Pouring Stain?

[James Hart]

I posted a while ago about a problem a friend of mine is having with his oak floor bubbling up stain from between the boards.

Turns out the finishers poured the stain right out of the large cans onto the floor, then pushed it around with an applicator.

Am I all wet, or is that crazy?

Jim

[Ed Peters]

That if fact....is real crazy. Not to mention, a more expensive way to stain. Proper application would have probably reduced their material costs by 75%. As we all probably know, stain in pools will stay liquid for a long time. I can't speak to the chemistry but I do have the real world experience.

Ed

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

Sounds like a job for local legal counsel.

[Peter Quinn]

That sounds like a poor finishing job. How do they soak up the excess? Dentists vacuum to all seams? Wet vac? Guess that explains the bubbles!

[glenn bradley]

Your friend should persue corrective action by the offender.

[Keith Marben]

sometimes stain will come back up between the cracks of floors after staining. Even if you do small sections at a time and wipe down really well. It just happens. A very very light swipe of a scraper can get most of the dry crusty stain puddles before the clear coats go down. just be careful cause the more you mess with a stain job, the chances of making it look WORSE go up exponentially.
Dont sand and restain areas unless you know exactly what you are doing. it will look wrong. touch ups are F ups waiting to happen.

[James Hart]

Thanks for all the feedback.

Keith, the poly was put down on top of the stain and it's bubbling up all over the place. I'm thinking they should sand off the poly and stain and start over,rather than try to spot fix. As you mentioned, that's likely to look like c**p. Do you agree?

Jim

[Tom Godley]

I would think that the guy paying for the stain would like it to be done a different way but this is the way some people work. Just get it down and done!

I watched a contractor put wood filler down on a new floor prior to staining it - he just poured it on the floor and pushed it around -- most of it was pushed into the gap at the walls! That filler is not cheap -- but the guy had it done in a flash.

I bet he did the stain the same way -- filling was an extra in this development depending on the color.

On a refinish job where you would have dirt and old finish in the cracks -- I can see how the stain could stay wet for a long time.

It is a shame but not an easy fix. I would wait for a while to see if it dries and if the marks still show. Then they may be able to go over the floor with synthetic steel wool and re-coat it smooth. But your friend would need to be very lucky

[Dennis Lopeman]

holy crap - I would have fired them on the spot

what an idiot. I wonder if they would replace his whole floor!

[Brian Smith3]

Clearly there's a problem, and it sounds like fixing it is going to be very difficult. I'm no expert on floor finishing that's sure.

But I'm aware that there are some wood floor stains where the recommended method of application is using a trowel or squeegee and spreading it around. Now if that means pouring it out in a pool on the floor I don't know. For example Bona floor stains can be applied with a squeegee or what they call a rubber applicator.

I would find out the type/brand of finish that was used and request a data sheet from the manufacturer on how to apply, and see if that matches how the guy applied it.


Edit: Just a note. Many floor applications are designed to be used as a system, so I'm not recommending that people can just go out and start pouring stain on floors. I just wanted to say I'm aware of a system from Bona that includes using a hard rubber type squeegee.

[Steve Clardy]

Bad way to apply stain.

[Keith Marben]

Yea it sucks, but if the floor absolutely needs to be re-sanded. Be careful as the fresh and not very cured poly and stain will pose a real chemical and fire hazard when it mixes with all the dust in the sander bags.

Also as you sand you may find stain still bubbling back up through the cracks as it can stay liquid for quite a while.

On the other hand many home owners tend to freak out at very minor imperfections that are quite normal for a finish on a wood floor. If you look at nofma standards for finishes. you will find what are industry "acceptable" standards. which is no where near that of a $10k office table or other furniture that can be sprayed and sanded and sprayed again until perfect.

crawling around on hands and knees is not the standard for judging a floors finish. just sayin.

[Jim Becker]

Common and normal to pour and spread the finish, but certainly not the correct way to stain. Ugg...not a pretty thing to have to deal with and I agree with Keith that even after a thorough sanding (which in itself is not a desirable thing since it reduces the floor thickness yet again...) there is great risk that the liquid/uncured stain will continue to bubble up.

The real bummer is that it may be hard to pin down such a contractor for damages even if you win a judgment. Too easy to "go out of business" and disappear, especially if they were incorporated. A chat with legal council, however, is a good idea to weigh your options in that respect. You'll have to determine the risk of your legal costs vs chance of recovery vs the cost of just having someone else (who knows what they are doing) fix it.