjascent board is perfect.

Any ideas what's going on? I have plenty of extra boards so worst
case, I could cut a board out with the circular saw, then rip off the
back side of the tongue and replace it. One of the advantages of being
a woodworker I guess.

I'm guessing that this is a manufacturing defect on some of the boards.
Then again, maybe I just got it wet. Any ideas?

brian

Since your floors were pre finished, it was likely finished with an aluminum
oxide based coating rather than a poly. This coating is extremely durable,
but, like carbide, is also very fragile. If the flooring is fairly new, it
was likely initially damaged during the install. What makes me think this
is the fact that you say its along the edges. If you look closely at the
profile of the tongue/groove you'll notice that the groove on the top is
slightly back beveled. This allows the flooring to be butt up tight
together and minimize gaps. The problem lies in that the top beveled edge
on the groove side gets slammed up against the tongue side during the
install and the fragile oxide coating cracks. Soon, the finish starts to
just flake off in these areas. All to often, this is caused by the
installer just giving the boards a hard smack with the tomahawk rather than
gently tapping them together before fastening down. Pre finished needs a
little easier touch than unfinished for this reason. --dave

"brianlanning" wrote in message
oups.com...
Our house has pre-finished tongue and groove maple floors. It's
solid 3/4", not the 3/8" plywood stuff. There's a stain on top with
some sort of clear finish, probably polyeurethane.

The problem is that the finish is coming off in some places. It starts
from the edges of the boards. At first, I thought it was water damage
because the finsh came off near a plunger that was wet in the bathroom.
Then I remembered that our previous house had a similar floor (that
one was oak instead of maple) but it was cheaper stuff, and the finish
never came off.

Then I found a board nowhere near the bathroom that was doing the same
thing. In all cases, the adjascent board is perfect.

Any ideas what's going on? I have plenty of extra boards so worst
case, I could cut a board out with the circular saw, then rip off the
back side of the tongue and replace it. One of the advantages of being
a woodworker I guess.

I'm guessing that this is a manufacturing defect on some of the boards.
Then again, maybe I just got it wet. Any ideas?

brian

I think you nailed it (couldn't resist the pun). Luckily there are a
lot of extra boards, but replacing them is a pain. My only worry here
is that we're renting this house. And it is new, we're the first ones
in it. I need to call the owner now rather than getting blamed for the
finish problems later. Great.

brian

Dave Jackson wrote:
Since your floors were pre finished, it was likely finished with an aluminum
oxide based coating rather than a poly. This coating is extremely durable,
but, like carbide, is also very fragile. If the flooring is fairly new, it
was likely initially damaged during the install. What makes me think this
is the fact that you say its along the edges. If you look closely at the
profile of the tongue/groove you'll notice that the groove on the top is
slightly back beveled. This allows the flooring to be butt up tight
together and minimize gaps. The problem lies in that the top beveled edge
on the groove side gets slammed up against the tongue side during the
install and the fragile oxide coating cracks. Soon, the finish starts to
just flake off in these areas. All to often, this is caused by the
installer just giving the boards a hard smack with the tomahawk rather than
gently tapping them together before fastening down. Pre finished needs a
little easier touch than unfinished for this reason. --dave

"brianlanning" wrote in message
oups.com...
Our house has pre-finished tongue and groove maple floors. It's
solid 3/4", not the 3/8" plywood stuff. There's a stain on top with
some sort of clear finish, probably polyeurethane.

The problem is that the finish is coming off in some places. It starts
from the edges of the boards. At first, I thought it was water damage
because the finsh came off near a plunger that was wet in the bathroom.
Then I remembered that our previous house had a similar floor (that
one was oak instead of maple) but it was cheaper stuff, and the finish
never came off.

Then I found a board nowhere near the bathroom that was doing the same
thing. In all cases, the adjascent board is perfect.

Any ideas what's going on? I have plenty of extra boards so worst
case, I could cut a board out with the circular saw, then rip off the
back side of the tongue and replace it. One of the advantages of being
a woodworker I guess.

I'm guessing that this is a manufacturing defect on some of the boards.
Then again, maybe I just got it wet. Any ideas?

brian

In article . com, "brianlanning" wrote:
I think you nailed it (couldn't resist the pun). Luckily there are a
lot of extra boards, but replacing them is a pain. My only worry here
is that we're renting this house. And it is new, we're the first ones
in it. I need to call the owner now rather than getting blamed for the
finish problems later. Great.

Call by all means. But put it in writing too and keep a copy.

