I picked a $90 can of old-school lacquer over a modern water-based topcoat for a 1920s sideboard, and the client hated the smell for a week.

Has anyone else had a customer react that strongly to a solvent smell on a piece that clearly needed a period-correct finish?

3 comments

3 Comments

kelly.robin1mo ago

Forget the smell, the finish is what matters.

andrew6931mo ago

Seriously, @kelly.robin, you're right about the finish. But if the smell is that bad, you're gonna rush the job just to get out of there. A bad smell means something is off, maybe mold or old stains that weren't cleaned right. You can't get a good finish on a surface that isn't properly prepped. Fix the cause of the smell first, or your perfect finish won't last a year.

robert641mo ago

Tackled a similar mess in a basement last fall. The smell was from old pet stains that soaked into the subfloor, so I had to hit it with a enzyme cleaner and let it dry for two days before even touching the primer. That wait was a pain, @kelly.robin, but the finish came out flawless and nobody's complained about any odor since. You gotta deal with the source or you're just covering up a ticking time bomb.