Bumps may be dirt/etc. Sheen is probably from not fully mixing the poly. Most poly is gloss. Particles are added to reduce the gloss, but those particles do not stay in suspension in the container for more than a short time(hour to two hours, for example).

They should have used 2 coats of gloss and a final coat of satin. Gloss is stronger and more wear-resistant than satin.

And I don't know why you'd want satin on a floor that takes so much abuse and needs to be cleaned so often. That satin sheen is not going to last, faced with all the scrubbing and cleaning a kitchen floor gets.

Handy Mac - if the bumps are dirt, I’m assuming nothing can be done unless the top coat is sanded off and redone correct?

Thankfully the sheen seems to be dulling as it dries...

tatts - A higher gloss shows dirt more. And I’ve been told it’s the # of top coats that protect the floor not the gloss level. I have 3 kids and the satin sheen works well for us in this house.

Update: I had the GC come and look. He said what I see in my floor is not atypical. That the little bumps were probably there all along with each coat, but they get more obvious as you apply more coats. He said getting rid of all the dust in the environment is impossible and with time as we use the floor those bumps will flatten out. Is this really true? He did speak to the flooring guy and he said if I’m not happy with it in 1-2 weeks he will screen and recoat. I am hesitant bc I have beautiful new white cabinets and although the workers appear to be careful, I’ve noticed a few small damages and a few small splash marks of polyurethane to the bottom of my cabinets. All correctable at this point, but as people continue to come through and work it will inevitably happen again

I've seen "shiny satin" finishes before. The Loba I used to sell was FAMOUS for looking "really shiny" for almost 2 weeks. Once it settled down (regardless of foot traffic) it turned to a satin after that. I've always said to my clients, "Relax. This happens all the time. Give it a few weeks. After that it will turn satin." And that's exactly what happened, over and over again (couple hundred clients?).

As for the bumps, those are probably residual dust. So long as they are not WHITE bubbles, you are fine. A couple of photos would REALLY help.

And usually a "final pass" with high grit sanding prior to the FINAL COAT is quite normal. This final pass is supposed to "knock down" those bumps. Again, photos would help tremendously.

I know that being out of your house for 2 months is a pain. But the good news is, this is a REALLY SHORT time frame for most kitchen renos+flooring refinish. That's SUPER SHORT. I know it doesn't FEEL short...but it is. We often see 3-8 months for a kitchen gut and refinish. Floors can add to that time frame.

SJ MCCARTHY- Thanks so much for your response. I tried to take some photos. It’s very sunny today. Tried with lights on and off today and there are lots of reflections. See attached. The finish seems to have dulled down a bit as it is drying. The photos make the floor look less shiny in this photo than in person.

The bubbles / bumps are all clear. I can’t capture them in a photo. The flooring person did do a final sand before the last coat of poly. Also wiped down the floor with some sort of dust mop. But I think there is a lot of dust elsewhere in the room that he didn't address. Or maybe these are bubbles and not bumps? I am by no means an expert. There are a decent amount of them. When you say if they are clear, I don’t need to worry about them - what do you mean? Will they flatten over time? What would a white bump mean? You have put my nerves at ease a bit...

Here’s another photo. Lights off but looks dull. Hard to capture what I mean. Will take from another angle.

Here the sunlight is coming in strongly and from this angle the floor looks so orange, but only from this angle. I can’t really walk in yet so I am standing and taking from afar. But you can get idea that it’s shinier than the first photos taken.

This looks like a good start for a "satin". This would be close to a semi-gloss...perhaps a snick duller than semi-gloss. For me, that's fine. It will certainly dull down within several weeks. Relax. It takes time. This isn't like painting a wall. These finishes need a bit of time to get to where they are supposed to be.

Without a close up of the "bubbles" or bumps we can't tell if there is anything of concern.

Handy Mac - the sanding seems to be good. Colors is even. The issue is the bumps. They are all over the floor. If you not looking down at the floor when you walk, you probably wouldn’t notice, but if you are standing and look down they are easy to see. I am by no means a flooring expert but I did some research online about bumps and bubbles and what causes them. I know dust is a factor. When he sanded there was a lot of dust. He cleaned the floor but I don’t think he really cleaned off all the other things in my kitchen. Cabinets, counters etc. Shouldn’t he have? He caused the dust.

