Couple of questions on your cupping: You say that your kitchen is installed over your garage. Is it safe to assume that your garage is unheated? If so, what's the insulation between the garage and the kitchen floor? Is the kitchen floor concrete or wood joists? You also mentioned that the floor was covered in plastic while the other work was completed. It's possible that condensation formed over the boards and caused the fibers to expand. Have the sizes of the joints widened? Did the installer nail the tongues of the boards? Wood floors need to breath, there will be some expansion and contraction when first installed, but should they should settled down. Cupping is directly related to moisture and inability of the floor boards to expand and contract naturally.

I know this is an old thread but I felt the need to reply. We used Bona Traffic 5 years ago using spice brown stain followed by the Satin poly HD 2 part system. I remember back then it stated the darker color allow 12 hour dry time which we did. Then we applied two coats of finish. I recall that it took longer then 2 weeks to fully set and get solid but eventually it did and worked out great. Fast forward we got a new house. Great wood floors. Again we refinished them using the Bona HD traffic 2 part system in semi gloss. We used a lighter finish this time which stated on the stain can stated to allow 2-3 hours drying time in normal humidity. So this time around we followed the instructions and allowed 3 hours for the stain to dry on a lovely 75 degree sunny day. I did not go heavy on the stain and I would use a dry cloth to buff out the excess as I went along. Everything looked great. We have experience with the sanding so we spent roughly 10 hours using the different grits down to the 100 grit as the final step as instructed. Floors were lovely and down to the bare unadultured wood. We then vacuumed them and got every last bit of dust off using special footies as to not contaminate the floor with our feet. We could not have followed the instructions more perfectly. In fact we researched for a week and spoke to a floor refinishing company just to insure we did things 100% correctly. Well here we are now, 12 days in and I can scratch this off with my nail in many places. I am not talking just a scratch in the wood, but a peeling of the top coat scraping down to and exposing bare wood. I am sick to my stomach. The floor will not last. It is supposed to be strong like for a gym. This would not hold up to a room of infants. We luckily were finishing in a vacant home so nothing was placed on the floor for 10 days. It's not even worth moving all of our heavy furniture and starting over so I am going to put laminate floors over top of this and be done with it. I called Bona and they told me that they suggest 8 hour stain drying time. Well then why the heck would you state on your product 2-3 hours? Human error on my part? I think not I did everything that Bona said. Disgusted with the product. I should have used a cheaper oil base from the big box store. Biggest regret of my life. Perhaps Bona stored the product in a cold warehouse? Maybe it was a faulty batch with bad hardener? I have no idea but it behaves like something that did not have hardener. However I checked the unused bottle the next day and it was solidifying in the jug. Something failed and I can't understand what because I followed Bona instructions to a T.

Sam: The back is fiberboard. The inside walls are not finished but it is very dirty. I haven't mentioned the odor because right now it's too coated with crud to smell it. The whole thing smells pretty musty. After I clean it a bit better I'll sand it to get the smell back. I'll try to get you a better picture of it soon. Probably some close-ups of the finished sides and the unfinished inside. Not enough light to get a good picture tonight. Maifleur: The triangular area you mentioned in the picture above the door that's loose is actually part of that door where it had broken off the side of it in the hinge area. Edited to add: Also, I talked to my husband about the possibility of the bubbling being caused by sap from fresh cut wood and he pointed out to me that if it hadn't been dried, that as it started drying on it's own it would have shrunk and left gaps between the boards. Since it doesn't have any gaps, I guess that leaves it as someone trying to remove the finish using heat. The only other cause I've read about is from prolonged direct sun exposure, but if it was that, it would have been on just whatever sides were facing the sun, not on both sides and the front.

Sigh...The colour variation is probably due to a different finish. The STAIN is probably the same but it looks like an oil or an oil modified product was used and now the new finish is a clear coat water based polyurethane. I think you can safely say you have given these people EVERY CHANCE to fix this. And they have failed. Bona Traffic HD is a two part (2K) WATER based polyurethane. It will not 'amber' (your word is perfect). Your 'brown' is going to stay brown forever. The amber upstairs is probably due to the finish over top being an oil modified (Bona makes an oil modified that does exactly that...add a pretty amber tone). I'm so sorry they did this to you AGAIN. I am ASSUMING you AMENDED your contract (as I suggested). Now you have the full story that the 'contractor with 25 years experience' actually sent out 'guys' to do his jobs. The contractor SAME GUYS then do the SAME THING...again. Sorry but that was predicted. Now for the tough part. Getting money OUT of the contractor. That's where it gets sticky. You can try to negotiate on your own or you can cut to the chase and pay (it could be $750 + to have all floors inspected) to have an NWFA Certified Flooring Inspector (www.nwfa.org) come out and do the inspection/write a report. With the report IN HAND (do NOT hand this over!!!!!) you will inform 'contractor of 25 years' what is wrong with the floor. You will then tell them you expect a serious discount (as I mentioned before). You must pay for the flooring they ADDED. The wood they supplied and installed must be paid for (labour included to install the new wood). Every piece of work that they did that was ACCEPTABLE (industry standard) must be paid for at the price agreed upon = full price. Every discount beyond that can be negotiated. That's where the inspector's report comes in handy. Usually they will write up each room as they see it. That means it is possible 2 out of 7 rooms (this is an example) are rated as 'industry standard' and accepted by the homeowner. These two rooms get paid at FULL price (agreed upon by the square foot price). Then there might be the stairs...which are now industry standard and acceptable to the homeowner. Those get paid out as well. If there was SUBFLOOR work, that gets paid out as well unless the inspection CLEARLY states the subfloor work is not up to industry standards. Now you negotiate. The sanding issues with the EXISTING flooring = negotiable. The sanding issues with the NEWLY LAID floor = negotiable. The colour variation between upstairs stain and down stairs stain/appearance = negotiable. Again, there is going to be someone doing a room by room assessment as to what worked and what didn't. And the work that is to industry standard gets paid out. The rest gets negotiated. The person who PAYS for the inspection OWNS the inspection report. The only way you can be forced to hand over a copy of the results is if by a court of LAW (disclosure laws are quite precise when it comes to revealing evidence) or until the GC PAYS YOU the out of pocket costs to have the inspection done (which is why you keep a copy for yourself...while you OWN the report you can make as many copies as you so choose....go COPY HAPPY and give them out as party favours at your next party!). Those are the things you can expect from an inspection and negotiating a settlement. A lawsuit is up to you.