Swirl Marks NEED HELP

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thorsbyhardwood

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Jul 1, 2015
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Hey everyone,

Ive been doing hardwood floors for 9 years and been on my own for 3 years now. Ive done TON of jobs and this recent one I'm having trouble. I used Fabulon High Gloss polyurethane and been using Fabulon for the past few years with no issues. Story is I sanded 250 sq ft of white Oak floors in the kitchen and just did a screen and re-coat in the dining room. I highly recommended to do all the floors at once, but the homeowner didn't listen. So I did three coats of polyurethane on all the floors. Well I received a phone call a few days after I did the work and the homeowner stating there's swirls marks in the finish. I went over there the day after and sure enough there's swirl marks, but that are really fine marks. I told him I would correct them. And then NOW he wanted me to strip down the dining room and do the same thing I did the first time in the kitchen.

On Monday of this week, I went there and did the work. I had my guy strip the dining room while I did the correction of the swirl marks. What I did was I screened them with a new 150 screen and white pad and then vacuumed the area once all the screening was done. Then I put on a new 180 screen and screened the area and then same thing vacuumed once all the 180 screening was done. Then I did a 220 screen and vacuumed it. After vacuuming this time, I put a maroon pad on and vacuumed up afterwards. Once the dining room was all finished stripped down and screened its self, I vacuumed all the areas.

I then applied a coat of Fabulon on the kitchen and the dining room. I let it dry for 24 hours and went back and looked at the floors. The kitchen came out BEAUTIFUL!!! I knew the dining room needed another coat of polyurethane, so before this I screened them with a new 180 screen and then vacuumed them. After this I put on a new Maroon pad and did the area. Once this was all done I did my final vacuum and then applied the 2nd coat of polyurethane on the dining room ONLY. Now today I was on my way and the homeowner called me and stated there's swirl marks "NOW" in the dining room, but the kitchen "LOOKS GREAT NOW".

So I told him I would be back tomorrow due to not having any new screen at my office and correct the swirl marks in the dining room area and now hes all pissed off at me and said I screwed up his floors and I'm wasting his time. I'm I doing something wrong between coats? PLEASE PLEASE Help!
 
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Well all I know is I haven't used a buffer for between coat machine. For the last 10 years been using a square buff with maroon pad & 220 grit sanding tape. Can't beat the results. Works exactly like I need every time
 
I fixed the swirls marks. I was taught by a guy years ago to screen between the coats with 100 grit. Completely wrong!!!! So what I did is I talked with the supply company that I get my materials from and they gave me a few tips. First they said to use 240 stick backer sandpaper on a maroon pad like a plus sign. And then just a maroon pad after I vacuumed up the powder from the 240 sandpaper. Once I did this my eyes were amazed!!! The end result was phenomenal!!! So now I do all my jobs with 240 sandpaper on a maroon pad for high gloss polyurethane or a thick white pad with 240 sandpaper for satin finished and the results are much much better. I haven't had any call backs since and my phone won't stop ringing off the hook for more business. Things have really turned around since I listen to the right people. I've always done the same thing and all the jobs came out beautiful but not now. They are way way better. Those houses that have big windows, you can no longer see the swirl marks in the floors.
 

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