Hello friendly hardwood people,

I recently had a new red oak hardwood floor installed. Our contractor originally had a crew install it and finish it. The installation seemed okay, but the finishing was bad-- chattering, gouges at the edge, brush marks. He admitted as much immediately and suggested that we find someone else to re-do it. I found another company, and they did. Now they are a bit better, but far from fixed. Still wavy and some of the other problems too. They had assured me that they could fix the original problems. They too admit that it is not a good job.

So bad luck for us. Two botched finishing jobs. My question is: what to do next? The second company will do it again. We will move out of the house AGAIN for three days. But what about the floor? How much will we have compromised it by sanding it three times right off the top? It galls me to have paid so much-- premium prices-- for a crappy floor, but if necessary, I will live with it if I'm going to risk wrecking the floor altogether, or leaving it with very few future sanding possibilities.

It's standard thickness. We're paying about $3 per square foot for the staining and finishing.

Oh, and how many coats of urethane shoudl we expect? Both companies have only put on two. I'm concerned that because the hardwood is in our kitchen, the wear and tear will be too much for two coats.

Thanks very much for any help
kathryn

Well first of all, three days is not sufficient time to do a proper finishing job, regardless of the size of the job.
You need three coats of urethane on top of the stain for proper protection in high traffic areas such as a kitchen.
Yes, you are losing some material from the floor, but not as much as you might suspect. When this floor is properly finished, with occasional re-coats you should expect about 20-25 years of service before refinishing again. Do you really want to look at a less than good finishing job for that length of time rather than have it done right?
Be sure to maintain the floor with proper cleaning agents, so as not to interfere with future recoating.

Thanks - I do very much appreciate your advice. I am in the process of getting them redone and hope that this will be the end to the saga.
ks