Oh My!!!! Arrest that person and charge them with malicious damage!. That does not qualify as a bad amateur job.

Appreciate your replies. Here are a few more photos.

Being that it is a 1940s home I would imagine the floor has been cut more than once.Should have replaced it.

So sorry you have this issue hopefully these can be fixed. Hope you have not paid in full and can get some concessions from person who has either limited skill or very limited pride in work.

If you are close to the Chicago area I have a great flooring person I can recommend. Maybe tell us what major city you are close to and someone can give you a number of a better flooring person.

Even a professional hardwood installer cannot repair a floor that has been cut to many times, you can only do it so many.

Thanks guys. We were told the floor was in good condition (and better quality / thicker since from the 40s) and probably had only been refinished once before. I'm not sure, though, how that would impact the gap issues, detritus, mismatched filler color, filler smears, bits under poly, etc?

Hi Diane -- Appreciate that. I'm in NYC, but our co-op requires contractors carry a ridiculous insurance policy :-/ Our options were limited.

Sigh...herring bone sand/refinish. These are special floors with special approaches to the sanding procedures. You have multiple issues - starting with the swirl marks. To get rid of those, you have to have this sanded down again and started again.

What type of stain? What type of finish (Loba, Bona, Glitsa????)? How old is the refinish job?

The white lines between almost each and every board is upsetting me. This could be the very first signs that the finish is going to fail. And fail quickly. Water based polyurethane should NOT turn white!

If a finish starts to turn white, it is indicating that the bond is failing and it is going to start peeling very, very soon. I have a sneaking suspicion the floor had been contaminated and that the sanding/cleaning did not remove the contaminant properly. Contaminants are bond breakers. They often "sit" between the planks (because the sanding machines cannot sand between the planks). The contamination then breaks the bonds along the edges of the planks....and then continue to peel away over top of the board.

A bit more information and a few more photos would help. If my suspicions are correct, you will need a full redo. But before you panic, please send a bit more info and some more photos - just to be sure.

terrible job. the worse areas should have been repaired first. if you have debris under the finish then the prep was incomplete. water based poly does not hold up as well either. do you have any heat/cooling grates in the floor? if you remove them you can see how much wood is left in your floor. if it's been sanded too many times you'll get into the tongue & groove & will also hit nails.

When exactly was the floor finished?

Crack filling may have been done between sandings and vibrated out. These should have been puttied between poly coat, but no big deal to putty now. Keep in mind that if flooring moves, either due to seasonal shrinkage or when it's walked on, the filler won't hold. If the floor shrank after being finished, gaps will open up. I can see where some of your cracks had filler but the gap has opened after.

As to debris in the finish, it really matters how much and where. It would be unusual to see a perfect finish. If the amount is unacceptable, debris can be scraped out carefully. With your pattern floor, boards may be able to be coated individually but it's more likely whole areas/rooms would have to be recoated. The biggest issue I see is in picture 1 where there appears to be sanding lines across the boards. Is this typical? I don't see it in any other pictures.

Thanks for the replies!

@SJ McCarthy: I don't know the brand of stain / finish. It was completed a few weeks ago. I'm not sure if the white lines are plaster residue from some of the work they did afterwards. I'll take more pictures when I'm at home tonight!

We actually had a great floor specialist do the first sand, but were told by our co-op that he must stop as he didn't have the super high insurance threshold they require. We brought in a contractor that works in the co-op all the time, so they're familiar with the floors.

@rober49: There's definitely a lot of wood left. You couldn't see any nails or any of the tongue/groove after the sanding or now. It wasn't brought up by any of the contractors who inspected the floors during consultations and I'm fairly certain this is not an issue.

@Johnson: I know that you have to keep some space for expansion/shrinkage, but it feels like some of the gaps are excessive. And yet smaller gaps were filled. I did wonder about the cracks in the filler almost immediately (I noticed a few days later, but it could have been a few minutes after application).

I'm not sure those are sanding lines - I think they're lap marks from either the stain or poly. I'd say about 25% of the floor is like this - some areas more noticable than others. The annoying this is that the worst spots are at the entrance of the apartment and main hallway, where you can't miss it.

Again, really appreciate all of the replies!! Just not sure what to do / how to approach the contractor. We mentioned to the foreman weeks ago that we had issues and their floor person was meant to come last Saturday, but didn't. He's now meant to come this Saturday.

I uploaded a bunch of photos here: https://www.houzz.com/projects/2888787

I also noticed last night that some of the wood 'rings' don't seem fully coated and I worry that there aren't actually three layers. Really worried this floor won't even last a year :-/

Thank you all for your help!

