Knots are a beautiful natural characteristic in wood floors; however, they can be troublesome. Knot peeling is a common issue with soft woods and can leave your floor looking poorly finished.
If you have knots in your floors, it is likely because the knots did not have the pitch or sap “set” during the kiln dry process. Heat from windows or other sources draws the pitch to the surface pushing the finish off. Above is an extreme example of pitch bleeding back up through a knot.
Don’t worry, this issue is preventable. Knots can be sealed with a waterbased sealer, such as Basic Coatings® Emulsion Pro™, or shellac to prevent bleeding. If the floor is properly sealed, you should not find any peeling knots. If you have sealed the floor, and you are still finding your finish pushed to the surface, we recommend you contact your floor installation company or contact Basic Coatings®.
To repair a peeling knot, the peeling finish needs to be cleaned off the affected areas until you reach bare wood. You may need to scrape the wood if necessary. Touch up with either shellac or a waterbased sealer.
Note: As with most spot repairs, after completion of the repair, it will be necessary to screen and coat over the whole floor to make the appearance of the coating uniform.