Nope those are chatter marks he did a bad job I've seen darker floors with higher gloss and they don't have that problem

Have him fix it or hire some one else at his expense

Thank you Rockin' Fine Finish. This situation isn't much fun to be in.

That's such a shame - but if your contractor brought someone else in to do it - the contractor should be making good by either bringing him back to do it right or hiring someone else. I do hope this is resolved soon for you ! Keep your chin up !!

Thanks OnePlan. I agree that it is a shame. The contractor and the flooring guy are such nice people! But that being said, we are paying too much to live with this especially when he could have seen it and stopped as soon as he started applying the stain. He must have noticed and hoped that we wouldn't. Yesterday, the contractor brought over another flooring guy who said it wasn't chatter and the contractor said that the original flooring guy is going to "want to get paid." It seems like people want to do the right thing but it is a difficult pill to swallow. It seems also like they think the "right" thing for us to do is to live with it. I really wish we could because I want my things back in the house! We have had everything out of the first floor for almost 3 weeks now! Even the refrigerator is in the garage and the piano is in the bathroom (my kids can't practice or go to lessons)! I'm sorry but I'm frustrated.

Bring in a independent floor guy your self . ok if it's not chatter then its lots of scratches that shouldn't be there

First point - you were asking why a floor person wouldn't want to do this work. Several reasons account for other people's reluctance to get involved with the project.

You're already upset with the floor so there's no good references going to come from the glowing words you speak about the person. Second, a major chunk of the money is already spent so the person paying the bill is going to be trying to minimize the money paid out to the second guy, so there's no money to be made with extra services. Third, the flooring guy knows he will have trouble collecting his money unless the job is absolutely perfect - if he runs into issues with your floor, he's stuck. In essence, he is guaranteeing the installation work by accepting the finish job. Next, you are sick and tired of having your lives disrupted so you aren't going to be very easy to work with. You want someone to drop all current projects, jump onto yours immediately, work long hours without taking days off, and accept a low payout all for the privilege of fixing up someone else's screwups.

From the perspective of someone in the business of doing similar projects, I wouldn't want to get involved either. Someone else goofed up the job, why should I be interested in fixing it when you weren't interested in having us do the work correctly from the get-go? We would prefer to do our own projects where we could see the issues up front, bid the job accordingly and make someone happy, not just reduce their dissatisfaction.

Personally, I would renegotiate the price and live with the current results. You've got kids and your family is going to use this floor daily so it is going to get more marks and damage in the course of normal life. Every time you sand and finish a floor, you reduce its longevity. I would wait until ready to sell or a few more years down the line and then have it redone.

Lehmann. it is "chatter" and I would tell the contractor that payment would be made when the job was finished properly.......if the contractor is worried about his sub getting paid, he can pay it out of his own pocket. I'm betting he won't. The hard truth is the contractor hired the sub to do the finish work, you didn't, it's his responsibility to fix the problem and trying to convince you to just "live with it" isn't the fix. I would withhold payment to both the contractor and/or the sub until the job is corrected. Another option would be to tell the contractor that you will hire someone else to correct the finish job and just deduct it from his payment............and I wouldn't hire Linda's company either, apparently they aren't confident enough in their own abilities to correct the problem.

This is one of the reasons I got out of the GC business..........subs who had no pride in their work and were willing to accept "good enough" or subs with attitudes.

lehmann, your GC needs to be a pro and suck it up. he needs to quickly find someone to properly redo the floors. he should just get it handled without complaining or laying a guilt trip on you. no way you'll be happy with those floors as they are now, regardless of the cost. good luck.

i agree with thomas. bottom line the work is bad it has to be fixed i feel that the contractor is trying to cover him self by not paying out any money out of his pocket. AS for the post from linda has me confused any other contractor that comes in fixes the floor will be paid in full from the GC not the homeowner. I have come in on many jobs where other contractors have done crappy work and i was hired to fix it. So if its being fixed and its done right whats the problem why would the the new floor guy feel that he's on the hook for somebody elses work. And as for the refferal thing its not a given if you as homeowner choose to give it ,thats great but because you have gotten sub par work that some how that the next guy might not get one is a weird concept to me. I feel that experiences like this is what turns off homeowners to ever hire some one to do work in there homes.I hope that this gets resolved soon good luck

I can't tell you all how much I appreciate your feedback. We aren't brand new homeowners but we don't hire people to do work very often and we've never had an issue before. I loved your comment DIAspoton: "no way you'll be happy with those floors as they are now." You are right. If it isn't fixed it will always bother us.

STK - I am EXTREMELY confidernt in our abilities to correct such problems. We just don't prefer to take on such assignments as long as we have plenty of other work. Sometimes we do get calls from other friends in various trades asking us to look at tricky situations involving their friends or customers with a "do you think you could do anything for these people?" question. In those referral situations, we will often go take a look and offer whatever advice/services we can. We work in a lower budget market and many local homeowners opt for uninsured, cash basis contractors or for well-marketed, high priced, will finance operations and then get stuck with shoddy work or uncompleted jobs. We typically work on our own projects and try to avoid rescue situations as it is easy to succumb to the desire to be helpful and "nice guy" yourself right out of business.

This does not appear to me to be chatter, rather it looks to be scratches. If they were confined to the edges of the room, that would definitely be edger marks. However, given the description that they over a large portion of the floor, I find that confusing as why would there be edger marks anywhere except at the edge? Regardless of the source of the scratches, the answer is the same - sand them out

That GC should be on the hook for that work because he should have checked the floor before the finish went on. Personally we wouldn't put finish on until the customer has okayed the stain color on the floor itself as any sanding/staining issues must be handled before the finish is applied. Picking a stain color from a tiny piece of paper is a recipe for disaster - especially if you're trying to match an existing finish.

Each person has limited resources, whether we're referring to financial, emotional energy, time or any other category. Fight the battles which matter to you, so if this floor screams at you every time you look at it, take action. If it is just a surface you will cover with rugs and furniture and children running to the backyard to play catch, renegotiate the money and go coach the baseball - better yet, grab some more folks and go join the fun.

Just an update and one more question. Our GC found another flooring company that pointed out many other problems with the stain besides the scratch marks everywhere. They pointed out the waves in the stain and drips of stain and they said the original guy should have stopped as soon as he put the first bit of stain down and saw the scratches.

So the GC hired this company to redo the floors. They have sanded, stained and put one layer of the top coat on with two more to go. It looks so much better!!! Not a scratch mark on it. The only little thing is this hole in the attached picture. Can that be filled at this point in the process?

It can be filled later with a wood putty nothing to worry about or it can be filled depending on the finish being used some finishes will change the color if the putty ask the floor guy

Sorry it can be filled now or later ask the floor guy if the putty they use will change color with the finish you are using I'm glad to hear that competent people are finishing your floors

Glad to read that your problem is being handled properly.