While your floor finishing certainly has some issues, floors are to be judged from a standing position. The distance I've seen specifically quoted is 50". Also, they need to be evaluated with regular illumination. I see nothing in the new pictures that wasn't addressed in my original comment except that the cross scratches I noted are definitely from the sanding machine.

Thank you. Wondering what are reasonable requests to make.

Aside from the bits under the poly (which I've stepped on and it reeeally hurt!).. the [big gaps with debris[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/floors-phvw-vp~110576320) really bother me and [the filler spills[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/floors-traditional-phvw-vp~110576259) really bother my husband.

I'm assuming the [swirl marks from the sander[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/floors-traditional-phvw-vp~110576241) and [the lap lines[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/floors-phvw-vp~110576319) are going to be a nightmare to make better.

Is there any way to know how many coats of poly were used? If it wasn't three, what are the repercussions?

Disappointed because we forked out quite a bit for this thinking we were in good hands.

P.S. I tried to take more photos per @SJMcCarthy's recommendation, but it's hard to create regular lighting in winter evenings.

So....to fix everything on your bucket list = a FULL SAND and refinish. Yep. Everything done all over again. Everything you are complaining about is UNDERNEATH the finish! Which means you have to get down PAST the finish and then correct them.

Sanding + HIGH END filler job + sanding. Stain applied + Sealant. Then 2-3 coats of the polyurethane. There should be nothing like you are describing "stuck" into the finish. A snick of dust here and there = no big deal. Bobby pins = big deal.

And the good news is: They have a BUCKET LOAD of insurance!!!!!

Only speak with the Lead Contact...the person who promised you a great looking floor. If s/he is out of town, tell the crew/shop manager that you will WAIT until s/he is back in town. And that means PAYMENT will WAIT too. I bet you my first borne that your contact will mysteriously reappear....or at least will reach out to you some how.

Don't back down. This is a redo. If they won't budge, then bring in an NWFA Certified Flooring Inspector to back you up.

www.nwfa.org

Follow the link to find one in your area.

'

Is it possible for you to hire your preferred floor finisher and pay for a one time insurance policy yourself? Like maybe a rider on your homeowner's? It might not be that expensive if you're just insuring him for this one job on the property.

One can often carefully scrape out trash in the finish and smooth out the poly if done right away. That's why I was wondering how long ago it had been finished (and to determine whether seasonal shrinkage might explain some of the open cracks). If it's cured, the debris could be scraped out but some poly touch up would be needed. Certainly all of the cracks should be puttied. If there are any loose pieces the filler might not stay and whether the floor has shrunk due to dry winter air should be considered also.

You're right about the swirls and cross scratches requiring pain to fix. It would require resanding of any affected areas.

It's hard to tell exactly how many coats of finish are on a floor but a pro can tell what looks right. On the few pictures where I can see some sheen and grain texture in reflected light, it appears there's an acceptable amount but a picture from a distance with light from a window or door would help.

the big question here is have you paid them yet?

We have not paid them anything for the floors yet.

We paid them for everything else (about $10k) for replacing outlets, skimming two walls, putting up wall panels, basic plastering of the other walls and installing new base moldings - but I asked take the floors off the invoice for now. They said okay.

The guy that did the floors -- not the foreman, or the owner of the contracting company who sorted out pricing, etc. -- is coming on Saturday to discuss moving forward.

We're all moved in now, so it would be tough to sort out a complete re-do. It looks okay when you walk around (other than swirls and spills), but not when you look closely.

i'm a carpenter & have installed & repaired a lot of floors. without a redo you'll never gat rid of the cross sanding marks. I guess it comes down to what you can live with. i'd get a floor refinishing contractor to give you another bid for a redo & a repair. as far as your G.C. unless he comes up with s fix i'd not pay anything for the floor work. I could not sleep at night if that had happened on my job but I walk thru new homes & wonder at the terrible workmanship I see. i'm afflicted with the 'carpenter's ' eye & I see all the flaws.

So I spoke to the contractor.. he said the swirl marks aren't good and should be fixed.

However, he said that the gaps are just the way our floors are. He says in the 30s/40s they put them down with glue and that filler would crack with the weather. I'm just shocked because I can only imagine the random debris, spills, etc. that will end up in those very big gaps. (Do fancy upper east siders with prewar floors accept that?)

The floor guy didn't show up today so he's coming tomorrow to talk to us.

Really frustrated because if a redo is the only option, we are living there.. have furniture there and a cat.

