Hello, I am a first time poster. I found this website while I was searching the internet for my concerns regarding my floor install. It appear to be a wealth of information and any advice will be greatly appreciated.

We purchased a house at the end of January. We hired a company to refinish the hardwood in the house and place additional hardwood in the kitchen. The total square footage was 1100. We were hoping the floors would have been completed this weekend. We have been very patient thoughout the whole process and we were hoping to finally be able to move in. My wife went to inspect the house and there were circular scratches thoughout the hardwood floors. There also were imperfections in the poly that appeared to be debris and small hairs/fibers. The floor had a mottled appearance. Furthmore, there were linear streaks in the floors that were areas that took up the stain differently, possibly from the sanding process. The installer agreed on the imperfections, mostly the scratches. He says it is an easy fix with buffing and applying another coat of poly.

Today he came and buffed the floor with plans to apply poly tomorrow. When the floor is buffed, should the floor all be dull or will there be areas of shine and dullness? I have attached photos from today that show the mottled appearance and darker linear streaks. Are these legimate concerns? Are those linear streaks common with a darker stain? We used Old Masters special walnut as a stain. Do you guys feel buffing and application of poly will resolve the problem? I do not have pictures of the scratches

yes you will still see some areas that apper more lustrous than other during the buffing process..

you would have to buff like mad to get it all completely buffed down to an even dulll /whitish apearing sheen..this would effect the final coat application and most likely show rings.

the marks you see are drum machine lifts/stops..this was the transition points of running the big machine in the room..most likely they are in the middle of the room .

those mark s will be fine as long as they are not deep..

Regarding the drum marks, I never ,ever leave drum marks on any of my customer's floors. I may occasionally leave a shallow one by accident but I would blend it out before continuing the work. Drum marks are unacceptable in my opinion.

Regarding your finish, I can't tell from the pics.You'll need to take additional pictures after the new coat dries . But as James mentioned, it's normal for the floor to look uneven "during" the buffing process.

How could I fix the drum marks? Do I have to resand the entire floor? If the marks are not deep, is it the same fix?

The drum marks are in the wood so the only way to fix those is to re sand . And for that matter, you have to be careful not to make the drum marks worse.

I generally cut the floor at a 45 degree angle on floors that have bad drum marks, chatter or waves . The angle prevents the wheels and drum of the sander from tracking into the existing problems but rather , cut across them. After cutting at an angle, you would then straighten out the lines by sanding with the grain.

I am not so sure those are drum marks. They also look like they could be stopping marks from a roller.

It's possible .Hard to say without seeing them in person . But the grouping makes it look like the part of the room where the operator was changing direction with the big machine.And the bottom of the marks appear dark and have more sheen which seems to indicate that they are below the surface and the buffer can't get to them.Lap marks should buff out.