Recently we have needed to remodel our home due to a fire and have been out of our home for over 9 months. We, among other things, have installed 700+ feet for Brazilian Walnut, which I've just today learned is also called Ipe. Anyway, the install went fine but the finish leaves much to be desired. The contractor used 2 coats of an alcohol based sealer and then applied 1 coat of poly. Apparently the sealer did not dry and adhere to the wood properly. I think that this was caused by the wood's oily-ness. But the contractor thinks the wood was wetter than he had bargained for...

Anyway, there are red blotchy areas under the poly, which is still not dry. I'm told that the sealer is not attached to the wood and will cause the poly to flake off from the wood. So what do I do? I can have the floor re-sanded and then sealed again, but what should I use? It would seem that the alcohol based sealer was not a good choice. The contractor is standing behind his work and will do whatever is required, but I'm not sure he knows what to do either.

Mostly, I just want to get us back into our home and we are supposed to move in next week...but this needs to be taken care of so that it looks great. I really appreciate any insight you may have.

BP

Ipe can pose a finishing problem due to it's oilyness. Sounds like your contractor used a wax free shellac sealer which should have worked if he applied it right after the final sanding, before the oils in the wood had a chance to rise to the surface. I would not have used 2 coats of sealer however. I would have also wiped the floor down well with acetone prior to sealing to help remove any oils on the floor. Then applied 1 coat of wax free shellac by Parks or Zinsser. After drying about one hour or so, I then would have applied the first coat of poly and allowed that to dry overnight. Come in the next day, screen, vacuum and apply the final coat. This should have worked. Another option with Ipe is to use a penetrating tung oil finish called Waterlox. It looks great on most floors and seals well. Will require a different maintainence shedule than poly will however. You also could post your question on this board, Floormasters.com It has a message board like this one with a lot of talented finishers.

http://www.floormasters.com/community/v ... 4eb2633f0e

It's a good idea to test for compatability before you jump in to trying a new approach. Hopefully you still have some material left over to make up a few diffrent samples and see what will look and preform the best. Did the floor sit overnight after the final sand and how long was it between sealer coats and the coat of poly?

Kevin, in answer to your questions: yes the floor did sit overnight between the final sand and application. And I think that this is when the oil seeped up into the surface. However, they did screen just before application. There was 12-24 hours between sealer coats and between sealer coat and poly.

Thanks to both of you for your suggestions.

After which and once completely dried, you can then screen and recoat with a urethane for durability.

So if I apply the penetrating tung oil, this would definately "stick" to the wood so that I'd have a lasting finish for the poly to adhere? I had not heard of using tung oil with a poly final coat so that is an interesting idea. Of course I'm not at all an expert on this stuff so I appreciate your guidance and help.

I do a lot of historic restorations which requires the use of tung oil only as the finish for the majority of these projects for authenticity. For authentic reproductions we use 2 coats tung oil and 2 coats urethane. It is a mix of both worlds the tung oil will penetrate and give the wood that tung oil sheen while repelling the little amounts of urethane that actually penetrate the wood. The urethane then creates the durable top coat above the tung finish. It does not look as good as solely using tung oil but it is pretty close. As with trying any new process experiment on some scrap boards or an area that is out of site like a closet and prefect it before you start on you main living areas. This is what you want a tung product like this http://www.waterlox.com/product.cfm?productid=5 and a finish product like this http://www.waterlox.com/product.cfm?productid=11