Despite having done floors as a summer job for a few years, we hired a (supposedly) reputable company to do the floors in our new home. We pulled the carpet within hours of posession and found virgin, untouched hardwood floors. 71 years of carpet, it seems.

I guess at the end of the day, I am looking for a verdict from pros who know. And I guess those who just have an eye for 'good' and 'bad' work. I've tried to address this with the company, but am getting no where. "Not our best work, but still good" seems to be the line I keep hearing.

In addition to my issues with the sanding, the stain was put on 50% of the room at a time - perpendicular to the floor direction. So a seam showed up across TWO ROOMS where they applicator met in the middle of the room. They restained it to 'fix' it, (they were very sorry, though...so thats nice...), but it is still obvious. Tack on (what I see as) drum marks, a 40 foot hallway of nothing but edger marks (they admit), unscraped corners, unscraped low spots/boards, general uneveness, unstained edges, staples remaining, dark edges around the rooms, HAIR in the polyurethane.... ugh.

Do I have a leg to stand on my dissatisfaction? Should I pay for this? Is this acceptable?

Searched the internet and this seems to be the place where I could get a straight answer.
I'm at a loss.

Thanks much.

These are sample of marks and finish that are ALL OVER the living room, dining room and a long hall.

sorry man sounds like your working with a jack leg. Id want them to fix it starting over back down to bare wood. not scraping corners trash all in it and a hallway nothing but edger marks is bullshit i dont care who you are. I would refuse to pay and if he doesnt agree to resand hire someone else. If you hire someone to fix there problem then he cant go after you if you give him the opportunity to make it right and he refuses first. unfortunately you have to give him a chance on fixing it but i can tell you the only eway to fix that mess is to go back to square one.

Thanks KevinD. So it isn't just me that sees crap workmaship.
Having them resand the floors.... man, that is a tough call. Not only a concern that they'll just make it WORSE, but that is one more layer of wood gone. More issues with gaps on the baseboards, and one less lifetime sanding left in the wood.
I almost feel like he should be held accountable for ruining my floors.

Here is a bit of his response to an itemized list I send of problems:
"...you no doubt are looking at details that might not be as obvious to others. I cannot agree with you that the sanding job on the floors is AWFUL. It's not our best work (that was the tone behind my comment that it's not an A+ job), I admit that."

Sure. No one is going to look at details like.... THE WOOD. Lines in the wood are now a detail?

Irritated.

Well, at first I didn't see anything but in your first picture , I noticed big machine sanding lines. Bad ones. That alone is enough to warrant re sanding . That's just amateur work. No excuse is possible . Just in case your company still tries to tell you that you're crazy , let them know that :

1. The floor should be cut to at least 80 grit in the field if not 100 grit (which I do)
2. the edging should also be taken to at least 80 grit if not 100.
3. The Butt ends should be finished off wit h100 grit on a orbital sander.
4. The entire floor should be screened with a 120 grit screen on a disc buffer.
5. Never ever stop staining across the grain of the wood. If you must stop, you only stop on a long board (going with the direction of the floor)

Sorry you had to go through this but your contractor's guys stink , badly.

Thank you for the reply and input.
As of yesterday afternoon, it seems that we at least have a plan. No admission of poor work on the part of _______, but we are getting the $ back. A huge thankyou to the NWFA Inspector who had our back. Still, it is beyond absurd that I had to go to the lengths I did in order to get this guy to comply with my demands. You know...demands like scraping corners, even stain application, and no drum sander marks. What a difficult customer I am.
Because who DOESN'T want elevated lines in the floor...

IF you plan to get another contractor to re sand , I might recommend asking him what machinery he uses .Most guys use a Hummel which is an excellent machine and if kept in proper repair , will do a fantastic job. I also use Clarke edgers . I have a Clarke 7R and a B2 .And on a stain job, as well as most other jobs, I do a rough cut and a fine cut. On the fine cut I use a felt floater pad for the best possible surface.

That being said, when you have other contractors look at your floor, point out all the uglies and tell them you expect not to see any of them when the floor is re done. Any good contractor can handle that .