You may be fortunately enough to have a really excellent
landlord. But protect yourself, just in case he turns out
to be not quite as wonderful as you thought.

--
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| Malcolm Hoar "The more I practice, the luckier I get". |
| Gary Player. |
| http://www.malch.com/ Shpx gur PQN. |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So it's the landlord's problem. Be sure to keep it that way.

If you start messing with his floor, then it's YOUR problem, and if you
can't fix it it is still YOUR problem and you might have to replace HIS
floor for him.

Not all good Samaritans go to heaven, some go to court.

Old Guy


"brianlanning" wrote in message
ups.com...
I think you nailed it (couldn't resist the pun). Luckily there are a
lot of extra boards, but replacing them is a pain. My only worry here
is that we're renting this house. And it is new, we're the first ones
in it. I need to call the owner now rather than getting blamed for the
finish problems later. Great.

brian

Dave Jackson wrote:
Since your floors were pre finished, it was likely finished with an
aluminum
oxide based coating rather than a poly. This coating is extremely
durable,
but, like carbide, is also very fragile. If the flooring is fairly new,
it
was likely initially damaged during the install. What makes me think
this
is the fact that you say its along the edges. If you look closely at the
profile of the tongue/groove you'll notice that the groove on the top is
slightly back beveled. This allows the flooring to be butt up tight
together and minimize gaps. The problem lies in that the top beveled
edge
on the groove side gets slammed up against the tongue side during the
install and the fragile oxide coating cracks. Soon, the finish starts to
just flake off in these areas. All to often, this is caused by the
installer just giving the boards a hard smack with the tomahawk rather
than
gently tapping them together before fastening down. Pre finished needs a
little easier touch than unfinished for this reason. --dave

"brianlanning" wrote in message
oups.com...
Our house has pre-finished tongue and groove maple floors. It's
solid 3/4", not the 3/8" plywood stuff. There's a stain on top with
some sort of clear finish, probably polyeurethane.

The problem is that the finish is coming off in some places. It starts
from the edges of the boards. At first, I thought it was water damage
because the finsh came off near a plunger that was wet in the bathroom.
Then I remembered that our previous house had a similar floor (that
one was oak instead of maple) but it was cheaper stuff, and the finish
never came off.

Then I found a board nowhere near the bathroom that was doing the same
thing. In all cases, the adjascent board is perfect.

Any ideas what's going on? I have plenty of extra boards so worst
case, I could cut a board out with the circular saw, then rip off the
back side of the tongue and replace it. One of the advantages of being
a woodworker I guess.

I'm guessing that this is a manufacturing defect on some of the boards.
Then again, maybe I just got it wet. Any ideas?

brian

Old guy wrote:

So it's the landlord's problem. Be sure to keep it that way.

If you start messing with his floor, then it's YOUR problem, and if you
can't fix it it is still YOUR problem and you might have to replace HIS
floor for him.

Listen to the man. He is 100% right.

Other than that, I try to steer clear of all water based finishes.
Where the water molecules can get out during drying, they can get back
in due to damp and water, and cause all sorts of miscoloring and flaking.

Oil based thinners do not let water back in. The water molecules are
too big, I was told by an old pro.

BjarteR

B A R R Y wrote in
:

On Sun, 14 Jan 2007 14:06:38 +0100, Bjarte Runderheim
wrote:


Other than that, I try to steer clear of all water based finishes.

I used to do the same, before I tried the latest Fuhr, Target, and ML
Cambell products. They're fantastic and have come a very long way.


Oil based thinners do not let water back in. The water molecules are
too big, I was told by an old pro.

Many old pros are understandably afraid of water based finishes based
on old information and horrible past experiences.


Wan't too see just how clear water based finiahes are? Put a nice thick
layer on a sheet of glass and let it dry.

I think the results will surprise you.

brianlanning wrote:
Our house has pre-finished tongue and groove maple floors. It's
solid 3/4", not the 3/8" plywood stuff. There's a stain on top with
some sort of clear finish, probably polyeurethane.

I agree with the other posters.. If you are renting, don't mess with
it.
Just call the landlord and tell him the damage is starting, and yes,
take pictures.
Do it now, so you don't get blamed for the damage when you move out.

One of the main benefits of renting is that stuff like this isn't your
problem. If you really
want to repair a house, you're more than welcome to come over to my
place.. LOL I can keep you
busy for a long time.

R. Pierce Butler wrote:

Wan't too see just how clear water based finiahes are? Put a nice thick
layer on a sheet of glass and let it dry.

I think the results will surprise you.

I don't understand your point or how it fits with what you quoted, but
I'd love to know more.