HELP! Polyurethane won't cure

some more answers from elsewhere...



The cans of poly might have been the same but how old they were and under what conditions they were stored might be the problem. Since they say that this is in just one of several rooms then I would say the product used in that room was old and/or stored improperly. It might be old because the store might not have rotated their stock correctly, if new replacement product was put out first instead of old product replacing sold product and new product replacing stored product then it could have been sitting there in the can and get past the usable date. They might have bought a large enough quantity that they got old product from storage.

Storage environment might also have to do with quality of product. If it was stored against an out side wall or in a unregulated warehouse and was subjected to cold or heat or both then it might still be in date for use but might have been damaged by the environment in which it was stored.

One more thought is the flooring they used it on. Did this room have the same flooring or was it a different flooring product that might be the problem. Is it leaching chemicals into the finish and keeping it from drying? I know some of the import flooring has been band from import after it was found to contain excessive amounts of formaldehyde. Is it possible that this flooring is some that was imported before the ban?

more................

There are a number of possible causes

- Finish is no good (as described above)

- Wood is different - might have something in it or just a wood that emits fumes that prevent finish from curing, cedar and teak are two examples

- Applied too thickly (does not allow oxygen to get to lower layers)

- Too cold (unlikely since probably adjacent rooms)

- Improperly prepared surface (did not say what he/she did to prep, was there an existing finish?) Stain applied too thickly (not wiped off) or incompatible.chemical