Why are we here?....

The focus of ShopTalk has always been and still is the professional floor finisher. When I first put up the Floormasters.com site in 1995 I realized that the floor finishing industry was changing. Even though I had been a floor finisher since the 1950's, I had been involved in manufacturing finishes since 1985. Over that 10 year period, the laws were changing, the products were changing and the floor finisher was the last to find out. Floormasters.com was and is dedicated to education and information for the wood floor professional.

Consumers found the site and started coming here because we were professionals who shared information freely. Most were confused about wood floors and the many aspects of wood floor finishing including the confusion surrounding waterborne finishes. Many want to educate themselves before they hired a professional while others just wanted to pick our brains before they tried to refinish their own floors. This is the value of a open forum.

Contractors new to the floor finishing business (Newbies) began posting because they knew they would get honest information from "the best in the business" given freely, which they would never get from their competitors.

How we have grown! We now have over 60,000 visitors per month from 94 countries. The posters we know about range from the UK to Australia. Some of our products and much of our terminology may differ but each of us runs a drum/belt sander and an edger. Each of us applies both solventborne and waterborne products and each of us deal with weather conditions similer to folks in different countries and on different continents. What we have in common is the desire to produce a beautifully finished wood floor. A friend from Wales once posted on Shoptalk... "When I have a problem on a job I come home and post it on ShopTalk. When I wake up in the morning I have answers to my questions." This is why we are here, to help each other.

I am proud of or contributors and the quality of the information that we share. As with any information that gets passed around we must be cautious as to what we accept as professional information. Quite often procedures and opinions get posted by folks who may only have a few years in the business while others may have 20 or more years and thououghly test their methods. How do we know? Most of us who have sufficient experience look with a jaundiced eye at anything that doesn't sound right. We test, test, test and sample, sample, sample before we use any method or procedure on a customer's floors. Those without much experience will accept anything that is written as truth. What makes the difference? Experience.

We have no guarantees in an open forum and our professionals are too polite to be truly honest sometimes. So, as with any information found on the web today, evaluate the information you find here, take what you want and think is of value and leave the rest. I can only vouch for the information that I post personally.

I have plans to grow and improve Floormasters.com and will keep you posted before the improvements come.

Regards,

Bill

Streaking in low sheen finishes

Streaking or uneven sheen is a phenomenon which almost always appear in Satin and/or Semi-Gloss finishes both solvent borne and water borne products. It has long been thought that this may be caused by flatting or dulling agents having either not been stirred well or having settled prematurely. It is rare for flatting agents to settle out during the coating of the average floor job. If not stirred sufficiently the floor would probably show up glossier at the start and duller when the coating ends.

It is my opinion that most uneven sheen or streaking problems are caused by “uneven application” of a satin or semi-gloss finish. This condition has been more obvious since the VOC laws caused the solid content of products to go up and solvent content to go down. These conditions cause oil products to lose flow and leveling characteristics.

For explanation purposes let us assume that gloss, semi-gloss and satin finishes all start with the same base material. Flatting or dulling agents are added to the gloss product to reduce the sheen and create satin, super satin and semi-gloss sheens. If it takes “x” amount of flatting agent to make semi-gloss it may then take “2x” or twice as much to make satin and maybe “2.5x” to make a duller product. When we stir satin it takes more work than stirring semi-gloss. When dispersed throughout the coating and applied to the floor the flatting agent settles to the bottom of the film and creates the desired sheen level. If the coating is applied evenly the thickness of the film over the flatting agent will refract the light evenly and produce a uniform sheen level. If the coating is uneven, the sheen level will be higher where there is a large drop of finish, applicator marks or a puddle in the finish. Where the film is thinner the sheen level will be lower. When the film is uniform the sheen level will be uniform.

When oil finishes are applied with lambswool applicators, either mopped back and forth or dragged across the floor all thicker areas will show up as shiny streaks while thinner areas will appear duller. The same is true when waterborne products are mopped or dragged with either a lambswool (not recommended) or a rectangular paint pad. Thicker products or heavy applications will show this condition. In my opinion, weighted T-bar applicators work best.

