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We recently had pre-finished hardwood floors installed profesionally. At the end of installation, the installers put down wood putty to fill in the gaps between some boards that were not fully flush and to cover the nail holes. I'd estimate that they put down this putty over 10% of the floor boards.
The putty does not seem to be drying at all, and it's been several days. We have thoroughly cleaned the floor with Bona floor cleaner, we have Swiffered at least 10 times, we have also hand-cleaned it with paper towels and have wiped up as much surface putty as possible. Additionally, we took a toothpick and removed as much putty as we could from in between the boards.
Despite these efforts, the problem is that when we walk on these new floors in white socks, our socks are still stained orange from the wood putty. Our Swiffer continues to bring up lots of putty bits despite several cleanings already. When we wear white socks and rub the sock along the groove, there are large stains from the putty appearing on the sock. Our carpets are getting stained from this wood putty and we are concerned about our animals ingesting this stuff from walking on the wood floors as well.
Will this wood putty ever dry? Our installer said it would take a few days for the putty to dry, however, it's been a few days and it is not dry. Additionally, some research online has shown that wood putty does not ever fully dry. Is this true? Did our installer ruin our wood floors?
And is wood putty normal protocol for pre-finished wood floors?
Is there anything we can do? We spent a lot of money for these floors, and are frustrated by this problem.
If you installed a new floor there should be no need for wood putty or filler for gaps. There should be no gaps. If it's an old house adjustments can be made when laying the floor to allow for uneven rooms or unlevel floors( to an extent).
You got a poor job if there is that mcuh putty on a new floor. Get your money back and take up the floor. Get it done right.
These are tongue and groove? There might be some odd circumstances where you might run into minor issues and have gaps or need to nail but by your description they nailed the whole floor from the exposed surface? Tongue and groove is nailed down inside the seam which both hides the nail and will prevent gapping.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bass101
Will this wood putty ever dry? Our installer said it would take a few days for the putty to dry, however, it's been a few days and it is not dry. Additionally, some research online has shown that wood putty does not ever fully dry. Is this true? Did our installer ruin our wood floors?
Depends on the type of [putty but if it hasn't dried by now it's most likely oil based and won't dry.
These are tongue and groove? There might be some odd circumstances where you might run into minor issues and have gaps or need to nail but by your description they nailed the whole floor from the exposed surface? Tongue and groove is nailed down inside the seam which both hides the nail and will prevent gapping.
Depends on the type of [putty but if it hasn't dried by now it's most likely oil based and won't dry.
It is oil based putty, that I know for sure.
Now that we've cleaned the floors you really can't see the putty unless you look very very closely. However, the putty is still showing up on the socks. The gaps between some of the boards (that required the putty) are very miniscule. However, I guess the installer wanted the look to be seamless, therefore they used the putty.
Assuming you know the brand of flooring they put down, I'd check at the makers website for installation instructions and compare that to what you received. I've never heard of a prefinished flooring that wasn't blind nailed and zero putty is required and no nail holes can be seen to putty.
How soon after the putty was applied did you ue the Bona on it? Until the putty is completely dry and cured, you should not be using Bona or any other chemical liquid on the putty as it can prevent proper drying or even interact with the putty and prevent it from drying.
Ummm yeah, not familiar with the need for wood putty on a new flooring install. Sounds like the people that did it have no idea what they were doing.
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