I recently had my floors refinished by a contractor (about a week ago).

I have a 50s vintage house with the 1.5" red oak floor. The wood was in reasonably good shape - but, did need refinishing.

The contractor sanded and stained the floor, then put on 3 coats of polyurethane.

The following day after the floors were done (the first time I looked at the floor) I noticed lines in the floor's finish/stain. I am not sure how the stain/sealer was applied. But, the lines look like the stain was applied with a squeegee - and the sqeegee had a 'nick' in it - leaving a 'tool' mark line (or something like that).

I have attached photos (and, I am surprised at how well the lines show up on these photos).

The lines are not the wood grain as they can been seen to span the ends (and sides) of the boards (and cross the wood grain). And, the lines are repetative, accouring about every 4 boards or so (roughly every 6-8 inches). I thought they might be sanding lines. But, the lines do not seem to have any elevation (or depression) - I cannot 'feel' the line.

In talking to the floor contractor (and showing him the floor), he mentioned that these lines are normal and that the polyurethane will "settle out" in 3-4 months, and these lines will disappear.

Is this true? Or, is he feeding me a line of BS?

I told the contractor that I did not agree with his assesment, and that I wanted them fixed.

He is supposed to come back in a week to fix the floor. To fix the floor, he mentioned slighly sanding, and adding another stain coat, and another poly coat - and that should 'hide' the line.

Am I being paranoid - in thinking this guy does not know what he is doing (or that he is feeding me a line of dung)?

Is his method of 'repair' correct?

Or, is my ignorance coming out and I really do not understand wood floors and the products being used?

Any help or insight would be appreciated.

ps... Is there a way to tell how much polyurethane has been put on the floor? The contractor said he put on 3 coats. But, what is there does not really look like 3 coats. (If he put on three coats, he did it in one day - an 8-9 hours period. Is that possible?)

those lines are something in the stain not the finish. he might be able to get on 3 coats of water based finish in 8 hours if all the stars are aligned properly, but not with oil based poly.

I would agree - that the lines are in the stain - not the finish. The lines seem too pronounced to be in the finish.

I realize the contractor will not want to spend any more time or money on my floor (fixing the problem). But, what is the appropriate way to fix this?

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, the floors also have a slight discoloration around the edges. It looks like they 'drum' sanded the whole floor from the wall to the center of the room. And, then 'edge' sanded around the perimeter of the room. I am not sure if a different grit paper was used. But, it looks like the end result left an 8-10 inch wide area around the perimeter of the room that is slightly lighter in color. And, (I beleive it was the drum sanding) that left an obvious shading difference down the center of the room(s) - where the drum sanding stopped in each direction (sorry, I do not have pictures of this).

I am not exactly sure what his intention is on fixing the floor (other than the description I gave in the first post above) . But, I am concerned that his "fix" will not really fix the problem.

So, my ultimate question would be, what is the correct way to fix this?

Again, thanks for any help and insight.

Looks to me like these are sanding lines, left behind by the drum sander. They are elevated just enough that when they screened the floors between coats, they sanded the stain off the lines, revealing them. You could be right about the different shades around walls, if not properly sanded with the right grit, you'll see where the edging was done as it will have a lighter or darker shade.
If this is the case, and with the streaks, the floor needs to be re-sanded.

agreed. I always go around the perimeter with my palm sander to try and blend the edges in. especially when staining.

I agree . That's exactly what happened. Also, the discoloration around the perimeter of the room is usually referred to as a "halo" . Proper sanding technique and grit selection will prevent that from happening. The job should be re done.

Thank you all who have replied. You have been a big help, and gave me the confidence needed to request the floor be redone.

The contractor has reluctanctly agreed to redo the floor - in several days.

More later...

I'd ask about the cleaning process and equipment as I've seen these marks before and they were from the vacuum cleaner. Those are obviously not dry streaks or overlap marks from the polyurethane.