refinished floor issues

Reply to: No all this damage was done in the first phase, too aggressive use of the drum sander in unskilled hands and not enough time spent with the finer grits of paper. At this point I would push for a buff and coat where they do a light sand of the entire floor to abrade the surface and add another coat of poly. It won’t solve the problem but should hide half of what’s bothering you.

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Reply to: 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.

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Reply to: 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

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Reply to: Sigh...The colour variation is probably due to a different finish. The STAIN is probably the same but it looks like an oil or an oil modified product was used and now the new finish is a clear coat water based polyurethane. I think you can safely say you have given these people EVERY CHANCE to fix this. And they have failed. Bona Traffic HD is a two part (2K) WATER based polyurethane. It will not 'amber' (your word is perfect). Your 'brown' is going to stay brown forever. The amber upstairs is probably due to the finish over top being an oil modified (Bona makes an oil modified that does exactly that...add a pretty amber tone). I'm so sorry they did this to you AGAIN. I am ASSUMING you AMENDED your contract (as I suggested). Now you have the full story that the 'contractor with 25 years experience' actually sent out 'guys' to do his jobs. The contractor SAME GUYS then do the SAME THING...again. Sorry but that was predicted. Now for the tough part. Getting money OUT of the contractor. That's where it gets sticky. You can try to negotiate on your own or you can cut to the chase and pay (it could be $750 + to have all floors inspected) to have an NWFA Certified Flooring Inspector (www.nwfa.org) come out and do the inspection/write a report. With the report IN HAND (do NOT hand this over!!!!!) you will inform 'contractor of 25 years' what is wrong with the floor. You will then tell them you expect a serious discount (as I mentioned before). You must pay for the flooring they ADDED. The wood they supplied and installed must be paid for (labour included to install the new wood). Every piece of work that they did that was ACCEPTABLE (industry standard) must be paid for at the price agreed upon = full price. Every discount beyond that can be negotiated. That's where the inspector's report comes in handy. Usually they will write up each room as they see it. That means it is possible 2 out of 7 rooms (this is an example) are rated as 'industry standard' and accepted by the homeowner. These two rooms get paid at FULL price (agreed upon by the square foot price). Then there might be the stairs...which are now industry standard and acceptable to the homeowner. Those get paid out as well. If there was SUBFLOOR work, that gets paid out as well unless the inspection CLEARLY states the subfloor work is not up to industry standards. Now you negotiate. The sanding issues with the EXISTING flooring = negotiable. The sanding issues with the NEWLY LAID floor = negotiable. The colour variation between upstairs stain and down stairs stain/appearance = negotiable. Again, there is going to be someone doing a room by room assessment as to what worked and what didn't. And the work that is to industry standard gets paid out. The rest gets negotiated. The person who PAYS for the inspection OWNS the inspection report. The only way you can be forced to hand over a copy of the results is if by a court of LAW (disclosure laws are quite precise when it comes to revealing evidence) or until the GC PAYS YOU the out of pocket costs to have the inspection done (which is why you keep a copy for yourself...while you OWN the report you can make as many copies as you so choose....go COPY HAPPY and give them out as party favours at your next party!). Those are the things you can expect from an inspection and negotiating a settlement. A lawsuit is up to you.

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Reply to: Here you go. Most of the damage you have is laziness on the part of the refinishing company, I pulled out a couple that I feel are just patina that they would not have been able to address with sanding. This looks like a C- flooring job.

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Reply to: The staining and the hairline cuts are patina. The deep gouge is from their rotary sander and the circular marks are from the edging machine in the hands of unskilled operators.

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