problems with floor varnish

butterfingers

Hi,

I've a floor which consists of old (50yr) floorboards which I've sanded to a
smooth finish and cleaned with white spirits.

I've put down a coat of ronseal floor varnish yesterday and now today the
boards feel rough when you run your hand over them. When I look closely
I can see that in places the varnish seems to have formed into little hard
lumps. I used an ordinary 4" high quality brush to apply the varnish and it
seems to have gone on fine.

Anyone have any ideas whats going on ? Am I applying it wrong somehow ?
Is it just too cold to varnish boards (though I've had the heating on the whole
time) ?

Its daft that he bare unvarnish boards are smoother than the varnished ones !

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

butters.

Avns1s

Sand it lightly and varnish again, and then repeat.

You should really put on 3 coats with a light sand (and wipe with white spirit) in between. By this stage, it should be smooth.

Hope this helps.

Kristopherus

Ideally you should have put on about 3 coats of undercoat/stain. Allow 24 hrs between each. Then 2 coats of clear varnish, also with 24 hrs between coats.

Juwwi

u have'nt done anything wrong u just have'nt put enough coats on.sand again with smooth sand paper then hoover the floor well ,the little lumps are probably bits of dirt and grit.hoover well is as important as the sanding.

S.L.F

Avns1s wrote: »

Sand it lightly and varnish again, and then repeat.

You should really put on 3 coats with a light sand (and wipe with white spirit) in between. By this stage, it should be smooth.

Hope this helps.

What Avns1s says is totally correct.

When you sand wood you push loose grain down then when it is varnished it raises and thus it feels rough.

Using a fine sand paper grade (120 - 150 - 200) between coats will smooth the grain back down and when you re-varnish the second time it will feel smoother then sand again and varnish then it will feel totally smooth.

I have sanded a few floors in my time what I found useful to clear the floor of dust was a vacuum cleaner.

Hope this helps.

butterfingers

Hi,

Thanks to all for the replies I appreciate it. I'll get some fine sandpaper tomorrow
and sand it down and try another coat.

Thanks !

butters.

10-10-20

Grade 120 is what I use between varnish coats.

wazzoraybelle

Don't forget to wipe down with white spirit after sanding, I tend to use a mohair roller sleeve to apply varnish.

butterfingers

Thanks to all - rubbing down lightly with 120 sandpaper, followed
by a good hoover and some white spirits did the trick ! Lovely smooth
floors now

Thanks again,

Butters.

oxygen_old

Sorry to hijack you thread butterfingers, I think you were finished with it tho.

Dont all have a go at me for being a newbie, but I bought an old house, ripped up the carpet, sanded the boards, and started varnishing. Thing is tho, I didnt use a clear varnish, I used a stained one (it looked quite light on the can). Anyways, I put down three coats, no sanding, and now it looks shocking shocking bad. What is the best way to take off this varnish, is it possible? What would be the cost of using reclaimed oak flooring?

10-10-20

Sanding is the only option.
Hire a sander from a hire-shop and you'll be done in a couple of hours.

S.L.F

oxygen wrote: »

Sorry to hijack you thread butterfingers, I think you were finished with it tho.

Dont all have a go at me for being a newbie, but I bought an old house, ripped up the carpet, sanded the boards, and started varnishing. Thing is tho, I didnt use a clear varnish, I used a stained one (it looked quite light on the can). Anyways, I put down three coats, no sanding, and now it looks shocking shocking bad. What is the best way to take off this varnish, is it possible? What would be the cost of using reclaimed oak flooring?

Best way is to sand it.

I'll PM the number of the guy I use and who has been mentioned here several times, with no problems thus far.

You could go the rough route and paint strip the floor, it would be cheaper but an awful job to do.

S.L.F

Dobedo

Hi,

This thread has been helpful, but wondering if anyone can give me some advise.

We have (what I've been told) semi-solid pine floors, they've just been sanded and varnished 3 times.

The floor guy told me that we could only sand semi-solid floors once as they are only so thick.
When the 2nd coat of varnish was on, around the grooves or sides between some of the boards it looked much darker in colour. To me, it looked like all the original varnish wasn't sanded off fully.

The wood is much rougher than it was originally before we did the job and there was no sanding done before the 3rd coat of varnish went on, as the floor guy said he couldn't sand more because it is semi-solid wood.
So the wood finish has a rough texture and around the edges of each board its a darker, yellower color.

Is this typical when sanding and varnishing semi-solid wood floors?

Could I possibly do a light sand myself and put a 4th coat of varnish on or because its only semi-solid I'd ruin the floor?

Thanks