{"id":540,"date":"2021-07-28T01:01:58","date_gmt":"2021-07-28T01:01:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/napervillehardwood.com\/blog\/?p=540"},"modified":"2026-01-07T04:32:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T04:32:15","slug":"rescuing-a-botched-rubio-monocoat-fumed-floor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/napervillehardwood.com\/blog\/rescuing-a-botched-rubio-monocoat-fumed-floor\/","title":{"rendered":"Rescuing a Botched Rubio Monocoat Fumed Floor"},"content":{"rendered":"

For this project we were called in to rescue a failed attempt at a Rubio Monocoat floor. It was in a downtown Chicago apartment thirty eight floors up overlooking the lake.<\/p>\n

\"Rubio<\/p>\n

The original company that had installed this beautiful 5\u201d engineered white oak quarter sawn floor realized that the \u2018fumed\u2019 process was beyond their skill set. So they did the right thing and passed along that part of the job to (a business they thought were) hardwood floor finishing professionals.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/span>The local Chicago flooring business that was called in was\u2026 let\u2019s just say \u201cless experienced\u201d in sanding and finish procedures and were far from the experts they claimed to be.<\/p>\n

They attempted to sand, apply the ‘fume’ process and coat this newly installed floor with Rubio Monocoat. Unfortunately for them and the homeowners, the results were not pretty.<\/p>\n

Not pretty at all.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve documented the project in pictures for you so you can see the whole process of how to correctly do a fumed Rubio Monocoat floor\u2026 as well as to caution everyone looking at hiring a hardwood flooring business to make sure they find someone who truly are professional.<\/p>\n

You can see the unfortunate results of this companies attempt below\u2026<\/p>\n

\"Blotchy<\/p>\n

In the pictures above and below you can see the very blotchy outcome…<\/p>\n

\"Patchy<\/p>\n

It turned out this way because they didn\u2019t take the time needed to correctly sand the floor and properly apply the base \u2018Fume\u2019 coat. The fumed process takes a lot of care and precision to apply it evenly so as not to have lap marks.<\/p>\n

In the picture below you can see an example of this. Notice the lap marks in the corner\u2026<\/p>\n

\"RMC<\/p>\n

As we mentioned in our in-depth review of Runio Monocoat<\/a>, because this is a one coat finish system \u2013 two processes if you use the \u2018Fumed\u2019 option \u2013 you really need to make sure the wood floor is sanded perfectly, otherwise any imperfections will stand out like a sore thumb.<\/p>\n

Below you can see what we were talking about. These gouges along the wall are left behind from hours of hand-scraping. This is definitely not a normal step in sanding these types of floors.<\/p>\n

These marks would stand out on a 3 coat polyurethane finish let alone a one-coat hardwax oil finish.<\/p>\n

\"Gouges<\/p>\n

Would you be happy with this floor?<\/p>\n

We wouldn\u2019t be either.<\/p>\n

So we came in, removed the damage and took these brand new floors back to bare wood, like they were just a week or so earlier\u2026<\/p>\n

\"Sanding<\/p>\n

We used our TRIO<\/a> to make sure the floor was super flat\u2026<\/p>\n

\"Using<\/p>\n

\u2026and then we made sure there were no more signs of those horrible gouges around the edges from the unneeded hand-scraping\u2026<\/p>\n

\"Sanding<\/p>\n

Once we had sanded the floor to an extremely high standard \u2013 remember Monocoat is a one coat system so all marks and scratches will show \u2013 we started the fuming process\u2026<\/p>\n

\"Fuming<\/p>\n

As longtime readers of our blog know, before we try any new procedure, we always take the time to do thorough testing off site. That way we make sure we don\u2019t ruin someone\u2019s actual floor by practicing and experimenting on it. (Wouldn\u2019t it be nice for homeowners if everybody did that?)<\/p>\n

So because this was our first fumed floor, we spent a LOT of time getting this tricky process down perfect before doing it \u201clive\u201d.<\/p>\n

Below you can see what it looks like after it\u2019s applied and drying\u2026<\/p>\n

\"Fume<\/p>\n

And here is the fumed part fully dry, ready for the application of Rubio Monocoat oil with a buffer\u2026<\/p>\n

\"Ready<\/p>\n

Here we are halfway through the oiling process. The client chose to make a custom blend by using 50% Black and 50% Pure\u2026<\/p>\n

\"Buffing<\/p>\n

And here\u2019s the end result\u2026<\/p>\n

\"Bedroom<\/p>\n

Notice the lack of blotchiness and the nice even appearance. This is how these floors should turn out when things are done properly\u2026<\/p>\n

\"Hardwax<\/p>\n

In the picture below you can see a shot of a section of the living room finished with Rubio Monocoat oil (50% Black and 50% Pure) with the Fumed base\u2026<\/p>\n

\"Rubio<\/p>\n

Looks good doesn\u2019t it!<\/p>\n

Here’s another shot to show how flat the floor is now after we fixed all the issues it had from the last sanding attempt…<\/p>\n

\"Flat<\/p>\n

And one last one of the hallway looking into the light, which is a very unforgiving angle for badly sanded floors. Thankfully we had nothing to worry about…<\/p>\n

\"Hallyway<\/p>\n

So what\u2019s the take-away from this project?<\/p>\n

Before you give your hard-earned money to a floor refinishing company please<\/i> do thorough research on them to make sure they are the professionals they claim to be. You don\u2019t want people trying out new products and practicing advanced techniques on your valuable hardwood floors like this poor homeowner experienced above.<\/p>\n

Not only did they lose time, (a couple of weeks) and a significant amount of money \u2013 their floors have also been robbed years of life because of a premature sanding.<\/p>\n

The good:<\/b> The homeowners are now super happy with their beautiful wood floors and\u2026 we are now fully confident in adding the Rubio Monocoat Fumed process to our arsenal of finishing techniques.<\/p>\n

If you have any questions about Rubio Monocoat or the \u2018fume\u2019 process, don\u2019t be shy to ask away in the comment section below.<\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n

Updated Jan 2026<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What happens when someone uses Rubio Monocoat with the Fumed base coat without having any idea of what they’re doing? It’s not pretty… until we fix it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"Rescuing a Botched Rubio Monocoat Fumed Floor","_seopress_titles_desc":"What happens when someone uses Rubio Monocoat with the Fumed base coat without having any idea of what they're doing? It's not pretty... until we fix it.","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-540","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-projects-featured-project"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/napervillehardwood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/napervillehardwood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/napervillehardwood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/napervillehardwood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/napervillehardwood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=540"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/napervillehardwood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/napervillehardwood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/napervillehardwood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/napervillehardwood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}