I noticed there were bubbles in the last coat and I said something before he left. He said “they flatten out over time. It’s common with oil”. What I read online (and correct me if I am wrong), is that when polyurethane coats are being applied, all windows and doors need to be closed. Air flow in the house needs to be shut off. Is this true? I know for a fact he didn’t do that. We had a few cool breezy days and for the first 3 days he left the back sliding door open. The breeze was blowing in. He left it that way for the smell to dissipate quickly and for it to dry quickly. Yes he’s willing to work with me, but the owner actually did the floors. So if he doesn’t follow what I think is the proper procedure, I’m not sure I have any confidence it will be better the 2nd time around. We have been out of my kitchen since July. Not easy with a family of 5. I think I need to walk away and hope they do flatten out as my GC and floor person said they do. If they don’t, I’ll address it down the line with a new flooring person. I was hoping to match this kitchen floor to my existing floors and it didn’t happen. It’s close but not close enough. So I’ll have to think about what to do with the remaining floors at some point and will use someone else.

Yes, it is correct that airflow should be avoided when the poly is being applied so we usually just turn off the HVAC system. However as soon as the surface has dried, airflow helps dissipate the fumes and fresh air speeds up the curing process.

My partner is very particular about getting the area cleaned before the finishing so we dust everything starting at the top of the room, paying close attention to ceiling fan blades, window sashes and sills, and the panels on doors. Then the floor gets vacuumed, once each direction, and then wiped down, usually with a cloth dampened with mineral spirits. We like to use old sheets as any sanding dust we pick up is visible and if there is too much, it gets wiped a second time. Then we try to make sure we dont have any dust on us and wear hats too

Lyndee Lee - he didn’t do any of that. He’s the owner and been doing floors for many years, so I doubt he is going to change the way he does floors for me. I need to find someone else. He is who my GC uses but I’m not a fan. Very nice guy but sloppy.

Each added coat will look shinier because the floor gets flatter/smoother with each coat. Your finish certainly looks like satin. It's easiest to tell by looking closely at the edge of the reflections. Glossier finish will have sharper lines at the edges.

Was your floor water popped before staining?

Johnson Flooring Co - thanks for your reply. As it is drying, I am getting more confident that it looks like satin.

The contractor never mentioned water popping. I just looked it up to see what water popping is. This is new wood. Laid a few weeks ago. They did sand it and I remember them wetting it before they applied first coat of stain. They used some sort of fans (or airflow) for a while before applying stain. Is that water popping?

At this point I’m more concerned about the bumps. Dust nibs? Bubbles? Not sure ...but there are many more than what I think is acceptable.

Looks good to my untrained eyes. What color stain did you use?

tqtqtbw - we were trying to match the rest of the first floor so we made a custom mix. It's Minwax 1/2 early american 1/2 golden oak I believe. The match is good, not great.... The bigger issue is the bumps? bubbles? in the finish. They are clear so hard to capture in a photo

Every level of perfection adds to the cost. Lynndee it is great you do all of that but post $per SQFT so they can see what the cost is compared to what they paid.

They can screen each coat and wipe after but that all costs money. The more coats you do like that the more perfect and plastic looking the floor gets. It can backfire and make you wood floors look like laminate. Its a constant complaint on here as people now feel engineered or fake products are the better quality do to their lack of defects. We no longer want to see brush marks or wood coloring deviations. Clear coats that look like automotive finishes have replaced that beautiful hand prepped and applied look that give the wood its character.

You cant compare or expect an answer without knowing what you paid for the refinishing per SQFT. You also cant expect just because you see on the internet that a CO SAYS?? they do something that it is within your price range.

In the end it is a floor and real wood floor and you have to understand it isn't an engineered laminate floor and will never look like one. There will be defects no matter what you pay as it is wood and it is never perfect. The more perfect you make it the more each defect will stand out. Its like a dog chasing its tail.

