Hi all! I'm really hoping there's a hardwood flooring expert out there who can give me some direction with this floor. We recently bought a house built in the 1930s and we decided to have the floors refinished to liven them up a bit. So, we hired a contractor who convinced us he'd do the best job because he uses "professional grade" latex finish and it would give us the best look for the money. So, we got the floor done and when we first walked in after the job was completed, we noticed what we thought was white powder near the entry way but since there was some dust in the front yard from the job, we figured it would just go away with cleaning. However, it did not and actually looks worse. There's diffuse white spotting on and between the boards. It looks pretty bad. We've tried to work with the contractor to fix the issue, but he says this has only happened to him once before and all he's willing to do is paint the trouble areas with stain to cover them up. He says the issue is due to moisture in the boards but we have had NO water damage there and no moisture issues in our house otherwise. Humidity readings came out normal.

Please take a look at these pictures. If someone could tell me what's going on with the floors/finish, I'd be very grateful. Also, any ideas about how to fix it would also be MUCH appreciated!

http://s266.photobucket.com/user/mlumpz ... %20Problem

for the white lines to be showing up immediately tells me the stain was not dry
and more so in in between the floor boards...

there is an issue called "white line syndrome" which can occur with waterbased applications but this would not be seen for months into a seasonal change.

this was hasty appliucation over a stain not ready for waterbase finsih.

the spots on the surface are more likely "fish eyes" which occur under the same circumstance.

without a full site assessment I cant tell you your reality however, his fix is not going to remedy the problem..and honestly not going to do anything..I dont know how he expects a finish to take the stain color.

im my professional opinion the job needs to be redone.

Im curious as to what products were used for the work.

could also be wax. Should have put down a dewaxed shellac sealer. its a resand.

Good call Kevin..after re reading the OP i see she may have just gotten a recoating ofvexisting flooring..

These situations are tricky.i walk away from many of these where the owner cant give me an accurate history of the flooring.

At least he needed to do a couple test spots in this case.

First, thanks to everyone who replied. I'm still going round and round with this contractor. He's insisting that the job was done properly and that our house is too humid. He's asked us to by an RH meter, which I ordered online but won't have until Thursday. However, we have dehumidifiers in our basement... and they say our humidity is @ 40% in there. Don't know if that means anything... But I thought I'd mention it.

To answer the question about products used: The finishing product the contractor used is called: StreetShoe 275 Satin (Basic Coatings). The bottle he left says it's a water based wood floor finish.

Regarding wax: The contractor said he used squeegee(?) to remove wax from some but not all areas of the floor.

Regarding recoating of existing flooring: I should have been more specific in my original post. The floors weren't restained. They were just sanded down and refinished.

This continues to be a really frustrating situation. I don't know what to do. Honestly, I don't want to work with this contractor any more. I feel like he's just giving me the run around. His only solution he's willing to do is paint stain over the white spots to cover them up. But they've been getting progressively worse, so he'd have to paint almost the entire floor. That just seems ridiculous to me.

Any advice? Should I move on to another contractor to fix this job? Should I ask for money back? I really appreciate the feedback!

To me it doesn't look like he sanded the floor or it would be lighter since you said it wasn't stained. He probably just buffed it and not well enough. There is probably still contaminates left behind not allowing the Street Shoe to bond to the old finish.

He is giving you the run around.


You cant "squeegee off wax..and the fact he says some and not all proves the jb shouldnt have been coated.

The job now needs a full sanding and start from scratch.

There is no other fix.

Here's an update:

The contractor has said all he is willing to do is to take an exacto knife and abrade the area where the lines have appeared, and put some finish in to hide the lines.

He isn't willing to sand, stain, finish the floors. Had another contractor out who said that's just what we need.

What should I do next? Take this guy to small claims court or file at the BBB?

The sad part is, you have to let him warranty his work, or you walk away and find someone else on your dime.

Let him fix it how he wishes. If you are not satisfied, then file another claim with him. This time in writing via demand letter sent certified mail.