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May have messed up sealing VCT

3K views 5 replies 3 participants last post by  sodone 
#1 ·
We have put down two coats of acrylic sealer on our newly laid vct (both products Armstrong brand)--and it is uneven with visible swirls and drips. This is in a small kitchen less than 180 sq ft, is there anything we can do about it? We intend to put down many more coats of sealer, but wanted to correct our mistake before moving forward. Thanks for your help!
 
#4 ·
We are using the Armstrong product. (I believe it is commonly referred to as wax among other things, but the jug actually says "sealer") & applied with a sponge, which was listed as a suitable means on the packaging. In hindsight a paint roller would have been a much better tool for the job. Since this is in a home we are using the sealer alone without polish. 8'm hoping we can somehow buff it out (i've heard steel wool might work?) As I'm afraid stripping it & starting over might damage the adhesive bond.
 
#5 ·
A paint roller would not work well. It'll leave texture everywhere. When you first install VCT you should give it a few days for the adhesive to cure. Then you should strip the floor prior to sealing. There is a factory seal on it to help keep it from pickup up dirt until it's polished. Once it's stripped you should apply a minimum of two coats of polish. Stripping it now won't hurt the floor. It's probably the best way to get back to a clean slate. Use a lambswool applicator to push the product across the floor and avoid puddling.
 
#6 ·
Good news, there's hope!

Thanks so much for the tips. The installation instructions for our particular vct stated that stripping was not neccessary, and we did let the adhesive cure for a week before sealing--there's no problems with the sealer bonding so no worries there. What we ended up doing was using a paint roller for smooth surfaces attached to a pole--it worked like a charm! Nice even coats and any texture left in the wet surface by the roller cured smooth as glass! Following advice we found on this site we are very happy after about 12 thin coats. Guess we freaked out too soon, the additional coats leveled out all our boo-boos. Lesson learned again--never trust the instructions on the package & it's best to put it off a day than to jump in before you're ready. Now to fix the footprint I didn't notice in the wet! Just when I thought we were done :no: Oh well, nothing a couple more coats can't fix.
 
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