Last week I had newly installed, 3/4" plank (3 1/4" boards) maple floors site finished, the final major project in a large scale remodel. The subcontractor used DuraSeal oil based poly, no separate sealer and a gloss finish (which I preferred.) The problems are as follows: 1) in certain areas the finish is much glossier than in others; 2) there are raised bumps-some of which look to be pieces of the sand paper/screen from the sander; 3) obvious gaps between the ends of boards that are deep enough, even after 3 coats of finish, that my fingernail catches on them; 4) the floor is rippled-that is, when you run a dusting pad over it-or a vac-you can hear/feel the "bump, bump, bump"; and, 5) swirl marks near the edges around the rooms and the hallway.

My general contractor and the flooring subcontractor (who subbed out the install to one crew and the finish to another) are coming out on Monday to take a look. Am I being too picky? After spending $16 sq. ft, I'd like for floors to be as good as can be. FYI-the boards did acclimate for two weeks before install but...we had a bunch of rain during that time and it has been dry since. No moisture readings were ever done, they did not "tack" the floor after sanding and using the vac. and the finish guy told me I had to leave the HVAC ON while we were staying at the hotel so that the finish would dry more quickly. Could this be the cause of my problems? If so, what am I facing in terms of repair?

Thanks in advance for any advice/feedback.

Kimberly
Pleasanton, CA

To picky , if what you say were to be only part true you still wouldnt be being to picky. I have a very good idea of who it was that did your floors just from the price, area and the way it was done the two crews and so on . The reason they have crews like that is so a guy only learns one side of the trade. If he only knows one side he wont take off and go into bussiness for himself. At least that was why the union shops use run two crews way back when guys would spend there whole lifes sanding and finishing or installing rare that you got to do both. Ok back to your floor the finish they used is same as I use when I use oil urethane i like the duraseal. your floor should have come out smooth enough to skate in socks on and not have a single snag. there shouldnt be any cracks at the butt ends and if there is they will catch dirt and will show up something fierce. I cant imagine why there is that big of a gap at the butt anyway. Sloppy .
That only begins to scratch the surface of your questions and my answers all would be guess work to boot so I would like to offer to come and see the floor and give you a second opinion if you would like one.. I am in the area very often and estimates or in this case council has no charge Another thought I had to try and give you a bit of help before they come on Monday was maybe if you had a picture or two I could give much better advice . Please feel free to email me or PM here I will pop in I am sure over the weekend.

See my response in the other forum, "Yikes, I got a problem."