Problem = adhesion failure. Full sand and redo. When adhesion fails in one spot...you MUST assume it will ALL fail. There is no 'fix'. You have to bring it down to raw wood. Which begs the question: did you get down to raw wood? Do you think there is any finish left?

What was the sealer? What was the finish?

And did you know that maple YELLOWS as it is exposed to UV (that means any type of light what so ever)?

If you choose to redo the engineered maple (check your total thickness left) and you WANT to keep the yellow away, I HIGHLY recommend you work with Loba 2K Supra AT with UVProtect as the additive. It will STOP 80% of the yellowing.

Who did the work?

Were these prefinished floors that you sanded?

The project went wrong when the sealer was applied over the stain. Redo it and leave out the sealer. Contractor should know this.

yes @Sammy these were prefinished floors that were sanded. What were you thinking? Is that the problem?

@SJ McCarthy to my knowledge all duraseal products

duraseal sealer, duraseal water-based poly. chose water-based finish to avoid the yellowing/ambering.

==> edit: contractor actually used 1) duraseal quick coat, 2)some sealer (not sure the brand) 3) Bona Fide HD with extra Bona Fide hardener in it

(as per the yellowing. I meant the oil-based thing would make it look yellow right away ? rather than over time?...? )

It appears that you have two separate issues. The discolored spots look like the sander may not have completely removed the entirety of old finish, or the sealer didn't dry before applying finish. The first reason is more likely. That's on the finisher.

The peeling looks odd. I generally find that when there's a straight line of peeled finish like that, it's caused by someone putting tape on the finish. Perhaps there is an adhesion issue but it would be improper to jump to that conclusion based on your picture.

Who did the work?

Did you know that maple ambers all by itself?

These are signs of a chemical reaction. The poly was pulling the sealer off the stain. The sealer did not have a good bond to the stain. This is why you want to skip the sealer. Also, I believe Quick Coat is a sealing stain. Which means you do not want to double seal.

Thank you @G & S Floor Service

I got more information from the contractor about what product used for the water-based finish.

he used the duraseal quick coat, then a sealer. and then the Bona Traffic HD

that he mixed with some hardener.

but indeed when I read the label it reads no sealer needed over stained floor so that could have been it.

Yep...it was the use of the sealer over the stain. A trained flooring professional should know this. And BTW...please don't let them mix chemicals. This is the very reason why two different lines should not be used. Today it was the use of a sealer with stain. Tomorrow it could be the use of oil based stains and water based poly.

I guess your refinisher is doing to learn a lesson...read the label.

And just to be clear, Bona Traffic HD is a BEAST to deal with. It is tricky...and then it gets tricky. And it is SUPER tricky. And you just discovered it is tricky. The people who are professionally trained to handle Bona 2 part products do not usually make these types of mistakes. A gallon of the Bona could be equal to a day's wage for a professional.

Who specified the Bona Traffic HD? Did the professional make any mention that s/he was not familiar with 2 part Bona?

And did ANYONE speak to you about maple's tendency to turn yellow all by itself? Did anyone tell you how to get around that???

Resand. Hire a professit

So yes the peeling was from the blue tape definitely.

the white haze.... we'll never really know. after reading everyone's comments, calling up Duraseal, Bona, having other hardwood floor contractors come and see... nobody could really say. The major themes I took away were:

1) it was not sanded properly/enough

2) stain on maple is not recommended/is risky.

Suggestions were to maybe try a buff and recoat.

we did that...did not work...

so we came back to square one. we cut a piece of wood to look at how much more we could sand it... and we discovered that it looked more like solid wood...

So we resanded the whole thing.

and we went with

- one coat of Bona Natural Seal

- 2 coats of Bona HD Traffic

(last coat of Bona Traffic will be put on tomorrow)

fingers crossed...

Waterbased sealer can be used over DS quick oat stain. However, the stain must must must be dry. You can use the finish directly over the stain but a sealer is better.
The pictures weren’t good enough to see what was going on.
Maple is no problem to stain. It needs to be water popped to get uniformity and the “marbling” effect (commonly called blotchiness 😀) will be there.
I have a hunch that your contractor is over his head. Frankly, I thought this was a diy. But your floor contractor could pull it off with a proper resand.
If he would like a sounding board, he can feel free to call me.

James Toal
Loba-Wakol
Technical Sales
New England
ph/text: 475-241-4073 James.Toal@Loba-Wakol.com

I have met Tom and Tito from Loba. I have not met James, yet. James how long have you been the new rep In New England?

Hey James! I thought you sounded like a knowledgeable person! I used to sell cork flooring in Canada. We only used the Loba-Wakol products with our cork flooring. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the 2K Supra AT. Two coats of that stuff over factory finished polyurethane (a little cleaning, little scuffing, a little cleaning again) and you had a SUPER TOUGH floor. And the GRIP! MY g0ds the GRIP! Wow! Love the Supra AT. Amazing stuff.

@Benoîte Yver, can you share which tint for Bona sealer you went with for ur second refinishing. Also did you choose Matte or Satin for your finish?

thanks.