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New pre-sealed red oak installed, sanded, stained minwax early american, 1 universal sealer, 3 Mega.

Was finished in June of 2010. It appears that finish did not bond at seams only. No white lines just finish lifting at seams.

I am trying to determine what make the finish not bond?

how long after stain did you seal the floor? looks like the stain was not dry in the seams and you coated it that way.

I always dry stain minimum 12 - 18 hrs. I used Ten Oaks presealed unfinished oak. Could the sealer on the groove side have reacted with the stain and sealer to prevent bonding?

The ten oaks is a very decent product and shouldn't create any kind of bonding issue except for the occasional stain bubble that bleeds back up through the edge of the board.The same thing happens on any floor that has finish on it and gets sanded.

To me , it looks like you went kind of light on spreading the stain and it never made it down the edges of the board.Now the floor has shrunk from the dry weather and you are seeing it . I could be wrong but in your picture, the entire edge of the boards are clean as if stain never got to it.

Paul
Thanks for your response.

Stain is uniform and there is very little seasonal movement. What you see is the opaque color of the finish lifting off the floor. I could chip it off with my fingernail or utility knife. But it didn't lift much beyond the seam. I am thinking that the stain wasn't dry at the seams because everywhere else looked great.

WFDG

By what you are describing, there's a chance your sealer didn't bond well.Which sealer did you actually use when you say "Universal Sealer" ?

If the only issue is the outside edge of the board, all you can really do is try getting in there with a fine brush and trying to touch up by hand. it wont be fun. There's a chance that minwax polyshades can do the job for you otherwise you'll have to tint some finish and try it that way.

Generally speaking, I no longer trust minwax stains as far as drying time. If I stain on a Monday, I don't begin applying sealer or finish until Wednesday, no exceptions.