Just had rock maple stairs installed, the installer helper did not know how to use an orbital sander and put some divots into the maple, did not see them until the stain an lacquer went down.

Do I need to sand theses out and refinish the entire floor or just the area the has the shallow divot? Another though was to spray coats of lacquer and block sand until I fill the void, then put poly down. Other suggestions.

Anyone?

IT needs to be resanded to correct it..the entire surface to ensure uniformity of new application.since its a stair tread it should be easy enough to correct.

Thank you, how do the edges at the riser and skirts get sanded without messing up those pieces? I am not sure the installer is going to want to do this.

best off to hold off the last 1/4" or less and prepare by hand by scraping and hand sanding..

Thanks guys, spoke to the contractor, he will sand and feather out these spots, he sand the strainers will be able to handle blending in. He said he will sand as close as he can to the edges without hitting anything. Just a real bummer that could have been avoided. There are quite a few weird spots.

Don't expect a piano top finish on your flooring. Thats just character. Really, can you see these blemishes from a standing position without reflective light? Thats the way we grade finishes and blemishes, its in the book. Give your flooring guy a break.

Unfortunately, yes we can. I know it's not a piano top, and I get that it's wood, but these got here not by nature but by a helper misusing a finishing sander. The unfortunate thing is there is a sconce light on the wall directly above and behind the landings, can clearly see these walking up or down the stairs. Installer came out to sand/feather out the divots, finishers coming on Tuesday to start work. The said we did not need to sand the entire floor but to go to the edge of one of the 6" boards. I assume they will stain, spray lacquer, the put the poly down.

Photo of stairs with light on wall

So am I pissing in the wind to think they can blend the color to match the rest the floor? Or do I need to hire somebody to take the entire floor back to the bear wood? We have the exact stain they mixed, seem like a no brainer but I don't do this for a living

If you have the stain it isn't an issue as long as their sanding is the same procedure as far as the grits they use. but I think they will ave to sand the entire landing and affected treads including the edges or they will get lap marks.

Thanks Jeff! The did the same sand 120 followed by 180 with the same Festool sander and disks. regarding lap marks, I believe they used a waterbased stain or dye, after they put the second coat of stain down they sprayed lacquer to (lock in) the stain (their words). I assume the stain can't penetrate the unsanded areas as there is lacquer on top?

They put a conditioner on followed by the first coat of stain, day two light sandinging and then 2nd coat of stain, followed by the lacquer. The other treads got (2) coats of Poly the following day. Did not put poly on the two landings as we knew there would be a repair.

I tried to get them to sand the entire landing but they seem convienced that it's not needed. There is a language barrier with the sub doing the finish work so this has become a challenge.

Perhaps I should have them stain the top landing first to see the outcome before doing the lower landing also so I don't have to resand the entire project?

I sure hope I won't have to try and hire another contactor to fix this correctly. Sure wish there were contractors like you guys around here who want to do it correctly. I still have a couple days until they try the repair as they no-showed, no-called yesterday morning.

If you guys feel we are wasting time I will look into finding another contractor to sand the the entire floor.

Thank you all for the help!

forgot to post this other photo, there were 3 like this on the low landing.