The bearings on the roller of the floor sanding machine that they used are probably shot creating the "whooba, whooba, whooba" that you are seeing. Finishing is going to make this more noticeable, not less.

These guys need to switch to a random orbital machine which cannot make these types of marks. They are not going to be pleased at all to hear this, I promise. Don't even think of letting them apply finish over these marks because it will all have to be ground off which will remove the stain in the process and of course additional payment is out of the question.

The Architectural Woodworking Institute has standards for what are and are not acceptable machine mark standards, so they know you're not being unreasonable.

Here is a link that might be useful: Random Orbital

This post was edited by Trebruchet on Thu, Jan 2, 14 at 18:14

I had my floors refinished about 1 year ago and had no banding whatsoever. Maybe the link below helps.

Here is a link that might be useful: how to remove banding marks

This may be helpful too:

Here is a link that might be useful: Chatter

Thank you, Trebruchet and nosoccermom. I've been looking things up online since I came home and saw this and thought that it was "chatter" like what you posted, Trebruchet.

I emailed the owner of the company and left voicemail for him - heard back probably less than an hour after the voicemail and literally within minutes of sending the photo via email. He indicated that it could be the stain drying and that it might be fine in the morning (but didn't really push that idea - I think he was just trying to make us not worry about it overnight) and said that it could also be an issue where they would want to sand again.

He said not to worry - when they are here tomorrow morning, they will look at it and take the steps needed to fix it, which I do believe. Luckily, I am working at home tomorrow, so I'll be on-hand for anything that they might need to talk with me about.

So far, they have been great to deal with - they have been in business in the area for over 30 years, are Bona certified, were recommended by the local Bona distributor, and are well regarded on Angie's List...all in all, I'm pretty certain this will end well without us needing to fight for them to correct it. There's been no indication that this is going to be a fight - they've been accommodating to our questions and concerns prior to the job starting and in our first steps, so I'm 99.9% certain they will use whatever is necessary to make the floor turn out well for us.

They did a fantastic job at fingering in the old floor in the former dining room and the new wood for the kitchen - we're actually quite pleased with how nicely that portion turned out.

I wanted to make certain that I wasn't reacting to something that might be likely to rectify itself through the finishing process and it doesn't sound like that's so much the case. Thank you both for responding so quickly.

It's disappointing that this is likely to set our timeline back 2 days or so (assuming resanding and then restaining), but in the grand scheme of things, not such a big stumbling block. I hope to be able to post a positive update about this tomorrow.

Reading the article that Trebruchet provided on "Chatter", as well as the comments at the end of the article, has me wondering ... how do you determine if the people you hire to refinish your floors are qualified and knowledgeable in how to operate and maintain their own equipment? I would assume that a hardwood floor refinisher would know all about the terms "chatter" and "banding" and how to prevent them, but as adreak100 points out, even a well-researched company still had problems. Are there specific questions we should be asking beforehand?

As an update - my husband came home late-ish last night and he also called the owner to express his concerns (late enough that we wouldn't have expected a return call last night). First thing this morning, we received a call back from the owner and he helped to answer the worries that my husband had. The owner assured us that we will be very happy with our floors. Again, I completely believe that will be the case.

I checked on the floor at various points overnight somehow hoping that the bands would somehow just go away on their own. Of course, they didn't...and I knew that they wouldn't...still, hopeful thinking.

The crew arrived here first thing this morning and brought the random orbital sander in with them as they arrived and are currently (I hope) fixing the issue. There was no question, no issue, no argument - all in all, so far, as smooth as can be with things not being ideal the first time around.

Jellytoast - in regard to your question, it sounds as if this is something that CAN happen even with a well-regarded and well-researched company. The crew that is working on our floor is well experienced - our chief person has been doing this for around 30 years...I'm not entirely certain, but I believe it's likely with the same company, so this isn't a case of some inexperienced person who doesn't know how to use the machines...at one point, our chief guy mentioned working with the present owner's dad, who was the previous owner.

I guess that machines *can* go out of alignment...I know that in my own profession (photographer) that I've heard of others in my field who had a lens that had been "spot on" the day before and they did a photo session only to find out that the lens went out of "alignment". I understand that it can happen. And, presumably regular maintenance *should* keep this sort of thing from happening...but, I know that's not always the case...even with the most carefully maintained things, sometimes they break/malfunction.

I hope someone can chime in to give additional insight on things that people could ask to help lessen the possibility that it could happen to someone else.

I'm glad to hear they're fixing the problem because it is very noticeable in the picture! I'm sure it will look great when they're done today.

Our guys finished up staining a little bit ago. The floor is looking much better. A few areas that I might want to talk with them about once I can inspect the floor a little closer (we need to wait a few more hours before we walk on it), but the concerns are not banding related. (Excuse the poor quality photos from cell phone!)

Well, I'm glad that you got the issue with the banding rectified to your satisfaction. To address jelly's question: I suppose you still have to watch the work that is done like a hawk. For instance, we don't know what andreak's crew would have done if she hadn't complained about the banding. Would they have re-sanded the floor or just stained it?

Beautiful floor!