Furniture, Wood and Cabinetry Finishing - Polycrylic over Polyurethane Problem

While trying to finish our new baby room, we painted the floor a chocolate brown color let dry and later applied a water based polyurethane (cabot). When it dried we noticed that there were brush strokes and gf thought that adding another coat would cover them but we were out ot polyurethane. So we went to the Lowes where we find out they are no longer carrying our brand but the guy says that minwax waterbased polycrylic is the same thing and we should use it. I should have knew better than to mix but we just went blindly along.:thinker: I did half the floor before i stopped and checked on it later and noticed that it was worse than the brush strokes. It looked like how mud bakes and cracks under the sun but really really small :eek: im debating on whether i should sand down the polycrylic or just the spots. Really dont know what to do, any advice?

Welcome to the forums!

What type of paint was the brown?

Most water based polys are compatible. Did you sand the 1st coat of poly any before applying the 2nd coat?

I can't imagine any fix not requiring sanding :(

No sanding unfortunately, used valspar interior satin finish paint then +24 hrs later the 1st coat of polyurethane and +24 hrs polycrylic. I imagine there is going to be some sanding involved to smooth out the rough spots but do i need to strip the crylic? i found some of the urethane i used before and was going to recoat with it once this current problem is solved. Just not sure what the next step should be. I want to make a more informed choice this time rather go off of what others say.

I see sanding in my future :wall:

I don't know if I've used the Cabot waterbased poly, I have used the minwax polycrylic although I usually use the oil base varnish and polys.

Was the valspar latex or oil base? Waterbased finishes don't always do well over oil base enamels. I can't see why there would be any problem applying polycyrlic over the cabot waterbased poly - they should be compatible. The biggest issue I see is the lack of sanding between coats of poly.... and if there was an issue with the 1st coat of poly over the paint.

You might not need to sand off all the water based poly but you will almost certainly need to sand enough to get a good looking surface. Before applying another coat of poly, remove the dust with a damp rag - that will give you an idea of how it will look, besides you don't want that dust in the next coat of poly:D:eek::D