The 2 to 3 coats of waterlox (depending on the room) I applied to our oak floors 3 years ago have not held up well, and I'm wondering whether I can/should apply a polyurethane or another more durable coating over the top. I love the less-plasticky look of the Waterlox when it first dries, but its been so easily scuffed/scratched/stained (crayons? shoes?) that they look pretty shabby.

I went with WL originally due to repairability, but the fumes prevent me from doing constant touch ups, and I did try adding another coat of WL to one of the rooms when we were on vacation once, but 1.5 years later its starting to look beat up again.

Would love any thoughts on whether:

a) Poly over WL is viable option
b) There are non-poly alternatives I should consider for a topcoat
c) I need to do any prep aside from a light sanding or screening before applying new topcoat (sanding down to bare wood not an option, since we're almost out of wood)

Pops in Seattle

Waterlox in high traffic areas is only going to hold up for close to a year. It's needs a annual maitenance coat to look good in most cases. You can top coat with omu or waterborne poly either one. You will need to abrade prior to coating with polyurathane.

Good to hear that abrading is all that's needed.

Sorry to hear about your issues. I have been using WL for about 3 years now and have yet to hear a complaint. Even with country families with dogs. Is it possible living in the Peoples Republic of Washington (upity tree huggers unite!) you had to purchas the low VOC version? I have heard of maintenance concerns in that product.

Another thought ... are you cleaning your floors regularly with some kind of soap based product? Hate to admit it, but I am a reborn water with vinegar believer. 10 million grandmothers can't be wrong.

I would rececommend a coat or two of your favorite sheen of Fabulon urethane. Ease in application, lays out nice and flat and is very tough.

Will

I don't think I had the low VOC version - i ordered either directly from Waterlox or another out-of-state supplier and it did have noticeable fumes. Perhaps if I had applied 4-5 coats rather than 2-3 floors would be in better shape.

The upstairs (lower traffic) rooms with only two coats still look good though there are deep scratches from heavy objects which could have been prevented with more care - still, not as resilient as our the wife would like. And we use murphy's soap for cleaning, will try the vinegar & water method until we do overcoat.

Thanks for the fabulon recommendation!

OOPS! I definitely do not recommend Murphy's. Regarless of their ad campaign, it leaves behind too much residue. I would call Waterlox and see if the recommend anything to exfoliate the Murphy's. Trying to coat a floor that's been cleaned with it could lead to more problems with adhesion on the new coat.

You should be able to find more info about Murphy's and adhesion issues doing a search on this site's message board search field.

Regards,
Will

William, How many coats of Waterlox do you recommend? Also, do you know of any contractors down here in Boise who have experience in using Waterlox? I'm looking to refinish my floors after 20 years of hard use (kids, a dog, spills from plants and an aquarium, etc.) We had the floors sanded down and refinished when we bought the house back in 1992, and they looked great for a long time. However, the polyurethane finish means that everything will have to be sanded down again and all of the furniture moved out in order to do repairs. I'm looking around for alternatives this time in the hopes of never having to sand them down again! Was going to use the same contractor as 20 years ago, but polyurethane is pretty much all they do.

The Waterlox website states, "When applied according to our recommendations, your surfaces will wear and scratch with normal every day use, but because the finish is part of the wood, you may not be able to see them as much as you would in a surface finish that will scratch white." This would make me assume that the finish is not particularly scratch-resistant!

I'm not answering for William but just wanted to mention that if your urethane coated floors are in fairly good shape, they can be re coated by buffing ,vacuuming / tacking and adding another coat of urethane.If your urethane is severely scratched and or gouged, then it might take a full re sanding to make it look as nice as you would like.

As for waterlox, I have never had to do more than 4 coats .It isn't really meant to be a high build finish.And over coating with it can cause adhesion issues .Each layer of waterlox needs at least a full day to dry before being re coated .But sometimes more time is needed. If new coats are applied before it is time, the under coats will be trying to gas off through the top coats and you can get some serious blotches . Dry time relates to many other products though , not just waterlox.

Like William said , Murphy's is a big "no no" and needs to be removed before putting another coat of urethane on the floor. Waterlox on the other hand might stick to it .I've seen waterlox stick to all kinds of nasty old floors but urethanes aren't as forgiving.

One way to deal with the murphy's is to use a disc buffer and a 3M maroon pad to buff and remove contaminates. Bonakemi makes a product called "prep" that can be spritzed onto the floor as you buff. It isn't exactly a cleaner but usually loosens contaminates like Murphy's so that the maroon pad can pull it away from the flooring. You'll go through a few maroon pads though