Our floors were finished last July with Bona Provincial stain and Traffic satin finish (one coat of Mega, and two of Traffc we were told/sold). The first job was botched due to what the flooring contractor described as Jitter. After the first coat of finish they notified us of the issue before we even saw the floors, and voluntarily came and resanded/restained the floors.

The do-over resulted in the stain coming out many shades lighter in addition to some major ugly sanding problems we weren't happy with, so they reluctantly resanded and restained again. At that time he was lamenting the cost of having to buy more finish. We also aggreed to pay additionally for water popping at that point for to ensure the color came out right, and concievably help out with the additional material costs to re-refinish.

The final job came out looking good from a color and finish perspective, even though it took several extra weeks and more money than originally aggreed to.

In the subsequent months I've noticed that the floors seem to scratch very easily. I might just be spoiled because my last floors were done with Bona Chemi oil-based finish and were virtually indestructible with normal use.

After all that we didn't come away with ultimate faith in our contractor although he did make good in the end.

I just got a "courtesy call" to remind me that I should have him screen and refinish near the one year anniversary to maintain them. This seems waaaaay to early to me. If it is true that you need to rescreen and refinish every year, I probably would not opt for hardwoods just due to the hassle and dust. So this brings up the following questions:

-How often should Traffic need screen/refinish? This is in a house of 2 adults who rarely wear shoes inside and 4 cats who get claws trimmed every week or two (note the scratches so far don't seem to be from the cats, but from things like rolling the vacuum from one room to the next which we used to do all the time on my old floors)

-How can I know that he didn't pull a fast one on me and use Mega instead of Traffic? Between the easy scratching and the fact that he's calling for 1 year maintanence, I'm a little suspicious now. Is there any way to test it?

Thanks in advance for any input.

Its hard to imagine that only one year after the floors were finished that they would need recoating, given your apparent sedentary lifestyle.
Clean vacuum cleaner wheels should not scratch a cured urethane finish.
Possibly you could get a chemical analysis of the finish, but I dont know for sure, or at what cost.
Perhaps, the best plan would be to have the re-coat done, but without being accusatory, make sure you get the Traffic that you requested, simply by being on site at the time the finish goes down.

Thanks for the reply. Would Bona be the ones to have do an analysis?

Also how often do you recommend recoat in general for floor upkeep (for Traffic, and for Chemi/oil based)?

I dont understand why he would sell you 1 coat of mega and then 2 coats of Traffic? They are two different product line and i personally would never mix them like that. Mega provides a different look from that of the Traffic, it will have more of a yellowing look to it instead of the clear (slight haze) of the Traffic. But my guess for your problem is that the finish was applied too thin. What was his application method and his spread rate?

The recoating is determined by the usage. It sounds like you shouldn't need one for at least 2-3 years. The thing to watch out for is to see if any high traffic area is starting to wear out, thats a sign you would need a recoat. In commercial settings, we recommend doing it yearly, but that is high traffic.

Hope that helps.

What was 'sold' to us was traffic, and that's what it says on our invoice. On the second do-over while he was complaining about his materials cost he divulged that he does the first coat with Mega as a sealer, then 2 more of Traffic. It didn't strike me as a big deal at the time. Do you think that would explain the floors not holding up very well, since maybe the Traffic doesn't bond very well to the Mega? Is there a different sealer you are supposed to use with Traffic, or just put it directly over the stain?

>>What was his application method and his spread rate?

Since I wasn't able to be there to babysit I have no clue what they actually used or did. It could be a single thin coat of Mega for all I know. I would love to know how to find out what is really on there even if it means tearing a piece out of a closet and sending it to Bona.

How would you measure spread rate? And if I ask someone in the future what their spread rate is, what should I expect to hear (X gallons over X sq ft I assume)?

You could apply a coat of Traffic directly over the coat of stain and be absolutely fine. Since both the stain and finish are from the same manufacturer you shouldn't have any concerns. Now i know people do different things in different parts of the country, but i haven't heard of using a coat of Mega as a "sealer" coat over stain before a coat of Traffic. The stain usually serves as a sealer in most cases. I dont know what purpose the Mega coat would serve in that sense. If you wanted to seal the floor with the stain on it to give a deeper tone, then i would have used the Bona Dri-Fast sealer. Since Mega and traffic are both waterbase product made from the same manufacturer, i dont see bonding as a real issue, but i am not sure.

I honestly don't know if there is any way to figure out what was put on the floor exactly. I don't know if Bona offer that service. I believe Matthew Hudson is your regional rep for Bona, if you are from Colorado as your name suggest. I would try giving him a call and see if there is anything he can do. Bona is very good with their customers.

Spread rate is measured by what was actually used to the actual square footage being done. So if you have a 500 sq/ft room and he used 1 gallon of finish to apply it, then its a 500 sq/ft per gallon. I thinks its fair for you to ask how many gallons would cover the job, then take that number and divide it by the amounts of coats being applied. Always know that the spread rate is directly affected by the application method and the person applying it. But i know you can get anywhere from 400-700 square feet per gallon with Traffic. That number will vary depending on whom you ask! If you ask Matthew, he'd tell you it should be about 450-500.

Hope that helps.
Jimmy

well I dont think your floors should need a maintence coat just yet but people are hungry right now and screen and recoats can be pretty profitable. Even if he used mega all theway through it should still be holiding up well. One thing to understand is waterbornes like traffic while extremly durable will still scratch if there is debris in the wheels of whatever you are rolling across the floor.