My first experience with hardwood floor refinishing (1936 oak floors) the contractor did not vacuum sanding debris well. They have to clean floor, baseboards, everything. Lots of grit in the floor finish with sanding marks. We did not pay him & hired someone else to completely redo them.
The last round was complete install of new floors. We were told the wood needed to sit for two weeks to season. There was variation in boards and I did ask for a couple to be discarded as they were laying the boards. We had two places that needed filling. They took at least a day between each poly coat for it to dry well. I can't imagine those being done in two days. Ours took several days after installation to sand, stain and seal. Were your gaps there when they started?
I would take the advice of others. Get someone with great references, buy your own insurance if necessary, and use friends/family to stay with & get then done right. So very sorry. It is disheartening to have all that work done and have it look awful.

So against everyone's advice, we gave the guy a second chance (I'm a pushover and I hate confrontation). He did our spare room and got rid of most of the long straight scratch lines. However, in their place are these buffer swirls that look like a bunch of animal scratches. I don't understand why we were told to be so careful with movers and the foreman noted that "the one scratch that no one else notices will drive you crazy" when...... we have this all over the floor. It looks like hundreds of scratches. So frustrated.

And yes, you can see them from 5ft up / 2ft away :-( And this was without flash, just natural light.

So basically - instead of cutting the floor again (or as I say 'stealing' more floor when I don't trust he'll do a good job the second time), he said he could buff them out. And he did, but created a new problem.

Question for everyone: Am I right that these rabid animal scratches shouldn't be there? I don't see them on other people's floors in the building.

The floor guy asked "what do you want me to do?" and I replied "I don't know because I'm not a floor specialist."

....so I've been Googling. I've come across tons of things like using a hardplate instead of a screen, maroon felt, finer grit paper, water popping, etc. but he doesn't seem to know what I'm talking about (and me saying this stuff to a 'wood floor expert' seems ridiculous.)

Those swirl marks are at the level of the wood. It would take another full sand/recoat to do get rid of them. How much wood do you have left on those floors? To get rid of the sanding swirls, they will take a very small amount of wood (not very much) but it will still carve off a small amount.

At this point, he continues to make more problems than he can fix. You gave him is second chance. That is all that is required of you - legally. You are now welcome to find someone else to fix his problems.

Or you can live with the results - at a discount. The choice is yours. If these swirl marks are all that is left of the original problems with this person (you've already stated that it is very hard to find someone with the INSANE amount of insurance needed by the HOA) then you might want to call it quits and just be done with the whole thing.

I'm sorry this has happened. The amount of meat left on the floors AND how much patience you have to live through ANOTHER sand/refinish AND whether or not you can find someone else to fix the "fix" will determine whether or not you can continue on this journey for a perfect looking floor.

... and the saga continues. We didn't think it could get much worse, but alas, it did.

If anyone is interested in how the story ends:

Because we are living there (with our cat) he said that would go room by room and move furniture. We asked for a heads up on which rooms so we could move most of it and figure out where to hide our cat. He said he would start with the two bedrooms.

One day he focused on the spare room and said he wanted us to let him know what we thought so he knew how to proceed with the others. Fair enough. We said there were buffer swirl scratches and a bunch of poly issues (puddles, lines, and a big globby mess).

So he came yesterday and decided to focus on the master bedroom. He said he would redo the spare room's poly globs "later" but that the scratches would "take too much time." I said I would overlook the scratches if he tried not to do them on the rest of the floor.

We left to take some calls at a coffee shop around 1pm. When we returned around 3pm we couldn't get into the apartment because he had decided to sand the whole place before finishing a room! We are confused and frustrated because we could have moved our stuff properly and wanted to be sure he could do a good job before taking more of our floor.

We have to camp out at a restaurant with our laptops for the next three hours and try to do work. When we return before 6pm, he is gone for the day. We are careful not to touch the floor, but notice dozens of places with debris under the poly, long hairs under the poly, a big filler smear right in front of the door and -- get this -- an outline of our bed frame in poly because he never took it out! We are fuming and unable to reach the contractor. We finally text the floor guy that we are not comfortable proceeding and that he can pick up his stuff before we leave for work. He says it is not done, but extra poly isn't going to fix those issues and we can't risk him doing this to the rest of the floor.

Now we're left with a half-finished floor and will NOT be letting that man into our apartment again. If anyone has any floor specialist recommendations in NYC, I'm all ears :-)

P.S. Not looking for perfection.. just a good looking floor.

Diane R, would you share your Chicago-area flooring person? I'd be grateful, thanks!