Hardwood floor finish flaking off...

[StephCY]

Hi! First of all, my apologies if this has already been covered. I looked in Wiki, but couldn't find it (maybe because I'm a luddite!). We have hardwood floors in our home that are just under a year old. We had a flood under our fridge while we were away which caused the peeling away of the polyurethane and the stain leaving the light maple exposed in patches on some of the boards. We understand this. However, the same type of peeling/flaking is happening in other areas of the house where there is no exposure to moisture whatsoever. Could someone please educate us as to why this is happening and what we can do about it? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[woodfinishes1877]

My only thought is that there is something within the grain of the wood that is making the polyurethane finish incompatible. Perhaps the wood was quite oily and that has come out of the timber causing your problem.

In my opinion I think the only option is to sand it all back to the bare wood, apply a coat of shellac barrier seal to lock in any nasties in the grain of the wood and then overcoat with a quality polyurethane floor varnish, or waterbased floor finish. Remember the finish is not fully cured for at least 7 days after the final coat so you should avoid any wet cleaning or the placement of rugs etc over the floor.

Hope this helps

Ian McAslan