Refinishing floor - is this acceptable?

3 years ago

last modified: 3 years ago

I'm getting my red oak floors refinished to a mid-tone brown stain and there have been a lot of issues. They had to redo it once already due to the floor having a lot of scratches and uneven stain due to accidentally water popping a section of the floor due to some miscommunication between the boss and the workers. They've finished sanding and staining a second time and are supposed to come tomorrow to put poly but I'm still noticing some scratch marks from what appears to be not sanding smooth enough. I'm not a flooring pro. In your opinion, is this acceptable? Some of the workers were saying that we should have water popped the floor and that's why the finish isn't as nice but this was never explained to us beforehand. I also don't want the stain to be really dark on the floor which I've noticed happens with water popping due to it opening the grain of the wood more.

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Comments (6)

Katie S
Original Author
3 years ago
@verbo there's no flash in these photos and they're taken about a foot and a half away
M V
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
Personally, I don't think that looks right. We refinished our own floors in two different homes and the only places our floors look like anything close to that, is under our kitchen table, 8 YEARS AFTER with did them

We have 4 kids and a large dog.

It looks like they skipped grits when sanding or didn't use each one long enough.

I realize the "industry standard" might say it's ok from a certain distance, but if that's ok, I'm glad we were able to do our own. I can get down a few inches from mine, shine a flashlight and not see swirl marks.
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stars26
3 years ago
Not acceptable.

I just had my floor done and looks nothing like this.

I'm sure the gurus will chime in soon, but I don't see how is this acceptable.

And no, you don't have to stand 36" away, I don't know where Verbo got that standard from.

This is how my floors look with just 1 coat of Loba Supra 2k AT.
PRO
G & S Floor Service
3 years ago
NWFA standards floor inspection is from a standing position 5' and 2' back. If, the swirl is still visible under stains and finish. It is not acceptable.

Clear coats do not count. You can do a final cut with 40 grit and not see any sanding marks.

Floors that have high/low spots and gaps causes a lot of challenges to get a perfect sanding. Junk and debris from the gaps come loose and gets caught under the sand paper causing unwanted scratches. Foot traffic carrying outdoor debris causes issues. Electrical wire clippings, splinters, fasteners, leggos, pet food, you name it. If not caught in time, stuff gets under the sanders and ruins a refinishers day. Nothing worst than doing a final cut only to have debris find its way under the sandpaper causing deeper unwanted scratches.
Timothy Winzell
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
The NWFA specifies a floor be inspected from a standing position, using normal lighting and viewing angles.

You can read here - Page 71

https://www.oldewoodltd.com/uploads/nwfa-sand-finish-wood-floors-2016.pdf

So it's not from 18" or 30". The number I've seen quoted is 50", which is consistent with "standing position".

Wood floor is refinished by humans so an expectation of perfection is illogical. What's logical and reasonable is to have the floor look acceptable from a standing position.

My standard is to shoot for 100% perfect and accept 95% or so. This can be hard to quantify exactly, but suffice to say that I factor in how good the floor is overall, the severity and location of flaws, and the likelihood of being able to repeat the finishing of a floor that might be deemed less than perfect, and have it turn out better. It's almost certain there will be flaws (I've never seen a perfect floor). The aim is to achieve an acceptable result, with the knowledge that the floor isn't a priceless antique, and that it will be used, dented, dinged, scratched and worn over time.

Since your finish isn't applied yet, I'd probably ask the finishers to hand sand the little orbital sander scratches on the nosing and restain. It would be foolish to try to address the faint buffer scratches as the result would probably end up worse, making it necessary to do a third time.

Short answer: Take standard zoom pictures from a height of 50" and evaluate.
Timothy Winzell
3 years ago
Stars26 comparison to their own floor is not relevant to this floor. Natural/clear finished floors don't accentuate minuscule scratches the same way a stained floor does. We charge LESS for natural color because it requires LESS work.

In addition, there's a relationship on how smooth a floor is sanded and how it absorbs stain. Finishers can sand floors so smooth that they come out too light. When sanding it with the proper grit to achieve the desired color, one can end up leaving tiny scratches in the floor.

I've seen too many instances, both here and in real life, where someone found their floor finish unacceptable, and refinishing came out worse. Quite often it has to be done more than twice and owners wish they had left the original result alone. This is in cases where there were minor cosmetic flaws, not functional shortcomings or a fatal cosmetic flaw in an unfortunate spot.