Trouble with hardwood floors - please help!

10 years ago

Hello,

Let me just say first that I love this forum and I thank all of you here for the expert advise. Here is my problem. I am redoing the floors in my house. The first floor had prefinished hardwood floors, which started to wear out, and the second floor had carpet. The contractor assured me that a prefinished floor can be sanded and refinished and will look great. He also put in a new hardwood floor upstairs. Well, when I got to the house to check what they've done, I was in a complete shock. The floors came out splotchy and there is so much color variations that it looks horrible (I'm including the picture). Both the contractor and I are completely baffled and are wondering if the floor guy scammed him. Here are my questions:

1) Why did the prefinished floor look beautiful and even and now it looks uneven and splotchy and totally different colored? By the way, both floors look exactly the same now.

2) Upstairs he was supposed to put what he called a "#2" oak. Now he's saying that the floor guy scammed him and probably put a "#3" oak which is a lower grade material. How can we tell?

3) We're moving in in 10 days so I guess putting in an unfinished floor and finishing it with stain and oil-based finish is not an option because we don't have enough time. What are my options? I wanted to go with an engineered hardwood, but the contractor is saying that the subfloor is weak and I have to go with 3/4 oak to make it stronger...

4) What is the difference between engineered hardwood and prefinished hardwood in terms of refinishing. I know that engineered can be refinished only once but the big question is will it come out the same as this prefinished floor came out? And is there a prefinished floor that can be sanded and stained and will come out good?

Thank you very much for any help - I just don't trust these guys anymore and I need to make a decision quickly otherwise I will have to pay for storage and moving twice...

Sandy.

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Comments (6)

User
10 years ago
Did you not stain the floor at all? When you have a floor that's "very even" in tone, it's usually been stained a darker color to mask the natural color variation. Or else you're paying for some VERY high quality wood. No #2. I personally LIKE what you have there, as it's what an oak floor is supposed to look like.

1. Stained vs. unstained and natural and normal variation in the wood tone.

2. #3 would have a LOT more knots than that.

3. BS alert. If the subfloor is weak, the solution is to beef up the joists and the subfloor, not to install 3/4" wood. If the subfloor is weak, your whole home has an issue that thicker floors won't address. Ever.

4. There isn't any difference at all between sanding and staining a prefinished vs. a site finished wood. As long as the top layer is thick enough, engineered wood can also be refinished multiple times. Of course, the cheap prefinished wood comes with a very thin top layer that can't even be refinished once. The more money you spend, the thicker that top layer will be and the more ply's make up the base. The only way to know how thick your top layer is is to examine a scrap or to look at an edge near a floor vent etc.

I think the big issue here is your expectations, not the work that was done. If you wanted a uniform color to the floor, then a lower grade of oak should never have been you choice in the first place. And if finances dictated that lower grade choice, your finisher should have shown you several choices in stain color that could helpto even out the natural variation of the wood (NOT erase it). If you wanted no stain, then you got what you asked for. If you wanted a stained floor, then your flooring pro should have made suggestions based on the look that you showed him from exemplars (magazine pics, Houzz shots, this website and others). And then he should have done a few test patches for you to let you choose. All but the darkest would have had the natural variation, but it would have been minimized a bit more with a stain.

I think your floor looks pretty darn nice, actually. Maybe just try to live with it? If you really really hate it though, you're going to have to bear the cost of the material replacement. For a whole home, that will not be cheap. $7-$10 a square foot on average for a good quality prefinished floor and it's install.
hwhl
Original Author
10 years ago
Hollysprings - this floor is stained... They never told me that they were going to use a #2 oak or explained that there are different grades. I had no idea it would be so splotchy... whereas before it was a uniform color and the stain was almost the same color - medium oak. Here is the before picture. By the way, can engineered or prefinished hardwood be buffed and refinished?
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And WHY is this 'nail only'? These are 5" HICKORY planks. A wide plank floor (anything 5" or wider) must have glue assist during install. And hickory has a little bit more movement than oak...which means it needs a bit more stability (ie. glue assist) when installed. The "American Spirit" brand is sold by Floor & Decor. Their installation instructions are...limited. Which means the installer has to have quite a bit of knowledge to know all these things. A guy with a hammer (or nail gun) will have little flooring knowledge. At the price of $5.29/sf (as listed for a store in WA state) the chances of milling issues could be quite high. I think we have several issues going on here. As Oak & Broad suggests, start by CULLING all the boards that are BAD (this is what you are paying your installer to do...but he's not doing it so it falls to you to go for it) and then find out your TOTAL square footage of bad boards. Figure out if they are MORE than 5% (industry standard allows 5% waste for bad wood). If your culled footage is MORE than 5% you have a claim worthy of the paper it is written on. And while you are culling your wood, have someone that is well versed in wide plank install come in and have a look at this install. I'm PRETTY sure you need glue assist on this one. A 5" solid hickory plank (3/4" thick) for LESS than $6/sf is going to need some help. And please tell me that it was acclimated for several days/weeks. And please tell me your installer took moisture readings from random planks equal to 10% of the wood delivered to your home. And please tell me the boxes were opened and stacked PROPERLY while acclimating. And good luck with Floor & Decor. It's my understanding they take quite a bit of time to get moving if there is a claim that they have to deal with. The sooner the better is what I've heard.
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These are the pictures of the flooring
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albabbie
10 years ago
Hi there,

Although I am no wood-flooring expert, I think the issue was the 'ease' of which your contractor thought he could refinish the floor. It can be a gamble, depending on how the original floor was finished and treated. Reference the URL below...

Here is a link that might be useful: Refinishing prefinished floors
glennsfc
10 years ago
Is the picture of the finished floor the new oak floor? I think it is stunning; maybe not what you expected, but it has a beauty all its own. I recently finished a similar floor for a customer, and it came out looking like yours and they are very pleased with the result, but that is what they wanted.

The question concerning the prefinished floor that came out equally vivid can be explained:

Sometimes manufacturers of prefinished flooring will use whatever raw material they can get to make a product. It is in the factory where they apply the coloring media and finishes to get the effect they want. Many times the finishes contain the colorant, so they mask the character of the underlying wood. Then, when it comes time to resand and refinish the flooring, the true character that was masked by the factory applied coatings is revealed.
millworkman
10 years ago
#3 flooring will provide a "serviceable floor" by grade rules. Which basically means you can walk on it without falling through. It is allowed to have missing knots up to I believe (if I remember correctly) the size of a quarter without much of a limit to quantity,
User
10 years ago
That's a pretty nice looking floor, despite your not liking it.. No, it's not #3. It's got a goodly amount of color variation, but no knots.

Trouble with hardwood floors - please help!

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hwhl
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Trouble with hardwood floors - please help!

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hwhlOriginal Author

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hwhl
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