I checked the edges near the walls and can't really see any difference so I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that it has only been resanded once, but I could be wrong. I don't see any evidence that there was ever any wall-to-wall carpet laid over it, so maybe it has been sanded more than once. We would like to have the floors redone with the rest of our renovations (we will be moving out) but depending on cost and feasability we may have to leave the downstairs floors as is as they will be unaffected by any construction. Upstairs will be trickier as we are removing a bathroom that was added on top of what used to be a wood floor, and I doubt there will be anything salvageable underneath it so we will have to have new flooring laid down, and try to match it to the old flooring.

... and the saga continues. We didn't think it could get much worse, but alas, it did. If anyone is interested in how the story ends: Because we are living there (with our cat) he said that would go room by room and move furniture. We asked for a heads up on which rooms so we could move most of it and figure out where to hide our cat. He said he would start with the two bedrooms. One day he focused on the spare room and said he wanted us to let him know what we thought so he knew how to proceed with the others. Fair enough. We said there were buffer swirl scratches and a bunch of poly issues (puddles, lines, and a big globby mess). So he came yesterday and decided to focus on the master bedroom. He said he would redo the spare room's poly globs "later" but that the scratches would "take too much time." I said I would overlook the scratches if he tried not to do them on the rest of the floor. We left to take some calls at a coffee shop around 1pm. When we returned around 3pm we couldn't get into the apartment because he had decided to sand the whole place before finishing a room! We are confused and frustrated because we could have moved our stuff properly and wanted to be sure he could do a good job before taking more of our floor. We have to camp out at a restaurant with our laptops for the next three hours and try to do work. When we return before 6pm, he is gone for the day. We are careful not to touch the floor, but notice dozens of places with debris under the poly, long hairs under the poly, a big filler smear right in front of the door and -- get this -- an outline of our bed frame in poly because he never took it out! We are fuming and unable to reach the contractor. We finally text the floor guy that we are not comfortable proceeding and that he can pick up his stuff before we leave for work. He says it is not done, but extra poly isn't going to fix those issues and we can't risk him doing this to the rest of the floor. Now we're left with a half-finished floor and will NOT be letting that man into our apartment again. If anyone has any floor specialist recommendations in NYC, I'm all ears :-) P.S. Not looking for perfection.. just a good looking floor.

To expand on millworkman's suggestion, the issue must be clearly detectable under the following conditions (these are the basics a flooring inspector would use to judge a finish): Standing position 2. 10 feet away 3. Natural daylight (cannot use the "If you stand just right at a single time of day" excuse) As Patricia points out, the marks are not clearly visible in the photos (which is standing). I would recommend doing the following. At mid-day (or close to it) turn off all the lights. Move 10 feet (3 meters) away from the area you are concerned about. Close your eyes and turn around 3 times. Open them and then quickly scan the area with your eyes. Can you SEE them CLEARLY? Or do you have to "remember" where they are? Now you know what a professional is looking for when assessing the situation. What I noticed MORE...some splotchiness of the colour in the last two photos. If anything "earns" you a refinish it would be the splotchiness. But then again you have overhead lighting on which could throw odd shadows. I photo of the room would give a better indication of colour issues. Again, take the photos during mid day with the lights off (and the windows behind you). That's the only way to tell if there is a real issue here.

meaning, it's not his fault the tiles were glued on the mesh incorrectly. everyone that commented up top said what a horrible job he did installing them because they were crooked. that's why I said, "Hang on". I was letting everyone know that these sheets of mosaics often come crooked. that's what I meant by not his fault. and for the fourth damn time, yes, the installer should have done a few of them by hand. However, should he have taken each and every tile off the sheet and done them one by one??? uh, no. That's the meaning of, "not his fault". Do you actually expect him to do that? Who is in charge of this project? Why didn't they pay attention to how screwed up the tiles were on the sheet? why didn't that person know enough to catch it, advise the homeowner or give instructions to the installer to do what needed to be done?? You're faulting the wrong person. OP hired a company to do the entire kitchen. they are using one of their 'tile guys' on staff. Sometimes you luck out and get someone who's good. Most times you get someone who doesn't speak English and only installs what they're given, without thinking outside the box. they just figure, "this is what boss gave me to put up, i put it up. not my fault if they were crooked". OP said this was a 25K job. how much of that went to the tile install, I do not know. I also think, overall, it's a decent job. there are a few tiles that are off and should be fixed, but if that's all there is, then I wouldn't do a tear out. The way everyone was acting about his install was a bit much. We've all seen horrible tile jobs on here and this is not one of them.