A while ago I had some hand scraped distressed hickory floors installed. Ever since installation I have been cleaning the floors by first sweeping and then using a product like Bona to spray on and dry mop. After mopping quite a few times I cannot get rid of the dust that remains from construction. It seems to have been ingrained in all the distressed areas of the floor. The floors can look fine depending on the lighting. The picture is pretty much worst case scenario.

Are there any ways of fixing this or am I out of luck? I also tried using the Bona with a scrubbing brush yesterday but it didn't improve.

You're not alone. Two weeks ago we had a similar complaint, though it was not determined if it was a hand scraped product because the original poster did not respond. I assumed it was hand scraped because it was made by Anderson whose product lines are predominately hand scraped or distressed...but after reading more into the original post maybe it wasn't?

post49631.html?hilit=dust%20hand%20scraped#p49631

Yours looks pretty clean considering. Check out the responses particularly by Kevin at the page bottom.

I'm sure we'll see more complaints in the future with remodels and these types of floors. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be any answers in how to fix except live with it or replace. Maybe we can think of it this way; it's now a distressed floor with a greyish white accent color. Grey is popular today.

drywall dust will normally take stain so you might try wiping the areas down with some stain to turn the grey dust black. be sure to wipe off the excess, you probably will need a small brush to get it down in the cracks.

Nice Kevin!

Great idea. Have you tried this or did it just come to mind? I can imagine buffing if it's a widespread problem.

Yeah installer suggested we could buff it. We got the floors pretty much at cost, so I don't want to be to hard on the contractor I bought it from.

It is a widespread problem for sure.. about 1600 sqft.

Contractor said its fixable, and that it will go away bit by bit each time I mop, but I am not so sure anymore.

Thanks for the advice guys.

Mopping after construction is the main culprit IMO. Your locking the dust in the fines of the grain. Vacuuming is best, no mopping.

Just crossed my mind, once upon a time I knew a few floor men that used drywall mud for wood filler in floors. It actually works about the same as woodwise or the like but way cheaper and I think these particular guys had a lot of experience with drywall mud.