Hello everyone.

I rolled 150sf den with oil based polyurethane, which looked great after coat 1 - which I rolled on.

At the very end of Coat 2, I missed a small section, or more accurately I didn't have enough poly on the roller as I exited the room. So I have a nice floor, but a very noticeable small section with some flecks of the second coat and then mostly bare coat 1 because the roller was too dry. It involves a couple boards.

My first question is this, I am unsure if I need to touch up this section before applying coat 3, letting it dry and sand again before coat three, or just roll coat three without anything special on this section. Or do I need to sand the flecks off.... or something else.

I am afraid it might show in the final coat if I don't deal with it seperatly. Dont want a coat 4, or to have to sand it all off and start over. I have read about taping the edges of the couple boards and doing the touchup as something that may or may not work, but I might as well also roll a third coat. It isn't that big a space.

Second question. Wife is wicked angry about the smell. She got a headache and it is just starting to fade. So I have been reading about waiting a week and then doing the final coat with water based which doesn't smell as bad and locks in the oil / smell below. Some people recommend this for people with allergies. If I do this, what about that section? So almost the same question as above, can i just roll it or do i need to patch this section first with oil or even water based.

I can roll oil out if fixing this is risky otherwise, and just deal with my wife's headaches. But it would be nice to lock in the smell if possible.

Thank you for your thoughts.

Get a box fan and put it in the window pointing out to help with the smell. Card board around the fan to make better exchange of fresh air pulled from another window on the far side of the house will force the fumes outside.
If you are short of finish in a doorway, since this is a traffic path, you ought to apply another coat to increase the film thickness. Light sanding to smooth the surface will also increase adhesion where the finish is thin.
Once you get a plan to remove the fumes a third coat over the whole floor will be all you need.
With sliding glass windows we use a short stick to help the window press against the fan from the side, just cut a little longer than your measurement from the closed window to the window jamb and press it in with some tension so the window is tight against the fan. A box fan will work best. Tape the cardboard in place to help keep the air moving out.

Thank you for the advice. I like the idea of the fan.

Following up on this. The fan with cardboard idea was amazing, we literally almost didn't smell the poly.

And the floor came out great.

Thank you.

You could use the fan when you sand floors, too. The fine dust takes hours to settle down, sometimes in another room.