Betseyboop
New Member
Hi,
Newbie here. Our house has hardwood throughout except for our bedroom which was carpeted until we had hardwood white oak flooring installed a couple of months ago.
The floor company was aiming to match the color of the existing floors which they had sanded and refinished before we moved into our house five years ago.
They used the same formula from five years ago but the color didn’t look deep/rich enough, probably due to that the original floors are from 1938 as compared to the new wood. It was oil based stain and sealer, followed by Bona high traffic poly, which is water based.
At first they thought they had to apply more stain as a separate step, but then decided they could combine that step with sealer, so they added stain to the sealer before doing the finish coats.
The smell was very strong. Although we weren’t living here when the work was done five years ago, we were moved in within a couple of weeks with no issue. This time the smell and fumes were overwhelming. Headaches, trouble breathing, etc. I started sleeping on our couch downstairs. My husband toughed it out. Our cleaning people even commented on the smell. As you can imagine, they have many clients and over the years have been in houses where floors were installed and refinished. They were perplexed at how strong the smell was and how long it has persisted.
It’s now two months and there is still a faint smell. We recently were away and came back yesterday. I slept in the room, but woke up with a terrible headache. My husband got up in the middle of the night and went and slept in another bedroom because he had trouble breathing.
I’m looking to understand the problem here, and what the possible remedy is. Has anyone here ever experienced anything like this? Could combining the stain and sealer have created more VOCs?
Many thanks in advance!
Newbie here. Our house has hardwood throughout except for our bedroom which was carpeted until we had hardwood white oak flooring installed a couple of months ago.
The floor company was aiming to match the color of the existing floors which they had sanded and refinished before we moved into our house five years ago.
They used the same formula from five years ago but the color didn’t look deep/rich enough, probably due to that the original floors are from 1938 as compared to the new wood. It was oil based stain and sealer, followed by Bona high traffic poly, which is water based.
At first they thought they had to apply more stain as a separate step, but then decided they could combine that step with sealer, so they added stain to the sealer before doing the finish coats.
The smell was very strong. Although we weren’t living here when the work was done five years ago, we were moved in within a couple of weeks with no issue. This time the smell and fumes were overwhelming. Headaches, trouble breathing, etc. I started sleeping on our couch downstairs. My husband toughed it out. Our cleaning people even commented on the smell. As you can imagine, they have many clients and over the years have been in houses where floors were installed and refinished. They were perplexed at how strong the smell was and how long it has persisted.
It’s now two months and there is still a faint smell. We recently were away and came back yesterday. I slept in the room, but woke up with a terrible headache. My husband got up in the middle of the night and went and slept in another bedroom because he had trouble breathing.
I’m looking to understand the problem here, and what the possible remedy is. Has anyone here ever experienced anything like this? Could combining the stain and sealer have created more VOCs?
Many thanks in advance!
