Get a hotel room. Get a good night's sleep. Meet with the floor guy tomorrow at your house.

I just finished a successful addition to my house (kitchen comes in phase II) but the low point of the job was the cabinet finisher who played this same game. Before the project started he was 100% "we can do whatever you want". After his employees f*&ked up my cabinets and I came home to streaky black nightmare cabinets, he got all defensive and played the "what is it that you want? If you just tell me what you want I can do it" as if I'd ever changed my mind. I wanted the beautiful cherry grain cabinets finished just like this sample right here that we all agreed to, remember?

His approach is a pathetic defensive ploy to shift blame to you, and it can be especially effective if you have ever wavered one bit about what you wanted on anything on the project because then they can pass you off as difficult and flip-floppy.

So my advice is to hold your ground, say that from day 1 you've asked for a certain kind of finish. Tell them thanks for their efforts and obviously you all want the same thing which is a good, durable finish which matches what you've all agreed to from the beginning, and put the ball in their court asking what their next steps are to deliver.

Whatever you do, don't cave in to the feeling that you need to accept shoddy to avoid being seen as difficult. Be as respectful and polite as you know how to be as you firmly stand up for what you've asked for and been told you can get and are paying good money for.

Anita

Well, if it makes you feel any better Our little 95 sqft kitchen floor has been in limbo (leaving us with little or no access to the kitchen) for about two months now. It's still not right. I can't even fire the guy doing it as it's my Hubby.

Ah well, it'll be worth it when it's over. Stick to your guns and get what you want.

From what I have read (and experimented), even if you want a semi-gloss or satin finish, the first two coats are gloss. Only the final coat is satin.
The satin poly has to be stirred well otherwise you get a high gloss finish! The reason is that the satinizers settle to the bottom of the can.
Have your installer call the manufacturer of the poly to get the correct application method.

As always,test the finish process on a scrap piece of flooring before applying it to the entire floor.

I just wanted to chime in to 2nd what pharaoh said. The guy who did my floors told me the same thing about all coats being gloss and only the final coat is the desired finish. My finish came out perfect.

I think everyone overreacted after the first coat. Which probably says your floor contractor isn't very experienced. That first coat will always be flawed because it can't possibly provide complete coverage. That's because your floor is not perfectly flat. With each coat, the layers build and everything starts to even out.

To really see the final finish they should have did the whole process on a board. That's what my guy did. He took a board and applied the three coats, including the sanding between coats. That's the only way to get a feel for what the end result would be like.

For you, it's not too late. Take a step back and experiment with several scraps starting with two coats of gloss on each. Then apply the various mixes for the final finish to determine your desired mix. Then just sand the floor (no need to strip it), apply the gloss to repair the base layer and finish with the top. You'll basically end up with four coats but it'll be fine.

I had my upstairs done by a different guy (because he was cheaper and as a favor to my MIL because he was a "friend") and he screwed up the finish. I ended up hiring the first guy to fix it which is how I know what I said above. In the end, it ended up costing me the same as if I had hired the first guy to do the job. Lesson learned.

Also, the floor will get duller as you live on it. So, even if it is a bit too glossy now, it may get to a stage you like. I had my floors refinished 5 years ago with a satin finish. Loved it when they finished, but now it looks very dull. I think a higher gloss would have worn better. I do have 5 kids and a dog, though, and when we put in the pool a lot of dirt was getting tracked into the house-- so that was a lot of abrasion.

What a pain-in-the-a**. I know how you feel. We had our beautiful living room wood floors refinished by a guy who insisted on using a water-based finish. He promised me it would be as protective as poly. We believed he knew what he was doing since he subbed for one of the premier contractors in our area. We agreed on 4 coats. And both our bathrooms were across the living room floor, so it was a bit of an inconvenience, to say the least. To make a long story short, he finished, it looked awful, and water dripped on the floor soaked in immediately. We complained, he came back, blamed the finish manufacturer, got a new batch, and did it all again. Needn't have bothered, since we had exactly the same result. Promised he was bringing the mfr's rep over to look and promptly disappeared. Stopped returning our calls. We were so disheartened we did nothing for 6 years. My heart would sink every time I looked at that floor.

When we decided to install wood floors in the new dining room, we got a new guy. He wanted to do water-based, both because of the quick drying time (remember the bathrooms) and our parrots (less fumes). We were terrified. He redid the living room floors and they are perfect. I don't know how you do this, but I would fire this guy, get my money back and find someone who knows what they're doing. Easier said then done, I know. Maybe others here can tell you how to do that. It's what we should have done that first time.

Oh, just to follow-up on what morton5 suggested, you might want to just keep it simple to do a straight semi-gloss or straight satin. I personally prefer a satin look, but in my previous house I put in a semi-gloss floor. Initially it was too shiny to my liking. But honestly, after a few weeks, I got used to it.

When we sold that house the agent used the term "gleaming hardwood floors" to describe it in the listing. The house sold within a day at the asking price and part of it was because the floor still looked brand new even after two years. The buyer said it was one of their favorite features, so who am I to argue.

ditto on the first coats being gloss (or semi-gloss) and the final coat being satin; that's how it was done here as far as I know.

FWIW, (and I have no affiliation at all with the company)--BONA Traffic (and Mega) gives a nice, natural wood appearance. Not cheap, but well worth it IMHO. It really brought out the natural coloring and variations in our white oak floors. We had a different company (than we used this time around) apply Trek Plus (4 coats) on our floors, and it was just yuck looking--hated it. The floor looked very plasticy and fake (even peeled in some spots).

We went back to the original company that we'd used to do a small bedroom shortly after moving into our house (9 1/2 yrs ago)--more expensive, but we learned the hard way, penny-wise, pound foolish. The owner did some sample boards for us using Traffic, something else, and Trek Plus, 3 coat and 4 coat samples and we were able to make our decision based on those samples. We are so much happier with our floors now, I can't tell you (did I mention that we hated the floors after they were done the last time?).

That's it, cat_mom! Bona! I couldn't remember the name of the "good" stuff. The guy who screwed up my floor used something else and the guy who fixed it used Bona. I remember him telling me that it was more expensive but that it was also the best.

Thank you! It helped my mental state to hear each of your comments. Can you believe I hired this guy based on a recommendation! Well, I called him this morning as he was pulling up to a wood restoration shop. By the way, didn't tell you, but we cracked the trim on your t.v. armoire. Says this place does the very best work, and they'll repair it so no one will ever know it happened and the cost is covered through his insurance. I'm doubtful on the outcome with their track record, but have maintained my calm somehow.

They're coming back today at 4 PM to re-buff and do a re-do on the final coat of poly again. I wish I had time to insist on test pieces of wood, but I'm now in a time crunch with the GC's schedule and need to get the final coat down. I'm thinking of straight semi-gloss as Morton5 suggested. Have 2 kids, 2 cats and a dog in our future. Keep your fingers crossed! Jill

I'm going to call him back and ask about using Bona. He did say earlier this morning that he has used a more expensive product yesterday and wanted to stick with the same brand.