Author Topic: Hardwood Floors Refinished - how bad is it?  (Read 2099 times)

Steeze

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Hardwood Floors Refinished - how bad is it?
« on: April 10, 2019, 08:24:50 PM »
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/18uOLLquUjX28u5ilVr-4EV3upXH_BcxC
photos in google drive

Just had the floors redone and got to see them for the first tome today. I am pretty disappointed. Color is blotchy and inconsistent. A patch in the floor is a different color. You can still see the old stain in low spots and around the edges. There is a drip mark.

Am I being unreasonable? I haven’t paid yet and asked the contractor to meet me at the property in a couple days. The contractor came highly recommended from our real estate agent and his quote was the same as another contractor quoted (3$/sf).

The floors were in ok shape before, but one room had some water damage with a frisbee sized black spot, and the finish was gone in the hallway. We wanted to improve that first impression by taking care of the floors. Now I feel like the floors have more problems than before, just different problems.

What do you think?

Papa bear

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Re: Hardwood Floors Refinished - how bad is it?
« Reply #1 on: April 10, 2019, 08:33:08 PM »
I was expecting some horrible end result. But honestly, that looks pretty damn good. It looks like it was prepped correctly and you’re going to have a lot of color variation in any wood floor. The wood takes the stain very differently.  Those patches look well done, they staggered the new pieces back in.  I have seen some absolutely terrible patch jobs, and this blows that away.

As for the drips, I can see you being upset about that. 

In the end, you’re the client, ask them about each of your problem spots. 

But to me, off those pictures, looks like a professional job and a pretty good outcome for some old damaged floors.


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Frankies Girl

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Re: Hardwood Floors Refinished - how bad is it?
« Reply #2 on: April 10, 2019, 08:55:40 PM »
First off, I've lived in a Victorian home and several other homes with original wood floors. I am also not an expert by any stretch of the imagination, but I'm familiar with cleaning and caring for this type of floor. Also had a 1950s home's wood floors sanded and refinished in the last 5 years and inspected carefully after (and had some pretty bad damage from leaks/cats).

Overall, I think it look okay. Not bad at all. Depending on how much you paid, I'd be less inclined to make a fuss actually (only you can really gauge the value really).


I am sad that they didn't do the contrasting floor inset colors in the hall too when they refinished. The cute box/corner color was really a lovely unique character for those floors and now it's just blended in and looks a bit off considering it had cut/inlay sections. I think they did in the larger rooms?

The patch section would not bother me. There is no good way to 100% match the existing wood floor's age and tone unless they used pieces from elsewhere in the house, and I wouldn't be put out too much by it being slightly off. If this house is as old as I think it is, then a few well patched areas just add a bit more character to it. Variations in color for wood floors is part of the beauty and it looks like a good match/well done in grain overall. It will also likely change as it ages/oxidizes too.

If the final pic in the series 0794 - isn't just in need of cleaning/polishing, then there is a weird haze/swirl marks that seem either poor sanding or else there is a poor application process in the sealant.

I'm seeing several areas that look like they applied the stain, then for some reason waited a bit too long to do the blending (the choppy areas right above the 4 L shaped on its back nail holes in pic 785 for instance, but seeing this elsewhere). So the edges weren't worked/blended while wet enough. It would be worse if they used a medium/dark stain, but it would be something that bothers me a bit for a $$ professional application.

That same pic - 785 - has the staining/dark line in the middle of the hall? Odd stains in the wood itself, but likely nothing they could do without sanding the holy hell out of the wood or just replacing. The edges you're seeing - looks like they didn't take off the quarter rounds at the baseboards and just sanded up to them? If it really bothered you, they likely could have removed/replaced them if they couldn't have gotten the edges sanded well enough but the costs would have been upped to make and install new quarter rounds. Considering what they started with, it still looks pretty well done and I myself wouldn't consider this a "bad job" situation.

The drippy stuff is just sloppy work. Definitely would point that out and ask it to be fixed.

I likely would get some opinions from folks that know what they're looking at (there are several folks here that have experience) but just me, I would ask with concern (not anger mind you) about what they can do as far as the haze/drips/blended areas (if the haze I'm seeing is part of the floor that's a definite "please fix this" with the understanding that it is not acceptable but if the haze is just reflection/needs sweeping and a bit of mopping then the rest of it isn't really bad at all).
« Last Edit: April 11, 2019, 10:05:26 PM by Frankies Girl »

Duke03

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Re: Hardwood Floors Refinished - how bad is it?
« Reply #3 on: April 10, 2019, 09:48:14 PM »
As a wood floor aficionado I feel your pain!!!  Every house I've ever lived in I put hard wood flooring in and I'm anal about my wood floors.  I have a love affair that is probably not healthy with them.  Like I have a favorite board in every room...….. to give you an idea. I know every imperfection of my floors and I'm their worst critic.  With that said I was upset with our last house and in my opinion my wife's dog destroyed my floors.  They had a very distressed finish that he added to much to with wear and tear.  When we sold the house everyone that looked at it commented about how they loved the floors.  Guess when it comes down to it most people are blind and only look for a second. 

One

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Re: Hardwood Floors Refinished - how bad is it?
« Reply #4 on: April 11, 2019, 12:56:45 AM »
Looks good

pbkmaine

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Re: Hardwood Floors Refinished - how bad is it?
« Reply #5 on: April 11, 2019, 02:47:18 AM »
Definitely point out the spots with drips and have them fix those.

BeanCounter

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Re: Hardwood Floors Refinished - how bad is it?
« Reply #6 on: April 11, 2019, 04:18:04 AM »
Just went through this at our place. Trust me that with no furniture in there you are seeing every imperfection. Once you get rugs and furniture in, it will be so beautiful. Right now you are just seeing so much wood, which is a natural product, all it’s natural imperfections are standing out.

Steeze

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Re: Hardwood Floors Refinished - how bad is it?
« Reply #7 on: April 11, 2019, 06:37:29 PM »
Contractor looked at the floors today and agreed to refinish them again starting tomorrow, I didn’t even have to ask. He is even going to tape off the boarders and stain them darker in the process. Fingers crossed they come out better this time, not sure it is good to be sanded twice though.

ilsy

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Re: Hardwood Floors Refinished - how bad is it?
« Reply #8 on: April 11, 2019, 11:38:03 PM »
Contractor looked at the floors today and agreed to refinish them again starting tomorrow, I didn’t even have to ask. He is even going to tape off the boarders and stain them darker in the process. Fingers crossed they come out better this time, not sure it is good to be sanded twice though.
Good deal.
I  wanted to say that they looked horrible, your camera was making them look not so bad. I had a similar experience when I hired some amateur young guys who lied they were professionals and was hoping till the very end that they do know what they were doing. Despite all the red flags (like a sender rented from Menards and brand new out of the box palm sander) I wanted to give these young guys a chance. Boy my floors were ugly. I  didn't pay them anything, they should pay me for learning on my floors. Got another company in, and got gorgeous floors after a week. Second sending and all, there is no other way.