We have had a contractor working for three months on 35sf of hardwood floor and it's a mess.

We bought a house and the powder room floor had a significant leveling problem, so, we contracted to have the floor leveled at the joists. Once they got the flooring off they said they couldn't level it at the joists because in some places it was an inch drop and in others it was 1/4". At that point they decided to level it with roofing shingles.

They put in the roofing shingles and installed the floor. The finish was beautiful, but, the floor had waves in it. Not cupping... waves from the roofing shingles.

They came back out and sanded it down to take out the waves, stained and put a coat of poly on it. When we could finally look at it, the floor was scored badly in a circular fashion, had bubbles and grit all over it.

At this point the owner came out and sanded it down again to get out more of the waves and scoring. He got out the scoring and the first coat of poly was beautiful. (New can of poly w/new applicator) However, his helper came out to put down the second coat and once again there's grit in the poly.

They've sanded or screened at least 5 times and put down more poly. They were just here today and it seems it all they really do is move the grit around even though they cleaned it with water instead of mineral spirits this time.

They put a new coat on at noon today. We've looked at it and the grit is still there. It's not isolated; it's all over the floor. I've had hardwoods done before and NEVER had this problem. The HVAC is turned off when they're sanding an applying finish and we leave it off at least 12 hours.

Tonight it's going to be 15 and, since we can already see the grit, we're turning on the heat because we're sick of freezing all day every day.

I use the term 'grit' for lack of a better word. It's very small sand size bumps in the finish. They can be seen and felt easily. Does anyone have a clue what could be causing all this grit?

I'm ready to tell them to stuff it and find another contractor.

Well, I give the first contractor cudos for not giving up. I mean, how much money could there be in the 35 ft. job anyway? Others would be tempted to just walk away. If I were them, I would have torn out everything to the joists and leveled the joists, installed new subflooring and installed new prefinished flooring. IMO, that would have been the correct way to tackle the situation. They're just chasing their dollars right now and with these guys, you probably will never be 100% satisfied.

I, too, have stuck with these guys because they keep at it. Tenacity is a virtue.

The flooring guys didn't make the decision against doing it at the joists. The general contractor did. (The 2nd floor is being done at the same time.) It was something about not being able to "shim" because of the way the floor sloped in various directions. It's also in a strange spot in the house; you can't get to about 3' of the joists from the basement because it's over a slab area. They didn't say anything about that being a problem, but, it seems like it WOULD a problem to me since much of the hinky slope is back there.

I know 35 sf doesn't seem like a big job, but, the total contract for the room is $2700 ($77/sf) and I've paid the GC half of that. I'm sure part of that was for the plumber to move the sink & toilet, but, not much. We knew that was very high for such a small room, but, with the slope problem and size of the room, we also knew you couldn't just use a $5-8/sf average for refinishing. However, I'm not sure if he's paid the floor sub at all.

I already know he's a BAD general contractor. It could be the floor guys are sticking with it because this powder room connects with about 2500 sf that needs refinishing when we get to the 1st floor. However, this general contractor is history once the 2nd floor and powder room are finished.

I know it sounds crazy that we did 35sf on a floor that will eventually need the whole 2500 sf done. However, the GC kept insisting he could do it and we thought it would be a good way to gauge how well they could do the rest. You see, we've had 2 sets of hardwood floors done over the past 20 years with mixed results. The first guy was an artist and the floors were perfect (he retired (':cry:') ); the second time was a mess because they kept missing areas in the poly (behind doors, under cabinet toe kick areas). Eventually it got done, but, it was hell. So, we really wanted a 'test' area with some difficult work involved. I guess we got what we asked for!!

For all you guys out there who are artists... keep up the good work. I'm sure your clients may not appreciate what they have. As a client, if you've got the best, then, you don't know enough to be grateful for it.

I was just perusing the the various forum topics and saw that there's such a thing as a certified flooring inspector. I'm calling one RIGHT NOW because I want to make sure my irritation with the problem isn't causing me to be unfair to these guys. Many thanks to whomever recommended that to someone else.

The best way to level or flatten a small space like your powder room, would have been to remove all floor down to the joists, then scab on sister joists to each one in the room, set to uniform height. Then install new subfloor attached to these joists. A little extra in material costs, but way easier than shimming and shaving and still ending up with an irregular platform.
As for the grit in the finish, can only be attributed to a lack of cleaning before applying the finish. Could the finisher be pulling dirt out from under the baseboards during application? Somethings wrong anyway, should be able to create a surgical environment in such a small space.

How you described it is EXACTLY how I wanted it done. I told the GC I wanted it to be sistered and that's why we originally contracted to pay $3700 to fix 35 sf. I knew it required MUCH more than simple leveling and floor finishing would be the minor part.

The GC chose to change the methodology without even discussing it with us. The framing guys just disappeared after saying they couldn't 'shim' and the flooring guys appeared with roofing tiles and plywood. (We don't live here, yet.)

After the third sanding of the waves and grit, my husband lost his cookies with the GC and made him take $1000 off the price since he was in violation of the original contract. This is one of the MANY reasons why the GC is history as soon as the 2nd floor is done.

I swear, I did my homework before we ever hired this guy and I'm not inexperienced. You see, my uncle was a master electrician and general contractor. I spent many summers learning how to fix and build things... even though I'm a girly girl. That's how I knew that the correct way to level the floor is at the joists using sisters. I know I'm no expert and could not do it myself, but, I have a general idea of what's required. I'm just kicking myself for hiring this idiot.

Called a flooring inspector and he's coming out today. I think the floor may be acceptable and I've lost my objectivity because of the incompetent GC.

A southern gal who is a lady ( girly-girl ) yet knows her way around home repairs. Too bad you're already married PS: It is compliment

I took it as a compliment. It's a big joke with all my friends; they call me 'Chuck'.

About 20 years ago, my husband arranged for everyone to give me construction tools for my birthday. It was the best birthday EVER! Diamonds are nice, however, nothing beats a new tool.

But... I don't cook.

As an update, the inspector came out today and says the whole floor has to come up and be redone. They didn't level it correctly, didn't use the right grit and probably used dirty tools. So, at least I know I'm not being too 'picky'. I'm really fairly easy to please because I know there's no such thing as perfection.

Thanks for everyone's help. It's so nice of you professionals to take the time to help we 'clueless' ones.

For what they are charging you , i would not call you picky .
Good luck with getting it done right .

It must be pretty aggravating, but two bright points, at least its a powder room, and you are not yet in residence.
Imagine if it were your kitchen, and you had 6 kids to get ready for school in the morning.
It happens unfortunately, quite often up here, since it seems if you can afford a hammer, you can call yourself a general contractor. But for us at least, it keeps us busy going back to fix jobs that we lost because our quote was too high and the client went with someone cheaper.
But in your case, the charge for that little part of the job should have produced what could be called perfection.