Help! Lots of white patches on newly varnish floor :(

[DIYoldHouse]

Hello and thanks in advance to your help
We recently refinished our old 1930s pine floorboards, which where previously carpeted.
We sanded with hired machine (using 40, 80 and 120 grits). It was a lot of work but floorboards were lovely after.
We than applied Manns Classic Pine Stain in Medium Oak as I was not keen an the plain pine color. The color came nicely.
We then applied Manns Extra Tough Floor Varnish in Matt, using a microfiber roller (as recommended by the company who sold the products).
It was really good when wet, but it dried with horrible patchy white areas.
We were very confused and applied another coat, which again looked great when wet but dried white even more and did not improved the floor appearance.

I don't know what to do. We spend a lot of time, efforts and money refinishing those floorboards and it looks terrible

Any advises on what happen and what to do to improve the floor (apart from buying a very large rug...) ?

Many thanks

 

[endecotp]

I believe that's a water-based varnish ("low odour").
You possibly just need to wait for it to dry fully. That may take a while at this time of year; be patient.

 

[KenGMac]

DIYoldHouse, good evening.

Agree with "endecotp" above, the varnish appears to be a water based product, as such it does take time to dry,

What may have occurred is that the first layer was somehow thicker than the surrounding material? over coating or something ? this thicker area has not fully air dried

Leave alone for a while, if it is raining outside then the drying time will be longer.

Ken.

 

[DIYoldHouse]

Many thanks both for your replies.

The varnish is indeed water based, but I thought it would dry quite quickly.
Instructions say dry in a few hours (2h for redcoat), light traffic after 24h and can replace furniture after 72h. Fully cured in 5 days.

Pictures were taken after 2 full days of drying. As you can see, it is very bad in some large areas but also especially around the nails holes.

We were planning a 3rd coat of varnish, but we left it off to wait.
Should we do it anyway? Or wait longer?

I am so confused

 

[endecotp]

Ignore it for a week and then tell us what it looks like.

 

[foxhole]

Areas affected appear to be low spots so may still be contaminated, if previous finish was oil or wax, water based varnish will just sit on top .