Hi all,
I just applied the third coat of oil based varathane semi gloss on my old cork floors. It looks good except for a few small areas (2"x5") where the finish went on flat for some reason. Does anyone know of a way to fix these small spots. I really don't want to sand and and another coat to the entire 3 rooms.

I appreciate any help,
Nancy

hhhmmm... whey the dull spots?
Something spilled and not cleaned up?
Did you properly clean and prepare the cork to accept the finish?

Maybe try spot finishing?

Thanks for responding Ray.

We prepped the cork by sanding all of the old finish with 80, then 100, then 150 grit sand paper. Then we wiped it down with paint thinner and waited about an hour for it to dry. Between coats we sanded with 220 sand paper and cleaned it with paint thinner like before.

I think the problem was that I applied the third coat too thin. The flat looking spots are in the shape of the lambs wool applicator.

We did try to fix the dull/flat spots by recoating them with thinned varathane (no pre sanding because it was a bit tacky). This was not successful because it bubbled up a bit and you could see where the new coat stopped a little.

I think we will bite the bullet and re-sand all three rooms and recoat a little thinker this time.

We are so tired of sanding. We thought we would try 0000 steel wool this time before we recoat, thinking that might be a little easier to sand with steel wool.
Sound OK?
Nancy

Who told you to "tack" with paint thinner???/

I hope you mean mineral spirits and not paint thinner.

That alone may be your problem. Gary would know more about it, then both Ray and I.

The person at the home store said paint thinner is basicly the same thing.

I will use mineral spirits this time. I was wondering if this could be the problem. I only waided about 30 minutes after wiping with be paint thinner before putting down the varathane. Perhaps I should have waited longer too.

Now that I look at the floor more closely, there are a lot of dull spots.
I am thinking ...I will go over the floor with 000 or 0000 steel wool. sweep, vacume, wipe with mineral spirits, wait at least and hour then recoat a little thicker this time.

Any thoughts? I really appreciate the help.
Nancy

It very well could be your application technique. Satin finishes require being applied very evenly at a rate of 500 feet per gallon. Lambys are old school and difficult to use, IMO. Plus, if you're using Varathane brand of OMU, that's another potential strke against you. That's not a pro product. If it were me, I'd let the floor and finish dry well, a week or two, then buff it smooth. You can use steel wool if you want to. I prefer 3M SPP maroon pads on a buffer. Then use a professional finish like Fabulon, Dura Seal, Poloplaz Primero, etc. Then apply a even coat with a 10" Padco pad. Three small bedrooms are ideal for that applicator and it is much easier to use, IMO.

Yes. We are using the Varathane brand oil based semi-gloss premium floor finish. It has also been slow to dry - not helped by high humidity.

Waiting for a week or two to apply the final coat will be hard for us. We are hoping to solve the problem with perhaps a better applicator. We could not find the padco brand, except on-line. We did find a Shur-line premium interior/exterior pad painter for use with all paints and stains. It has a foam pad with the tiny short white bristles on top. Perhaps this is compairable??? It does not say for floor finishes however.

The worst dull spots are in the hallway where I used a different application technique - side to side rather then long rows. Perhaps the repeated blending strokes contributed to the problem.

Nancy

The dull spots would have the pattern used to wipe the floor, it they were related to the paint thinner. What pattern are the dull spots? Straight or semi-circle?
Screen it, clean it with mineral spirits and apply another coat.......... NOT HEAVY !!

Have fun,
Ray

The dullspots were straight, in the shape of the applicator. We screened with 000 steel wool, cleaned up, and wiped with mineral spirits two hours ago. We are right now going to apply the final coat. I will apply it not too thick.
Thank you!
Nancy

Nancy,
You may want to apply this coat in a different direction that the other coats.. Maybe you are seeing Holidays..

Ray,
It is already applied - too late. I went in same direction, except I did do long rows down the hallway this time (where it was the worst). This allowed me to have long, continuious strokes. Last time I worked my way back, side to side, down the hall. I used a bright photography light so that I could see if I missed any spots. I will let you know how it turns out. Your help is appreciated!
Nancy

The cork refinishing is done. It turned out nice.
I think we got a good can of Varathane for this last coat. It was easier to mix - no goop on the bottom. I think the cans we were using for the other coats were old. Those coats took longer to dry, stunk more, and seem oily on top.

Thanks all for your help.
Nancy

We're happy for you Nancy.