I just had my hardwoods refinished. We waited a couple of days for the polyurethane to cure, and placed blue tape on the floor to map out where furniture would go. When we went to remove the tape, some of the polyurethane came with it. Is there a way to fix this without having to resand etc? Would I be able to purchase a small can of polyurethane and brush it over the affected areas?
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Replies
yes, take fine sand paper, sand out the section where the poly has pulled off and reapply.
one thought..
Of course I can't say for certain from this far away but probably you can hand sand each affected board and revarnish it using the same product as was used before. If you just varnish without hand sanding the ridges of the torn out varnish will stand out and you may have adhesion issues.
sanders
You "had" the floors refinished?
what does the finisher say?
I wouldn't have put tape down but I would be concerned with the bond elsewhere. The only time I've come across pealing like that is when those 50's floors where waxed and the refinishing was only a screening. The heat from the screen "rejuvenates" that old wax. If you find the spots, you can peal it away with your finger nail.
is this happening in all or most of the places you taped?
This is in most of the places where it was taped. The other issue is that the length of some of the tape makes this a little harder to clean up.
The floors were sanded down completely and restained. Pics attached to show the old floors, in progress sanding, and finished product (before taping incident).
Yes, you need to hand sand the affected areas and apply new varnish.
You put the tape on before the varnish had fully "cured" (it needs weeks), and especially if you left the tape on for several days, chemicals built up underneath it that weakened the bond of the varnish to the floor.
Take fine sand paper, sand out the section where the poly has pulled off and reapply.
First thought is what Calvin said.
2nd though after you posted the photos is that there was trapped moisture under the floor (from cleaning?) that delaminated a layer.
3rd thought is you did not say if the finisher use oil based or water based poly, the photo looks like oil base? Delaminatin due to moisture with water based less likey.
Is the part that came up with the tape right adjacent to a parquet section joint?
Have never seen the BLUE tape lift even 1 day old poly, even applied in the cold and oly set to the touch. (The tan masking tape, yes, it can remove a layer of wood even if left for weeks in the sun)
Poly coated our hallway parquet about 8 years ago, did not sand, but washed with tsp and let dry a week, still in good shape. Filled some of the wider gaps (see some on your floor) with Durham's rock hard after washing.
Oil Based
It is oil based.
Did the tape pull all the finish right down to the bare wood? Or did it just remove the top coat? I'm assuming there was more than one coat applied. If the coats seperated, then that could be an application error. Perhaps too much cure time was allowed between coats. Poly type finishes are particularly fussy about being recoated.
If this tape wasn't pressed down hard and not left for any appreciable length of time, then I'm guessing you will have adhesion issues in the future. I'd also guess that maybe you ought not to put your furniture on this still soft finish. Temperature and air movement will affect cure time. If the windows were left open for ventilation (not unlikely cuz the place probably smelled to high heaven), keeping the temperature low, then the cure would take longer then the directions might indicate.