What do I ask of the contractor who did a poor job on my oak floor?
We had our hardwood white oak floors refinished (and about 200 sq. feet added to replace old carpet in the living room) last week. The contractor was carefully selected from Angie's List with excellent reviews. They showed up on time, were very professional and pleasant. I know next to nothing about harwood floors which is why we hired a professional. Everything was going great until the final coat of water-based finish on Friday. As soon as I was able to walk on the floor, I noticed the floors were very wavy. This was what I first spotted upon walking toward the hearth/dining/kitchen from the living room:
Then when I got to the kitchen island, between the island and the sink this is what I spotted:
and more of the same:
Here's a shot of me holding a level over some of these "dents" or "waves" (as I've been referring to them):
(Kitchen)
(Hall)
So I started looking for more and what I found just broke my heart! These dent/gouges/grooves are ALL OVER. Even in the living room with the newly laid wood.
(Living room, newly laid wood)
It also looks like every place they stopped a run with the drum sander near the walls or cabinets, there's a deep indent.
So my questions are:
A) What caused the waves? The guy doing my floor said he'd been doing this for 20+ years, but he did have a helper who'd been doing it less than a year. I didn't pay attention to who ran the drum sander - I wasn't there most of the time.
B) Is this spot-fixable, or is it a scrap-and-redo? If it's a redo, can this wood be salvaged, or should I demand new wood?
C) I did also notice chatter marks (lines perpendicular to the grain of the wood). They are not *terrible* but are noticeable. How much of this is normal and how much is sloppy workmanship?
We get taken for a ride by just about every contractor we work with - whether we get them by word of mouth from friends, by Angie's List, or from the phone book. Which is why we usually do most work ourselves and live with the "DIY"ness of it. I REFUSE to settle for DIY quality when I am paying close to $4,000 for these floors. Help me know what to say to my contractor and how hard I need to push! They already tried the "we noticed lots of settling in your floor" and "it's the joists because your heavy island sits there" and "I'm not really sure what you're talking about" over the phone. Hubby is out of town and I am refusing to meet with the contractor until my hubs can be there (Thursday of this week) but don't want the delay to meet to be construed as acceptance of the product. Please help!!!
The chatter isn't showing up so well in this evening light, but I am able to see it here.
Comments (9)
pudgeder
8 years ago
jellytoast
8 years agoRelated Discussions
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Comments (16)How does this happen. Grouting is not rocket science. Well, if they didn't follow instructions for the grout it could mean soft grout but this is just a bad cleanup and grout job regardless of whether the grout was mixed properly or not. Even if it wasn't mixed properly, if the guy had any sense of pride he would've done a way better cleanup job. But I guess it just goes to show his personal standards. The thing with "performance" grout these days is that they are no where like the good old Portland cement grout back in the day, which cured rock hard and wasn't as finicky when it came to mixing. These days these grouts have all kinds of additives, colours, and other technology which could all be affected by mixing ratios and times. If the tiler isn't looking at the instructions and mixing the grout the same as the old school cement grout it can lead to issues like pinholes and crumbling. They really don't make things like they used to, nor do trades people have the same attention to detail and pride in their work. I know there are still people who are really good at what they do and have pride in their work, but those are rare these days....See MoreHow can I make my job appealing to contractors?
Comments (5)Have you asked the neighbor who they used? In my area I think there are certain contractors that work with Ikea but many others don't. In my area certain contractors have been posted to a local list serv as working with Ikea cabinets. My understanding is putting the pieces together is labor intensive and costs quite a bit. Are you handy enough to do that part? Otherwise, consider what the return policy is so that if you can return them you at least know for how long. It does seem a bit backwards, we picked out cabinets and then got pricing from a GC recommended by our kitchen designer and maybe 1-2 other quotes as well. It was important to use that the GC was used to working with our appliances and cabinets. I'm not sure why a contractor that is so busy that they can't take you on would tie up his subs for your work without getting their usual pay for it? But you could find out the subs used by a particular GC, that is a normal question to ask and some list it on their websites....See MoreCleaning Hardwood Oak Flooring, BONA doesn't do the job, anything??
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