Older oil products did not have this problem since most were 36 to 42 percent solids compared to todays products which are 50 to 60 percent solids. So a little extra time spent applying a uniform coating will be rewarded with a uniform sheen level across the floor.

Floor Finish Marketing ....

Floor finish marketing has become in recent years the marketing of information. The floor finish and the floor finishing industry have changed greatly in the last 15-20 years due to VOC laws and changes to finishing products. Prior to 1986 finishes had not changed since the late 1960's to the early 1970's with the introduction of MCU and OMU.

Shellac and wax, lacquer, varnish and oil sealers were quite forgiving and finishers didn't need much in the way of training other than on the job training. MCU and Swedish finish required finishers to think, think about weather conditions and think about the environment on the job since both types of finish dried quickly and both were weather sensitive.

In the mid 80's the introduction of VOC compliant solvent finishes and waterborne products changed the way wood floors were finished and floor finishers learned. Solvent products would no longer flow and level and the dry time was doubled and longer in cool, damp, humid conditions. They needed to be applied differently and schedules changed. Finishers were not happy. At least these products looked and smelled like they had before.

Enter waterborne coatings. The government had mandated change and the finish manufacturers were scrambling to produce new products. Most of these products were totally different than most finishers had ever seen or worked with. The color was different as were the tools used for application and abrading. Grain raise and discoloration were more than most finishers could take.

For the first time in the floor finishing industry the owners of companies could not train their own help because they didn't understand these products themselves. The old timers (anyone over 40) could not change the way they thought about finishing. They could no longer use steel wool and needed to use caution when sharpening their scrapers to avoid rust on their floors. Waterborne products were not very hard and care was needed when applying because of tannin pull. Now they even had to treat red oak and white oak differently.

Finish manufacturers had to do the industry training since distributors didn't know how to finish floors. They never needed to since the finishers all knew how. Unfortunately, most of the finish manufacturers didn't know how to apply finish nor finish floors in general. They needed to learn how their own products worked before they could train their customers. Manufacturers copied each others instructions and for the first time floor finish manufacturers began to hire floor finishers to help them market and sell their products and train their customers in how to use their waterborne products. Different methods of application were needed for different manufacturers' products.

Basic Coatings and BonaKemi both started selling waterborne products in 1986 and the application methods were totally different. Products that were high in urethane were harder to apply than those high in acrylic. One could go on thick and would flow and level easily while the other had to go on thin or it would foam and bubble. Some were crosslinked, some were not; some linkers need water added the others did not; some had to be stirred in, others dumped in and shaken. One company's sealer could be screened the other could not. More application problems arose when finishers used one manufacturers' instructions with the other's products.

These new products were lower in solids and needed more coats to give the customary film build. The clear nature of the film and the lower solids allowed screen marks to show up as they never had before. Next came "side bonding", a huge industry problem, which necessitated the tearing out and replacing of many sport floors. The list of training and application issues goes on but the bottom line is that floor finishers have been the guinea pigs for the finish manufacturers who were all trying to create new products in six months that had previously taken two to three years to bring to market.

As a result, floor finishers are untrusting of the claims made by manufacturers. Almost all had told the finishers what they wanted to hear and when there were problems they were told that they had done it wrong. The finish manufacturers that value the finisher and treats him with some respect will end up gaining their confidence and their business. Finishers are slow to trust and slower to change because they have been burned badly in recent years. Distributors are slow to change suppliers unless they feel they will get better products and better support. There is always the chance that if the finisher doesn't like the new product that he will go "across town" to buy their supplies.

It is difficult for new finish manufacturers to get a foot hold in any industry unless they can get to the finishers and convince them that this product is a "better value". They are not looking for cheaper! What the finisher actually wants is to get paid for the job and get referrals from that customer.

The search goes on.

Bill

A Little History

Since I have had some time lately to read some of the older postings on ShopTalk, it is obvious that we have some members with only a few years of experience to draw upon. I want to thank the “older” members for their patience in answering the same questions again and again. At the risk of boring some of you who already know our history, I would like to relate a brief history of wood floor sanding and finishing as I saw it evolve here in North America.