I would just move on and walk and live on it for a couple weeks. All this bubbles and nibs will disappear under normal wear and tear.

wannabath - you are absolutely correct. You get what you pay for. But I had floors refinished in my old home many years back. Also oil finish and no issues like this. My project is a kitchen renovation being overseen by a GC. (My cabinets and countertops were ordered and installed through a cabinet maker.) Everything else organized through the GC. It is the flooring guy he uses on all his jobs. I installed new wood and had it sanded and finished, so I don't have a px just for refinishing....I'm not saying all cleanup would be as meticulous as Lyndee Lee...and I am not expecting perfection...but he was definitely sloppy, He created all the dust, he should have done a better job cleaning it. He was also a little careless with my cabinets. Some small bangs/chips, some polyurethane splashed up on the bottom of my cabinets. Why wouldn't he cover the bottoms with some painter's tape? He only covered the bottom openings for dust. No protection from the liquids...and I asked him about it. He said not to worry, only the very bottom of the cabinet base will get some stain (and thankfully no toe kicks are installed yet). Well that was clearly not the case.

**I am glad to hear you think the bubbles and nibs will flatten out over time. That is what I am most concerned about.**

The flooring guy is very nice, but I realized I am not happy with the caliber of his work. No sense to make him come back and redo. it probably wouldn't be any better,...and then I run the risk of more potential damage to my new cabinets. I would rather live with it as is...and for some reason if it doesn't improve down the line, I will do my own research and select my own flooring person.

" I remember them wetting it before they applied first coat of stain " Yes, that's water popping. A coat of water applied before the stain makes the wood surface "fuzzy" allowing it to absorb more stain. A generally minor issue with it is that the e texture can show up in the finish if it's not abraded sufficiently between coats. It can be a little tricky since too much abrading could affect the stain or leave swirl marks. The small flaws you see may be from the water popping. Screening and recoating should eliminate them.

That floor looks fine.

Joseph Corlett - it looks great in photos. In person, tiny bumps allover. I had another flooring guy come today to look. His opinion was the bumps were caused by the way the top coat of oil finish dried, not dust, but agreed it's more than what he would consider acceptable in a finish.

Johnson Flooring Co - won't the floor seem even shinier if they screen and coat it again? I noticed the floor got shinier with each screen and coat of poly. There are 3 total. It's already a little too shiny for my taste. It's one of the shinier Satins I have seen. I really don't want it any glossier.

I am having technology issues coming between me and the photos I want to post which show a floor with many small clear bumps, perhaps similar to yours. Last summer, while doing the attic master suite at my house, we felt we had been probably the most careful of any floor finishing job ever. We were a bit concerned as to whether all the bubbles would dry OK but overall, the surface looked good when it went down. The next morning I stopped to check on the floor and it was the worst looking surface we had ever done. I was so upset because we had so much time and effort into trying to do our absolute best and ended up with a disaster.

After searching online, I came to the conclusion that the problem was the finish. That particular brand of poly has a use by date on the packet that I had not noticed and the product was more than a year out of date. We had also used the out of date material from that batch a few months earlier but that work was done in the early spring, so probably 60 degrees outside, less than 70 inside. Come summer and we were working in weather maybe 25 degrees warmer, the product did not perform the same. Monday morning we called the supplier and arranged for fresh product then spent more time to remove the product than it took to apply. Fresh product worked like a charm and rescued the floor but it was a big lesson for us to make sure to check lot numbers and manufacture dates carefully. Caulk, glues and shellac are other products that have a definite shelf life and I am now leery of using old material.

Having the floor abraded and adding another coat will make the floor smoother so it will look slightly shinier.

Johnson Flooring Company - what if the final coat they used was a matte finish? Does anyone ever use an oil based matte finish? Would that help deflect the shine?

In my experience, oil based finishes that are duller than satin tend to streak and not wear as well. Satin is the lowest sheen I'll use in oil poly. For duller finishes we resort to waterborne products.

Johnson Flooring Company - okay thank you for the info. I guess that’s why for this oil finish I was told Satin finish