Improper sanding, no repair other than starting over.

An experienced sander may be able to remove those; they don't look that deep.

Agree that it's improper sanding. But is there a way to address that short of resanding, etc.? You could end up with a new issue of finish blending and different sheen over a greater area. Might be time for an oriental rug if it would work in that area....

If, I am going to fix it, I would redo the entire floor. There are dishouts in it, also. Rift and quartersawn is very hard to put dishouts in it. But, this floor refinishing contractor managed to do so.

Thank you for the comments so far! To be clear it was not a refinishing. The floor was put down and finished by the same contractor, meaning this is the "original" sanding. Would you live with it? Given it's been 2 years already I am thinking we don't do anything until we re-sand.

When we do (re-sand) will it be hard for the new contractor to fix it? I'll ask about hardplate (and I also read about oscillating sander?). It's quite odd that we only see the marks in one area of around 10% of total surface area...perhaps due to the light in that area only.

Moving forward I guess my main worry is that the next sanding in a few years makes this worse and not better. For the life of me I cannot see a difference in height and was hoping you'd all tell me it was either the way stain was applied, or the poly.

Also, @G & S Floor Service what are "dishouts"? thank you!

Side note we get dents in that wood so easily...even a light spoon falling from 3 feet dents it. I think even an Airpods case did. Very surprised how soft white oak can be, even after 3 coats of poly. Is it true that wood floors harden over time, and stop "moving" in size too? These boards were cut in 2019 or so. In the winter we get a little bit of cupping, but not in summer. I was told after 3-5 years the wood will stop moving as it dies.

Dishouts is when more soft wood is removed than hardwood creating low spots in the surface of the wood. The last image I posted, you can see ripples of low spots. These areas are softwoods within the hardwood.

The main cause of dishouts is when the finisher uses too soft of a padding for the final sanding operation to remove sanding marks like swirls. While doing so, they end up oversanding the softwood and removing too much soft wood, creating low spots.

Hard plating prevents dishouts. Hard plating is done with metal plates that will not flex and scoop out the softwood compared to padding system, resulting in a flatter surface. Down side is it is a slower and longer process. It takes more time to remove sanding swirls with a hard plating process. But the result is worth the time and wait.

Example:

Natural Polyurethane Finish · More Info

@G & S Floor Service thank you and what a beautiful photo you shared! We're now 2 years in with these floors and given your comments, we won't screen and recoat. No point. Best is to wear them out over time and properly refinish in a few (3-7?) years.

I'll keep hard plating in mind when we search for a few contractor. My hope is that the next contractor will be able to fix these issues. I think previous job was just too rushed. Hope the end result wasn't too bad though, and that these sanding issues is all that's wrong!

Is it perhaps true that the second time around (first refinish) yields better results given that the wood will have aged? it was still rather fresh when first installed.

All craftsmanship, a skilled finisher will have the proper knowledge, equipment and process to sand old and new floors flat and smooth. Just because it is the second time around doesn't make it any easier. By the time you refinish your floors, the floor boards will move and shift out of place. It will require just as much time to rough and flatten it the second time around as the first.

The photo above are newly installed quartersawn white oak flooring.