My history goes back to 1953 when at 12 years of age I became intimate with hand sanding between coats and sweeping floors for finish. At that time in New England we used shellac and varnish or shellac and wax. Penetrating finishes were done here but more so in the southern states where “breathing” of the wood was more important due to higher humidity. At that time the most advanced pieces of equipment were an under radiator sander and a hard plate for our buffer. There were no screens yet and steel wool was our preferred method of between coat buffing. Most small jobs were hand sanded, my job.

In the late 50’s clear lacquers were used with Fabulon being the most popular. This was the first no wax product. It was advertised as “no need to wax” but this was so it could be touched up or recoated since it had poor durability. I first used Moisture Cured Urethane in 1960 and this was before Oil Modified Urethane (OMU) was introduced. Through most of the 1960’s and 70’s nothing much changed in finishes. Minwax was the most popular stain until easier to use Dura Seal came along.

In the 1950’s Swedish Finishes were imported into the Northwest. While these products became the standard in that part of the country, MCU became the durability standard in the northeast. OMU became the easy to used standard nationally except in the Northwest where it is just getting used in the last few years. Waterborne products were talked about in the 1970’s but they “raised the grain” so why would anyone choose to use them? Again, Fabulon was the first waterborne product that I remember. Again, it was a no wax product, so it could be touched up or recoated. This was all acrylic and I think it is safe to say it had no durability at all but it was an alternative to solvent borne products.

Nineteen eighty five was a pivotal year for both the floor finish industry and me personally. After two years of knee surgery and recovery I left my contracting business and moved into the national floor finish manufacturing industry when I went to work for Glitsa American. After 25 years of using MCU on a daily basis (no jokes please), I got to learn about Swedish Finishes.

This was the same year that waterborne finishes showed up on the floor finishing scene. Bona was the first major player to enter the market with their D503 Pacific which was OK in Sweden but did not go over here. That was replaced by Pacific Plus which was crosslinked with Aziridine but being mostly acrylic failed in one year. This was quickly replaced with Pacific Strong which had more urethane. In 1986 Basic Coatings entered the industry with a product called Arokote, also crosslinked. Next came Hydroline which was higher in urethane. I went to work for Basic in 1987, about the time they introduced Hydrolite. In 1989 Basic introduced Street Shoe.

Floor finishes have changed dramatically since the introduction of the national (US) VOC laws 18 years ago in 1987. Most finish manufacturers complied by removing enough solvent from their products to bring the VOC’s in line with the law. The floor finisher was the last to know and in most cases told that nothing had changed. Of course, without the additional solvent the sealers and finishers would not flow and level or dry as before. Waterborne products were a tough sell in the late 80’s for most of the same reasons as today.

Waterborne products have come a long way since the 1980’s and those of us who pioneered their use in North America see how much they have advanced. Unfortunately, many floor finishers see only negatives and want to hang on to their old solvent products which in reality no longer exist. Air quality was the reason that the VOC laws first came into existence and this is the reason that California is looking to lower the VOC levels again. Waterborne products are not going away and at some point most of us will accept the end result and sell it accordingly.

There are a couple of reasons that waterborne products have eluded acceptance. First, many of us will not let go of the past and accept the future. Secondly, many of us are not willing to change the way we work and actually learn to use waterborne products, correctly. Many of us don’t want to hear that waterborne products DO work although not like our OLD solvent products. The newer entrants into our industry accept waterborne and many of those companies have never used solvents.

As long as we as floor finishers tell our customers that waterborne products DON’T work and that we only like our solvent products, the customers will accept our word because we are the experts. When we say that waterborne finishes have a different look and go with the customers choice THEN and only then will our future begin to change. Show them samples of each and let them decide.

Europe is ahead of us in the use of waterborne products not because solvent borne products have been banned but because their worker rights laws are stronger than ours. Consumers can buy and use solvent products but contractors who work with finishes on a daily basis can only use waterborne. I would say that they are way ahead of us.