I never said anyone MUST have done anything. I'm saying "check" to see what you used....just in case. Here's my own quote: 'Check to see if the bottle says "Cleaner" or "Polish"'. Now...the question becomes why is Bona Cleaner doing this? Bona Cleaner is a chemical with precise properties. If it is over used it can have deleterious effects. Hazing is the most common presentation. Over use is not the ONLY way to get the haze but it is the MOST COMMON. I've seen people have great experience when they used the cleaner sparingly (1-4 times per year). I've seen people have decent results with the proscribed use (1 per month). But even then, it can have hazing results. Over use would be considered: 1. Too much cleaner used at the time of the application (too much chemical)....the application being 1 per month (which is the proscribed rate). 2. Too much cleaner can mean too many days of application per month. Anything over 2 days per month (24 applications a year) is considered 'over use'. 3. Too much cleaner can mean (and often does) a mixture of both #1 and #2. A little bit too much cleaner used too often. That 'snick' of over use can be part and parcel of ANY wood cleaner that produces a haze. Armstrong and Bruce cleaner also have this issue. So it isn't just Bona....it's just the one with the BIG name that people choose to complain about. What is interesting is, the haze does not develop if the floors are toweled dry....which is to say...the CHEMICAL is wiped off BEFORE it can dry onto the floor and create product build up. Can Bona Cleaner produce a haze on the first application with the right amount of chemical? Hell to the yah! For this to happen, there are many things that have to go very wrong...it it can happen. The most common reason it causes haze on the fist application: it was applied to the wrong TYPE of finish.

Hi, Worthy, I can't speak for the NAHB or how they arrived at their standard; I'm just a single, soggy southern swamp dweller. NOFMA (The Wood Flooring Manufacturers Association) says this about gaps in hardwood flooring: "Normal gaps may vary in width from "hairline" gaps thickness of stationary, to more significant gaps, up to or greater than the thickness of a quarter. The larger gaps are expected in those geographical areas associated with an extended dry heating season, and warm, mild humid summers that require little air conditioning, i.e., the Great Lakes or New England area...Plank floors, because of widths involved can shrink individually up to 3+ times as much as 2 1/4" wide strip floors."

I too say those patches are too big to be left. It means the 'dudes' who were used didn't cull the planks properly. They just threw them in and hoped for the best. The GRADE of the wood will tell us how many of those voids are allowed (ie. where KNOTS are sitting) and how many should be there in the first place. If this is a freshly installed floor, I'm going to guess those lines in the finish are 'lap lines'. Bona is STUPID-TRICKY to get right. Serious speed is needed to maintain a wet edge. It is NOT recommended to 'cut in' the edges of the floor with these fast drying finishes. If you do, you need two people. One cutting in the edge of the floor just SECONDS before the t-bar applicator comes past. If the 'guys' allowed MORE than 2 minutes to pass (did I mention the SPEED NEEDED) from one edge of the space to another...you get lap lines. These finishes can be BEASTS if you are not trained on them or you are not Mr. Speedy Gonzales.

Ouch...that is LOW humidity. That means you are seeing SHRINKAGE...not 'puffing'. The board that is sitting proud is actually sitting NORMALLY. The wood that is sitting LOWER has SHRUNK! The home's Relative Humidity (RH) MUST SIT between 35% - 60%. It is preferred that it only deviates a TOTAL of 10%. Example: if your home normally sits at 42% humidity, the SWING of humidity is +/- 5% of that range. That means you have a range of 37% - 47%. That's it. That's all. Thank you for playing! Your indoor humidity is WAAAAAAAY too low. You need to pump up the home's humidity. You need to sit at a MINIMUM of 35%. But in reality I would shoot for 40% so there is 5% wiggle room on the bottom end. Sorry but your home is TOOOOOOOOO DRY!!!! I'm sorry to say but your contractor is CORRECT. This is 'normal' for a house run too dry. To correct this: whole home humidifier runs during the winter.