Rubio Monocoat on Flooring

[Dane]

After a few unsatisfactory experiences with Rubio, I've switched over to the Bona line.  Couldn't be happier.  You can achieve a similar look as with the Rubio, but the durability is way better.  You can also get the finish to a walk-able state almost as quickly as Rubio.  I think Rubio can work on floors, it just requires a perfect installation and some pretty heavy maintenance rituals- there's just not enough room for error to make it worth the risk, in my opinion

 

[Cheese]

I looked at using Rubio for use on some oak strip flooring a couple of years ago. I played around with it in various colors, did some testing and came to the conclusion to not use it.

I decided it was probably a viable finish for furniture, window trim and possibly counter tops but it was not a good maintenance free choice for a floor.

 

[Tayler_mann]

I use it on floors quite a bit and actually have it on my own walnut floor. I absolutely love everything about it; cleaning it, durability, and touch ups. With a normal urethane finish if you scratch it there really isn’t a good repair. I have two dogs and had an area that had a good amount of scratches from their nails. It wasn’t through the finish but it a few were large. I took the RO150 sanded a 3x3 area and refinished with the oil. Within one week you’d never notice it. It was at this point I only suggest it on my hard wood floor finishes.

 

[kaminski1]

I've had serious staining problems with Rubio Monocoat.  See photos.    The coating cannot withstand anything even mildly acidic.  The stains that you see in the photo come from coffee. The stains you see here are AFTER  we used the coating a 2nd time.  I'm waiting for Rubio to come out with a fix for this. 

 

[Michael Kellough]

In the above, coffee made lighter colored spots? If so, you figure the acid ate the finish rather than pigment in the coffee added to the color?

 

[kaminski1]

No doubt about it, Michael. 

A.  The floor stain is coffee colored, and the stains are lighter.
B.    Other acidic foods make similar and worse stains.
C.    I did a test in a closet using lemon juice.  Same looking stain.

Originially I  thought our finisher did the installation incorrectly so we had them do it again with advice from Rubio.  Same problem.  It's clear to me that Rubio Monocoat has a serious problem with acidic food stains.  I have heard that they're working on a coating.  Not substantiated directly from the company. 

 

[junk731]

How long was the coffee left on the floor before it was cleaned up?
How soon after the finish was applied did the problem occur?

 

[kaminski1]

Not all the stains on our floor are from coffee.  We're not sure which foods stain and which don't but we believe it's foods that are acidic - which are most foods.  We're pretty sure wine stains.  The only test we did was with lemon juice.  And we think that most of our stains have occurred overnight - so we don't have good data on how long it takes.  My wife thinks just an hour will do it.

I don't recall how soon after the floor was finished did the stains start happening.  It was new construction and the floor was finished at least a month before we moved in.  But I do recall the stains showing up soon after we moved in.  And they reoccured quickly after we had the floor re-done -- hard to say because we were extra careful for awhile.