We had several rooms of our house refinished, and the last coat was applied 11 days ago. We walked barefoot on the floors today and found them to be significantly sticky. In socks, it isn't noticeable, but we can definitely feel a stickiness with our hands and feet. The floors just outside these rooms is also hardwood, but it wasn't refinished and isn't sticky at all.

The refinisher used Minwax stain and three coats of Bona polyurethane. I'm not sure exactly which Bona product he used.

We'd like to know if anyone can guess what went wrong. Will it dry to a non-sticky finish or will we need to start over from scratch? We haven't been able to move into the house yet, so we'd like to get this taken care of as soon as possible. Also, is this an indication that there may be longer term adhesion problems between the stain and the poly? There is still a fairly strong chemical odor coming from the floors. Is that normal or is it part of the drying problem?

Super thanks!

I don't know why it should be tacky after 11 days. Even if it were cold, it would just take longer to dry, but it would dry. You can test the adhesion by putting a strip of duct on the finish, and then ripping it off. There should be no residue on the duct tape. You can also try scratching it with a quarthere shouldn't be any flaking.