Any comments and suggestions would be greatly appreciated! We just had our hardwood floor finished (1850 sq. ft.) and are less than happy with the final outcome. We came in to check the final job and there was a "grit" that you could see and feel in so many places we stopped counting, along with streaks and uneven areas of poly that orverlapped, puddled areas of poly and what appeared to be groupings of hazy circles in quite a few large areas. This was after sanding, staining, one coat of sand and seal and 2 coats of poly.

We called the contractor back in to address this problem and they came back in and resanded and resealed. When checking the floor before they put the finish on we noticed swirls of scratches from the sand job everywhere - he used a round (orbital?) sander and these marks were still left in the top layer. (When they resanded they didn't take it down to bare wood again they just sanded off what I would think was the last layer of poly - just like a screen and recoat I believe.) We were told that all those "swirls" and scratches would go away after they finished it with the poly.

We came in to check yesterday and all those swirls of scratches are still visible!! Especially when the sunlight hits it or at night when the lights are on. There are stll some areas of small hazy circles on the floor too. Not as much grit this time and I'm sure you'll always get some dust etc., as it isn't a vacuum. Is this normal? We're currently trying to get other refinishers for another oppinion and a quote to fix it. Help!

Jamie
Lake Villa, IL

The skill & experience of your guy seems less then stellar.

Sounds like they skipped too many sandpaper grits. 40 to 80, skipping 60.

If your not satisfied, make them take it back down to wood, That is the only way to get the scratchs and swirls out.

It does happen in the finishing phase that some "swirl" in the finish can occur. This is from not using a fine enough abrasive. There are a couple of ways to remedy this but if your contractor, on the second attempt, was unable to do so, he may not have the skills or knowledge to handle the problem. I know I could. On 1850 sq.ft. of wood, one could expect to find a few minor areas that are less than perfect but the overall appearence should be good. Overhead/direct lighting can really cause problems for us finishers but if one is aware of this type of lighting, then one should be able to compensate for it in the selection of abrasives and sanding sequences. I do. If your contractor would use a square buff or random orbital with 220 screen followed by 3M's in between coats maroon finishing pad, that would remove the existing scratch and buff the finish fine enough not to leave anymore scratch.

This is a Do-Over. Cannot fix.