Hello all, after reading up refinishing hardwoods on this forum and elsewhere we recently tackled 2500 sq ft in a 1890 victorian home. There are oak & pine in diff. areas. of the home, half the floors were covered w/ layers of paint, some w/ linoleum glue which we scraped off best we could before sanding. Today we noticed some serious issues. Keep in mind we were delirious from hours & weeks of dealing w/ the floors & too hurriedly stained/poly'd. Now we need to figure how to make it right since we apparently rushed the last go round.

1. Major sanding scratches on the flooring that was previously painted due to having crossed the grain w/ the sander in order to remove the paint. These scratches didn't show up till staining & they are very noticeable now w/ the antique brown duraseal on them.

2. We didn't have direct light on the area & unfortunately proceeded to poly one coat over the poorly sanded floors.

3. some of the wood looks like it soaked up poly more than other areas, in particular it has uneven coating between boards and some splotches that look glossy even though poly is satin.

4. Some areas of the floor feel like sandpaper when walking barefoot, obviously they need to be sanded to a finer grit but how to do it w/out wasting all the stain/poly material cost we already put down.

What's the best approach to this mess? Thinking we could rent a vibrating sander and do a pass w/ 150 or 220 and poly again. Will this take out any of the sanding lines? Will we still need to stain/poly again. Some of the older wood is still not completely flat, slightly bulging at edges from board to board but not nearly as bad as before....it's hard to get sander in the middle of all boards. Should we just start over again? Should we call in a pro?

Thanks in advance for any help w/ this

You can either re-sand the floors PROPERLY this time, hire a professional, or just smooth the existing finish somewhat and accept your sanding marks. To remove the cross grain sanding marks, they have to be sanded out. That will remove the stain as well. To smooth the finish, each coat needs to be abraded between coats. It sounds like you only put on one coat of finish. A minimum of three is recommended, if using OMU. Read the directions on the can. My recommendation? You gave it a shot, the results are poor, so hire a pro. DIYers take note: floor finishing is WAY harder than it looks and much more DIFFICULT to achieve good results.

Ok...that's basically what we thought our options would be, I guess I was just hoping there may be something else. Thanks for the straightforward answer, i will be getting a pro to come out & look at them today or tomorrow, just hoping that they'll give us a little break considering we really did a lot of the hard work at this point, the glue/paint was not easy to get off to say the least. We are definately wishing we hired pro's for this job now, even though we've tackled nearly all home improvement jobs on our own....this one would have been worth the time/effort & money wasted.

There are two options available (and you know them both)

1: Pretend the first attempt was a practice game, learn from it and start over.
2: Hire someone to do the work properly.

A lot of people think that floor finishing is a "cake-walk", only to find out that it is one of the most visible, and tricky parts of home renovation. I know that the cost of having it done professionally, deters a lot of people, or causes them to attempt the project on their own.
In your case, 2500 sq. ft. of floor can be daunting to say the least, both in the amount of work involved, and the cost of having it done by the pros.
Remember that the new finish will be highly visible in your decor, and done properly will last many years. So factor those items into your evaluation of the overall cost.

So the guys we called out mostly wanted to start over of course for a large $$$$. One guy says he can buff/fine sand and poly all to atleast get the finish smooth but marks will be left to deal w/ later down the road. I think we are going w/ this option for now, any chance you guys would comment on the cost we should expect to pay for this service. I'm also worried that the stain will come out somewhat or turn uneven.

thanks

I think the average cost around the nation is about $1.00 per sq.ft. for a screen and re-coat. It is possible he may burn through in a few areas. But that should be minimal. What you get. A smoother, more uniform and professional appearing finish AND more finish on the floor, which will help it last longer. What it won't do. Repair the poor sanding or staining job. Repair dents, sanding marks, uneven staining, waves in the floor, etc.

i agree