Hi,

Help! I have had months and months of problems with the Shaw hickory engineered flooring we had installed in July. We tried sealing them with AFM Hard Seal polyureseal BP, heating them for weeks, vinegar in bowls, etc, windows fans, etc - to no avail. The finish is still so horrible that if I put a shirt on the floor, it stinks of varnish five minutes later.

We are thinking of painting over the wood to seal in the odor. I like the look of white flooring, and we just moved into this house in June, so we aren't going anywhere anytime soon (not worried at this time about resale). I have a 4 year old and another one on the way, so I want to get this problem fixed ASAP. We can't afford to have them refinished.

If we rough up the floors and prime them, will white paint stick? We read that we'd need two coats of primer, three coats of paint, and a sealant. We are going as green as possible in terms of paint.

Is this realistic?

Thanks so much!!

~Melissa

If you had put in a claim right away the flooring probably would have been replaced if the problem is as bad as you say. Unfortunately once you tried to fix it by coating it you now own it no matter what. As far as painting it I would bring it down to bare wood first. I have seen many people try to paint urethaned wood work only to have it peel off if you brush against it. Also how was it installed? If it was glued down that is probably what you are smelling.

Thanks very much for your reply. I called Shaw at least 10 times and got the run-around every time. I was told to file a claim, I had to have the people who installed my floor file the claim (???Not sure if that is true, but that's what I was told). Well, the installers, too, seem to have dropped off the face of the earth. I knew that if we painted over it we would have voided the warranty, but we had to do something, as we couldn't keep living at my parents' for weeks on end (two hours from my husband's job). It did improve marginally, and it definitely is worse in high humidity.

Thanks for your assistance.

Ya if you do end up deciding to paint it, definitely take it back down to the wood. Could you possibly just refinish it yourself? Just a thought. It shouldn't be too hard, especially if like you said you are not looking to resell anytime soon so it doesn't have to be a perfect job. But, if you're set on having someone else do it, I would definitely check out Angie's List for reviews on contractors in your area. It gives so much peace of mind to be able to read reviews from others on the contractor you will be using. Just my thoughts!