We've just purchased a new home and we have been in it for less than two months. In the process of moving in, we got some minor scratches and nicks in the floor.

I brought in a hardwood flooring contractor to give me an estimate on repairing the scratches and nicks. He took one look at the floor and said it is full of chatter marks and needs to be completely refinished.

I brought in the hardwood flooring contractor who was the one who actually put in the floor for the builder and he thought it wasn't that bad and told me he could resolve the problems by just doing a good buffing of the floor and putting on another coat of poly. I don't know much about hardwood floors but everything I've read about chatter marks has indicated that it's not that easy to resolve.

Below is a link to a picture of the floor showing the chatter marks at the bottom of the picture:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/r85oatofhaxwp ... M.png?dl=0

We will have to go through some level of effort and expense to move our furniture out so that this work can be done so I want to make sure it is done correctly. I have two different opinions on what needs to be done - how can I determine which is correct?

Thanks,

The chatter marks aren't too serious in my opinion. Another coat of finish applied correctly and with a lower luster, satin or matte, will make the floor smoother and show less of the chatter reflection. This small amount of chatter will not affect the wear of your floor, that I see in the photo. An extra coat of finish is a great compromise and the extra coat of finish will make the floor smoother and easier to clean.
There are newer machines which operators take pride in delivering a perfectly flat floor, which are better looking than what some of the older machines produce, but looking down from head height without a light reflection is the standard for determining acceptance of the finished product. Protect your floor with walk off mats at doorways and use floor protectors for all your furniture and the finish will last a long time and look pretty. I like the stain color and staining does require a more professional sanding job, only just a little better than you have, the chatter is very minor.

I spoke with a hardwood flooring expert this morning and I showed him a picture of my floors. The first question he asked me was "Did they use a generator when they sanded the floors?" I told him that I was 90% sure that they did because it is a new house and didn't have power connected to the house at that time.

He told me that you should never sand a hardwood floor with power from a generator because the power from the generator could be erratic and that could cause the sanding to be erratic. That might explain my problem. He indicated that the pattern in the floor looked more like a "Hummel Wave" than chatter marks.

Whatever you have it doesn't look like it will affect the life of the finish. Is this a clear water-based finish or an oil modified poly-urethane? Either finish would look better with another coat of a lower gloss sheen. Clear water-based finishes will show sanding talents better than an oil modified poly.