hi, first time here, looking for some advice on an issue i'm having applying Waterlox to a new pine floor...

the first two coats went on without any issues (first coat contained a 20% mixture of Minwax stain, second straight waterlox). i waited 24 hours in between coats, and everything seemed dry at the time of the next coat. it is winter here, but i waited until a nice thaw and most of the drying time so far as been with windows open during the day (temps 30-50+) and windows closed and heat on at night. i've been running fans pointed out of several windows during the day and there have been strong breezes going through the house pretty much constantly...

anyway, i tried applying the third coat 24 hours after the second but immediately realized that something was wrong. the Waterlox was beading up really bad immediately after hitting the wood. basically like water will do on a waxed surface... it would quicky leave whatever areas it didn't want to be (literally within seconds) and pool up around those areas. i got it wiped up right away and for the next two days i've been testing it in various spots to see if it's still happening, and it definitely is.

it seems like it's not as bad as it was, but it's still pretty bad, 72 hours later. the Waterlox site says something about this indicating that the previous coat(s) are still drying... is it within the realm of possibility that it's still drying 3 full days later and i just need to wait it out longer? anything else i can do to maybe speed things along? it seems like it's worse in the two back bedrooms that definitely don't get as much circulation, but it's also happening in other places that i'd have thought would have gotten plenty of fresh air. anybody had this happen before and can give me any thoughts on a timeframe of when i might be able to expect to proceed? we kind of put our lives on hold for the time being to try to get this done, and it's becoming a bigger pain with every passing day...

thanks for any help.

Never used waterlox but would guess that 30-50 degrees is far to cold for anything to cure I would suggest keeping the heat going and get some fans going inside. Again have never worked with waterlox so just a guess.

Normally, waterlox wont do that 24 to 48 hours between coats should be fine and I've managed to get waterlox to stick to all kinds of nasty floors.

One thing I do is buff in between the 2nd and 3rd coats. I do not know if this will help you but it's what I normally do. I worry about the fact that you added minwax stain into your first coat. There's a chance that the minwax stain is causing the problem. I can say for sure that an old boss of mine poured minwax stain into a few gallons of oil based poly and the coat eventually delaminated.It took about 2 days for it to start delaminating.

i hope it's not the Minwax that's giving me problems. it's the method Waterlox recommends for altering the color. i'm still waiting it out, planning to call Waterlox tomorrow to see if they have any advice...

gotta have some fresh air not just hot air. Once the air gets saturated with solvents it will about stop drying untill you introduce some fresh air. Open some windows put a box fan in one blowing out and air it out and it should help you out.

Thank you for sharing your finishing challenge. What you are experiencing can happen during the cold winter months due to one of the previous coats (probably the first) not being fully dried.

Here is the FAQ from our website at Waterlox.com: If the finish is beading up on top of a previously applied coat of finish, this may also be due to the previous coat not being dry enough. Dry time is affected by ventilation, humidity, temperature, species of wood, and scope of the project (Please review the drying, curing and ventilation project help link at the top of the FAQ page.) Immediately remove the newly applied coating with a rag dampened with mineral spirits and allow the coating to dry/cure completely. Compare our drying, curing and ventilation guide with your project and make changes to help cure the finish. When the coating is dry, begin with your next coat.

Our dry times are suggestions based upon normal drying conditions. If the room is closed up and not ventilated with fresh oxygen, if the temperature is below 60 degrees ,if the humidity is high or if you are using an extremely oily wood (ie: ipe), or as KevinD suggested, you saturate the air in the room with solvents you will extend the dry time between coats.

In your case we would suggest you turn up the heat and put a box fan in each room facing outward for a minimum of 48 hours.

Hope this helps.

Sincerely,
Chip Schaffner - Waterlox Coatings

thanks everyone for the advice. on Monday i decided just to not think about it for a while and stayed somewhere else for a couple days. i left the heat on 68 and the furnace fan running, along with a few other fans blowing air around a bit (i had to close the windows, though). i came back today and i could immediately tell that it's much better than it was. i can only find a few spots that bead up at all, and they're not nearly as bad as they were. seems like it's about 95% dry and i'm hoping to be able to put down the 3rd coat tomorrow. in the meantime i opened up a window in every room with a box fan blowing out, while trying to keep the house somewhat warm by stuffing pillows above the fans to keep out as much cold air as possible.

really ready to be done with this, but feeling much better about it than i was. i'll post an update later. thanks again.

I would recommend buffing before you put down the last coating. This will get rid of any imperfections.

just wanted to post a follow-up in case anyone else runs into this problem and can benefit from my experience with it.

i ended up being able to put the third coat on in half of the house on Thursday (8 days after the second coat), and then the fourth and final coat went on beautifully 2 days after that. i had some minor beading up still happening as i got within a few feet of the east wall during the third coat, but not enough to worry about, and the fourth coat mostly covered it up anyway.

the two back bedrooms are getting better but were (and still are) beading up enough that i decided to postpone them until later, probably spring when it'll be much a much easier undertaking... those rooms don't have nearly the ventilation of the other half of the house, which i guess is why they were worse to begin with and why they're taking so much longer.

my guess, based on what i've read, is that i didn't wait long enough between the first and second coats, even though it seemed completely dry at the time. my advice for anyone else who tries this in the winter would be to give yourself at least 48 hours in between coats, regardless of how it looks... i feel like doing so would have let me avoid a lot of the headaches i encountered. also i realized later on that exhaust fans work much better if you stuff pillows and such in the major window openings around a box fan. by doing so i was able to vent overnight in 10 degree weather and still keep the house at around 60 degrees (with the furnace running, obviously). seems obvious now, but it didn't occur to me in the early stages.

anyway, that's my story, and thanks again for the advice. i'm very pleased with how the floor turned out and i'd definitely recommend Waterlox.

Glad it worked out for you. I've used waterlox many times and generally soak the floor with it. And I have not run into beading problems yet. But it obviously can happen and it's always better to give your finish a chance to breath than to keep applying coats .

were you a chemist in your past or present life?

short of thinners if needed, do not play chemist..

all finishes/paints give a recommended temp for drying...they are not there
to be decorative and space filler...=)