Photos for my question

What exact brand brand poly was applied? How was it applied? What prep was done to the floors prior to applying the poly? How long between coats? Is the issue the same on both the old and the new flooring? What was the weather conditions when the poly was applied? Heat or AC on? What area of the country are you in? What is the subfloor? Full basement?

Are you sure that it is the finish?

In the first photo, it looks like that rough area is because of a flaw in the wood. That is, tear out when the wood was originally sawn & planed in a section that was near a knot.

Not sure what is going on in the 3rd photo. Possibly surface contamination? With 100 year old floors, it is anybody's guess as to what might have been splashed on the wood over the years and could be interfering with adhesion. (If adhesion is the problem.)

In the 2nd photo, it appears that some of the seams between boards did not get coated with finish. ???

@millworkman

brand: unsure of 2nd coat. first coat was Bona oil based satin.

time between coats: first coat was applied 1 month ago

application method, prep: dont know. i didnt watch them. i saw them with an orbital floor sander momentarily between coats

Issue on old and new: yes. it's on both, but worse on the new

weather conditions: perfect day. 65 and sunny. occasionally the heat kicked on. were in MA

subfloor and basement: full fieldstone basement. subfloor is combo original subfloor (circa 1900) and scabbed in plywood.

@ci_lantro

There is one more coat that needs to be applied. I just worry because i saw some (not all) of this on the first coat. and second coat amplified it. What is standard procedure with tear out? should he have cut that section off before installation? Is that reasonable to ask them to replace the boards with tear out (there are several). And yes, almost all of the new seems appear to not be receiving the finish. there are only one or two on the old floor that look like photo #3. The majority of the issues are most visible on the new wood (the speckling), but we do see areas of it on the old wood, as well.

The boards with tear out should not have been installed. This must be on the new install because I was puzzled how the tear out could look so fresh on a century old floor. Either should have been cut off or discarded or buried back in a closet.

What edge do the boards have? Square edge or beveled?

@ci_lantro correct, the tear out is on the new side. the photos are all of the new side. old ones are a deep honey color. board edges are square

@G & S Floor Service these floors were a brand new install. they were installed and received 1-coat 1 month ago. they were not pre-finished. they were raw wood. the job objective was install new maple floor in kitchen to meet old maple floor in dining room, sand both, and 3 coats in both rooms. here is a photo of right after install and first coat.

Ok, you have a moisture issue. Too much humidity around the surface of the floor. Is the space heated? The contractor may have been coated without any heating on. Was it raining around the period of coating? Does the joints feel sticky or soft?

the space is heated. it was running intermittently on day of second coat (2 days ago). i wish i could remember conditions on the first coat. if it's helpful, we saw these issues on first coat and assumed second would fix it, but instead amplified it. thanks for everyone's help and knowledge!

If, the issue occurred during the first coat. The rooms below maybe causing the issue. Is it happenning on both new and old?

if, there was wet weather. Humidity from below will be higher than normal.

Yes, both new and old have the issue. It's only in a few places on the old side and nearly everywhere on the news side. I saw that they laid a thin, white/tan piece of paper backer between sub floor and new boards. Possible that wasn't a good enough vapor barrier? I'm assuming it was a vapor barrier, I didn't ask.

Yes, they must have used a low quality vapor barrier.