Hi. I have just had Forest Accents Pro Plank Brazilian Cherry installed. This is an unfinished engineered product. The installer did a quality job on the install. However, the second finish coat was applied yesterday and today I went to look it over (I do not live there yet). I was surprised to see obvious areas of swirls and arcs of different colors and textures. Some areas look "thick" and it forms a line across a hallway or room. Numerous areas. There are archs near the walls that meet to form a triangle of a different tone.

The finish is Bona Mega satin (The sealer was also Bona).

Is this typical? Am I suppose to accept this? What did the installer do wrong? And most importantly, how can this be corrected?

Thanks in advance.

Hard to say by your description what happened. One coat of BonaSeal and one coat of Mega is not enough finish on an unfinished floor. I think the finisher will need to carefully buff using a conditioning pad and sanding strips and recoat the floors. If it were my job, I would be putting 3 coats of Mega over the sealer.

Thanks Gary. To clarify, there are two coats of mega. A little more info. The finisher told me that after the first coat, there was a problem. The "leveler" in the finish was not working. He called Bona and they told him that at least on of the containers may be old. Bona told him how to fix it, and he said after the second coat all would be fine. But to me it is not. And I have seen maybe two wood floors in my whole life. So if it is that obvious to me. I think it is really bad.

It simply appears that a circular object of some kind was used to spread the finish, and it was not smoothed out to an even amount on all parts of the floor. Leaving boundaries between thick edges and thinner areas. Like if you were painting with a trowel instead of a brush.

Sounds like from here that he didn't straighten his applicator swirls.
Brazilian Cherry is a difficult wood to apply water base, is has no grain definition like oak and the dark color accents everything. Once it starts to go bad, more coats will generally just be a waste of time.
I'd let him finish and if still unacceptable, have him fix it. It may require a resand.

I have posted pictures at

http://home.bellsouth.net/p/s/community ... thumbs&ck=

Please review and see what you think.

It is from uneven application rates, probably on the first coat. The swirls are from not staigtening his applicator turns. #4 is a small puddle.

Brazilian Cherry is very difficult to coat with straight water base. The first coat more or less stains the wood and must be applied very, very evenly. Subsequent coats will not change the color like the first. Lack of grain definition will accent every applicator error and stop mark. More coats only accents the problem.

If that is the final coat, tell your contractor it is not up to standards and redo it. If he has another coat to apply, its up to him whether he wants to waste his time. It will not get better and he will be resanding.

You might want to consider another finish system. It will make life much easier for him and you can get something better. Mega is not a great finish. Ask him what he's familiar with. A Swedish, alcohol based is good, Glitsa or Synteko. An oil rubed finish is maybe the best I think in this situation, Waterlux is an outstanding option here. Even an oil sealer under the water will improve things.
All of the above will produce a darker floor however with more richness. This is a consideration as that BC ages very quickly.

Marco, thank you for the information. Not what I wanted to hear.

Since it is new, when it gets re-sanded, how much of the wear layer needs to be removed? If I only get 3 sandings in this products life, will this be considered one of them?

It should need just a light sanding if the initial was well done. On an engineered, yes there will be some reduction in the wear layer. I don't know exactly how much.

Thanks Marco. I will update with the final resolution