We had 950SF of unfinished white oak installed on our first floor last week. I have several questions & get nothing but the run around from the GC & flooring contractor.

We went with site finished floors because we could't find a pre-finished floor with a dark enough stain (looking a dark warm brown) that we liked & would best compliment the custom mahogany cabinets (golden tone) that will be installed next week.

The flooring contractor told me they would putty (I assume flooring filler) the entire floor to fill any gaps & worm holes. But they did not. They finished laying the floors & sanded them. That's my first question. I was told it was dust-less sanding. Now mind you I don't know much about hardwood or the specifics of installation & finishing, just that I like them.

So Issue #1-The dustless sanding was not so much dustless as it was "catch a little of the dust in a bag". Our belongings are covered in a fine layer of dust in every room of the house. And when I say belongings I mean floors, possessions & furniture. EVERYTHING even in rooms that were behind closed doors. The newly painted walls of the first floor are covered with dust. If I wipe a cloth with Fantastic over a 3x3ft section of a wall, my cloth is totally light tan. You can actually visually see the dust on the vertical surfaces. The paint just doesn't look right like there a tinge to it. Yes a sawdust colored tinge. The flooring company didn't take any measures to contain or control the dust that THEY had to know was going to fly around. I didn't know there would be dust but THEY should have known.

After they sanded we played with the stain until we got what we wanted & after wiping the floors with a bit of water (something about raising the grain?) they stained them. The next day they came & put 2 coats of water based poly on them.

After 3-4 days & we were able to walk through the first floor & had been down there a bit to begin noticing things, we saw a few worm holes here & there. They were not filled. In certain light & if you get down on the floor you can see a very slight difference in the levels between boards at the ends where they meet the next. I could see putty in between a couple of the boards, that's it. Actually in all my floor inspecting, I saw putty between 4 boards & that it's. There is not putty in nary a worm hole or open knot. They clearly did not putty the entire floor. And they didn't even put much putty randomly.

Issue #2-is it an industry standard to use filler on especially a white oak floor prior to staining? Or apply filler to the floor after staining & use a color matched filler? Either way not much puttying went on here. Does the lighter brown bleed around on imperfection & a worm hole mean they attempted to putty these? What happened to the putty?

Then Issue #3 is a couple of the boards they used & some spots that have raised up since the poly was applied. I have attached 4 pictures. The first 2 are of boards I think should have been discarded. 3rd pic of 3 obviously empty worm holes. And the 4th is of places that have raised up. I have counted 5 or 6 places like this & I have examined less than 20% of the floor. This particular spot raised up at least 1/8" & would have ripped off the bottom of your foot had you run up against it barefoot. It was as big as where the imperfection starts at the top of the picture & ran all the way to where you see a crack toward the bottom of the picture. Is that crack bad news?

It has settled back down except for that spot in the middle & that's what I see in 4-5 more places...so far.

What I'm asking is do I have a leg to stand on? I'd like to insist that they go back & putty but since there is 2 coats of poly on how far back do they have go to when the putty should have been put down? What are the raised places? Why did that one spot lift so high & settle? Can I ask them to remove those 3 boards? Is that worse than just leaving them? What about the dust? Shouldn't it have been explained to me about the dust? Shouldn't they have expected it & taken steps to contain it? Can I ask they send in a cleaning crew? This flooring & install was not cheap. Over $10,000. Did I go too cheap? Am I getting what I paid for? Am I NOT getting what I paid for?

We are 4 months into a first floor remodel. Went back all the way to the studs. I am insane with picking everything out with all the choices, I am tired of my lack of knowledge being taken advantage of- if I knew everything the professionals know of whatever trade, then I could do it myself! I am done with the mess they leave, the things they miss because either they weren't told by their boss to do it or they weren't feeling it that day, the lack of concern for my things that you'll move my furniture with paint on your hands, the number of days when nobody shows up to work, the expectation that I will be here to let them in whenever they decide to show up & me having to check on the quality of a job instead of the GC. Why can't people just come here & do the job they are being paid to do? In the past when I point out something to either the tradesman or the GC, invariably it is justified away. If I insist eventually the problem is remedied to the extent it can be. I have not gotten anything on the flooring issue except "they (we) are not done yet". I believe the issues at hand here have nothing to do with what remains to be done. I am asking advice, a suggested course of action, validation that I am thinking correctly or an understanding of the normal floor finishing procedure if I am thinking incorrectly. Please give me your input.