Good day everyone,

I recently hired someone to refinish about 500 sq. ft. of hardwood floor in my house. I have some concerns with the finished product and would like some second opinions to know if I'm being overly picky.

The workers finished the job in roughly 1 day and a half and asked that I let the final coat dry for at least 24 hours after that. They applied 2 coats of poly. Some areas certainly need more work, such as rough areas where they forgot to put a coat of poly., but I'm more concerned about getting feedback on the parts that I'm unsure about the quality.

Some parts of the floor have small lumps, discolored spots, uneven staining, and there are quite a few swirl marks.
I'd like opinions as to the quality (I understand pictures are no substitute for seeing it in person) of the work from people on here that are more experienced in recognizing a good vs. a bad refinishing job. The contractor I hired has no problem coming back to perform touch-ups (such as the areas lacking in a poly. layer), but they claim that there is nothing wrong in the pictures I provided, that the swirling shown is perfectly normal, that they notice no issues with the staining evenness, and that the pictures look great and they don't understand why I'm concerned.

I'd greatly appreciate feedback on the pictures I've provided below.

Light spots:


Lump:


Staining concerns:




Swirls:

hi there,
the problems you are having are typical of a terrible job that was done. it looks like you have a decent amount of edger marks, blotchy stain from either application or poor buffing, junk in the finish (probably from crusty buckets or poor vac job. the first picture looks like the finish has chipped a little and is typical for applying finish too quickly after stain or even putting stain in the poly in an attempt of trying to fix the uneven stain. most of the other pictures are edger (small rotary machine that does perimeters) marks as a result of poor handwork, using too aggressive of a grit on the fine sanding, and even poor buffing. some of the uneven stain is a toss up. could be a number of things. the last picture is something called lazy. Didn't have time to effectively scrape and hand sand the corner. I don't think that you are being over picky. All you can do is speak nicely and ask the contractor to fix the problems. In my eyes i would want it done over. However, if the contractor is making excuses, unfortunately you may be dealing with someone who is unwilling to admit they messed up and probably is either good at getting out of things like this or he is incompetent and really does think this is ok.

truth is every flooring contractor has messed something up at one time or another and what separates the good from the bad is the ones who will do right and try not to make the same mistake twice.

good luck

p.s. 3 coats of oil poly is preferred...

try to find a contractor that uses poloplaz or duraseal oil. for solvent based
for water based try and find bona traffic or similar