Call the floor guys and have them come look at it.....my understanding is that poly is a soft finish, and the continual using of the floor will cause myriad scratches which mellow over time, and these scratches all together form a 'patina' or low luster much like continued use of sterling silver flatware.....we refinished our hardwood oak floors and they did develop scratches.....we used a satin finish as opposed to glossy so it helped, but there you go, that is my experience.

I think the more preferred choice is a product from Sweden called I believe Glitza? you might research that?

Depends on the product and dry time in between coats. Was there a stain coat applied? Brand?

No stain, just 1 coat Bona Amberseal and 3 coats of Bona Water Poly, though not sure of exact type (i.e. 'Heavy Traffic')

So just to verify, no matter what this floor should not be scratching this easily and something went wrong?

On Saturday they did the sealant, let that dry for a couple of hours and then did one coat of water poly. They were gone by 3pm. On Sunday morning they came in and did two more coats of water poly. I am unsure of how long they waited in between coats.

Bona recommends 2-3 hours minimum for dry time under perfect conditions for all of there water base finishes. Conditions at a job site is never perfect. You always allow extra time (I recommend 4 or more) to compensate for variance. Unless the job site conditions is perfect, insufficient dry time can be the cause of your easy scratching.

First coat applied of amber seal applied heavy, 2 hours drying. First coat of poly applied after, before sealer is fully dried, result the poly has nothing firm to grab onto, so it goes on thin. You get a larger spread rate, maybe 800-1000 s.f. per gallon. Improper spread rate means, less film build, less protection.

Also, The water base poly reactivates the sealer and mixes in. Chemical properties of both finishes are now jeopardized and will not function properly.

Applying two coats of water base poly too soon will result in a similar failure. The two coats will be compatible, so no chemical issues. But the second coat of poly would not be dried or firm enough for the final coat of poly to sit on top. Resulting in another thin coat.

You are not getting the full benefits of the finish. What was the outside condition when they were doing the coating: weather, temp in/out, humidity level on and below? How many square feet? How many gallons of finish? Was the finish thin down? Which product line? