We just had our mahogany floors refinished and our flooring contractor used a roller. For the most part the floors look great, with the exception of certain areas that are blotchy/bumpy from the roller. These areas are only noticeable when the light shines on them. They aren't really floor pimples like I have seen on other posts. You can tell that they are clearly from the roller. In fact, when you put your hand over the spots, you can't really feel them. The floor contractor said it would eventually smooth out over time, is this true? Any advice and shared thoughts would be appreciated.

what type of finish was used? waterbased?

using rollers is a newer practice from traditional methonds, but is in no way wrong to use.

but the proper type pof roller must be used..otherwise an orange peel effect may happen to the finish and you get the appearance of just that..an orange peel..not rough..not really enough to feel..but you can visibly see the effect.

if he means they will eventually smooth out because the floor is being used, walked on , cleaned etc..yes.hes right..that is call wear..but the issue will not be corrected by this.

James, thanks for the reply. Yes, he used a waterbased finish. You hit the nail on the head, it does have an orange peel look to it. I am pretty bummed out about it. As mentioned, it isn't horrible but is visible. What do you suggest? Should I leave it as is and hope it will wear over time or is there a fix to this, such as another coat, etc? Also, is this a common problem with rollers for waterbased finish? Thanks again for your help.

You can get texture from a few different things: low r/h, warm floor/ cold finish, cold floor /warm finish, direct sunlight, forced air, old product ect. It can be smoothed out, rolling a finish on in the correct conditions will make the floor slick as baby's but. Not so much the applicator as the site conditions /user's method/product flow rate open time.

Chifloor .

you're welcome and Kevin added some good info, but I must add that the wrong type of roller can be the culprit and the wrong finishes as well.

Not all finishes are designed to be rolled on.
Bona brought this method in with the finish Naturale..it then spread form there but I don't think every finish because its waterbase can or should be applied this way.

Environemnt can certainly add to the effect..Mosly issue of drying to fast..too much ventilation or AC during application.

since we can be the fly on the wall and see the environmental conditons during application..by guess is the floor may have been Over rolled..meaning over working the finishes...its tempting and easy to do but waterbase is unforgiving when this is done..I sense the applicator and over working is the culprit

which would go back to Kevin's input on open /flow time...

a recoat will fix it and I would suggest he use a traditional T Bar applicator so he doesn't repeat the issue.