We purchased a spec house with Brazilian cherry floors. The floors look awful. There is white marks where the floor expanded, they look cloudy, & scratch easy. We have 3 kids & 2 dogs and hate these floors. We have been told by some floor refinishers that brazilian cherry floors take a special finish to look good, but they don't do these types of floors. These floors were finished on site and not pre-finished. I need advise on what finish to look for and what to do with these floors asap.

Thanks

Seems to me you only have two choices. Remove and replace the cherry floors or have them refinished. When I have sanded and finished B. Cherry before, I always used Woodline Oil-Modified Polyurethane. I did not have any problems. If you choose to have them refinished, hire the best, most experienced finisher in your area, regardless of cost.

I prefer Bona Traffic. You can achieve the deep rich look using the solvent based sealer or the stain. Though, if you use a water based sealer you achieve a beautiful more ""blonde". IMO any quality refinisher should be able to give you a couple of options not just a one service offer.

i have used both hundreds of times. considering you are living in it now and i would advise the traffic due to the lack of odor. what your describing is called whiting and there isnt much that you can do other than resand. What is happening is the floor is shrinking causing the finish to stretch and vola comes the whiting. the company probably sanded the floor too soon and now your left with the high hard one. Contract a well know, insured & licensed company to resand it. I would go with oil if you can endure the odor, but if you cant bona's water based traffic finish over their DTS sealer is a close second in beauty and is hard as hell. It will cost a little more for the contractor to use traffic instead of oil based poly so do not be surprised. Your flooring isnt something to squak about when it comes to cost...(within reason)

You will need to use two sanders, the main drum sander (pads are not good for taking down old finish), and an edge sander (again a ROS or anything you have in your shop will likely be inadequate).

The drum sanders have a handle on them for lowering and raising the drum, and this should only be done when the sander is moving. So start moving, drop the drum, then raise the drum before you stop just past center. God slow and easy until you have the hang of it.

Then using the edge sander, take light strokes along the walls and door frames, using light pressure and constantly moving.

Any spot left that the sanders can't get at can be gotten with a scrapper. Just use a nicely sharpened paint scraper. You will want to use it along any finished edges such as cabinets or trim you can't remove.

Then step down to a finer paper to get a smooth finish.

I would highly recommend a water based finish, like Traffic by Bona at least for the last 2 coats. There are also products to use for the first coat, and even an additional second coat, that will bring out the grain in the wood and give it a bit of a nice warm glow. You can check with a supplier for the products. All this said, we never do it ourselves anymore. I even hired a our floor finishing guy to do my floors. We do still install most of our own floors. Not sure what all they offer for renal equipment now, but the sanders that the pros use give off very little dust.
Joseph Rohdes

I agree with the others about refinishing the floors. I'd definitely suggest using oil finish at least for the first coat, the rich color it gives Brazilian Cherry can not be matched by anything else. Then you can top coat with Bona Traffic for durability, less smell, and the convenience it offers. Best of luck!