Hi all

Another DIY Newbie bites the dust (well sort of). Bit long - Sorry.

Background.

I have been building this house for about 5.5 years now and I am finally getting near the end. We installed Australian Blackbutt (about 2000 sq.ft) which we sanded etc. Weekend just gone we coated with Bona Prime Intense, we ended up being a little 'thin' with the application being (worked out at the end of the coat) 600 sq.ft/US gal, rather than the 400 odd recommended.

With this in mind we tried to put the first coat of Traffic on a 'little thicker'. FWIW we (wife and I) were using the Bona roller as recommended by the supplier. End of the process we had managed to use slightly less Traffic than we had Primer Intense (600 ish sq.ft/US gal).

Problems.
Appart from being a very thin coat which I guess will impact on the life of the surface, there are quite a lot of fine bubbles on the surface. At a guess is this from using a roller, moving it too fast, not thick enough coat etc. Weather was overcast and around 20 degrees, no drafts through the house. Comments?

2nd - How do I get 50% more on the floor in a coat? I was getting to the stage of dipping the roller in the bucket, not draining it into the bucket but dumping it straight onto the floor. Pushing a bow wave of traffic around with near zero downward pressure on the roller until the dow wave disappeared.

3rd - should I ditch the roller for the next coat?

Many thanks

Bill

The Bona roller should not be used like a paint roller. The Traffic should be poured onto the floor and then pulled toward you using the roller. So you are pulling a puddle of finish forward. I find pulling the puddle forward then moving 1/2 roller width to the side I roll back in the dry space (kinda pre-priming the next pull) then pull the puddle again forward acheives the best results. Never push the finish. Pull a working puddle of finish on the floor toward you.

I think the roller is a great application method or the DIY. Call your tech number if you have one where you are. The tech support here it the US is great.

Thanks for the advice. Next drama....Again long post.

Hired a Polyvac and gave the surface a light scrub with a 220 grade screen and put a second coat on. Managed an application rate midway between the upper and lower bounds recommended by Bona, thought all was sweet. Thanks to the advice given here.

When I went up some 6+ hours later MOST of the floor was OK but in several smallish areas (Handprint size) there were areas where, for want of a better term, the boards were phobic to the coating resulting in the coating 'pulling away' from the board leaving a dimpled finish. I still had the Polyvac and some screens so I was up early this morning and gave the entire floor a good scrub back. I guess it scuffed up about 80% of the boards surface and flattened all the various marks etc. This afternoon I started to re coat. I aborted this after one room; and I know this means I need to re-hire the PolyVac and scrub most of it off

I aborted because again I was getting the Traffic pulling away from the board face. On a car it would be called 'fish eye' and would be from silicon contamination; on fresh timber boards I don't know. Real pity was the coat was looking really good except for these areas. In a 250 sq.ft room there were about 4 such areas. Before I waste more time and Traffic I was hoping someone might give me a clue.

Many thanks

Bill

The "fisheyes" are a result of some contamination of some knid. Not being familiar with the species of wood you have used I was thinking that many exotics have a higher natual oil content to the wood that would perhaps couse problems with the finish if not properly sealed or primed. Your light applicaiton rate on your primer might be the cause of this appearance.

I am not familliar with the intense primer system. It is not availible in the US.