First, you should contact the person you hired to do the work, if you hired someone. A professional will know how to fix the problem. In a nutshell...the affected area is gently sanded smooth with an assortment of fine sanding media. Then, the same finish that was originally applied is carefully reapplied to the affected area. Sometimes we will follow board lines to hide the 'repair'...sometimes we 'feather' the finish to help it blend.

If the swirls are in the finish or in the wood either way they need to be sanded out and the floor finished correctly. Post a picture if you can and let us know what your installer says. You might want to get a experienced installer to do the job.

Dish out is common on plain sawn oak, if, you do not have the right equipment, sandpaper and sanding sequence. More softwood is removed than hardwood, creating the undulation. A resanding is needed with a hard plating sanding driver, multi-head, power drive or trio to remedy the issue. Scuffing - will depend on the quality of the product and their process. Did they split the finishing process - sand and applied a couple of coats and returned at later date to finalize the project - contamination? Was there a stain applied - insufficient dry time? Did they, thin the product to save some money? What brand and product line did they use? Something happen to affect the performance of the product. Dragging a light cardboard box shouldn't cause too much damage, unless the scuffs are caused by staples. What was in the box - tv, toys, clothes?

The NWFA Certified Flooring Inspector (www.nwfa.org) is going to cost several hundreds of dollars ($300 - $700 or more) depending on how far s/he has to travel and how much flooring needs to be inspected and how many (or how few) concerns there are. The inspector will look at "concern" areas from 10 feet away (not 5' - 6' away) in natural light. The areas of concern need to be visible from all 4 directions in a room from 10 feet away (in natural light). Before you engage an inspector, have a FRIEND (who hasn't seen the floor) come in and stand 10 ft away from the area (go ahead and measure 10ft in all 4 directions...and mark the "standing point" with a pile of books or shoes or something). Then have the friend look to see if they are able to see what you see (you are now primed to see it, so it will be difficult for you to be objective at this point...which is why you need a friend to do it). Consider this your 'dry run'. If you friend can see what you see without being told to 'look' for anything specific, then you have a very good chance you will get a redo. I would then sit down at the computer and go straight to the www.nwfa.org website to find your certified inspector in your area. Call them until you find someone who will come out. And just to be clear, I highly recommend you get the "will pay for an inspector" in writing BEFORE you hire the person. In the building industry it is industry standard for the homeowner to pay for the inspection and then require repayment should the inspector find FAULT with the work. If there is no "fault" found, then the homeowner is on the hook for the inspection costs. The other thing that I would like to point out is this: you can ask for money back if you do not want to live with a redo. Yep. You can ask for an estimate as to how much it would cost the dealer to PAY for people to come in and do the sanding (labour + material) and the staining and then new finish (material costs + labour). You can then ask for that amount GIVEN BACK TO YOU so that you can have a discounted floor (money in your pocket) that is ready for the next step in the renovation project. There is something to be said for THOUSANDS of dollars in your pocket after a renovation! It is nothing to sneeze at. It is an option that some of us would look at. I personally would have a long hard look at that number that has 3 zeros behind it. But then again I have no problem with some aesthetic concerns. Not everyone has that type of personality. It isn't a bad thing. It just is.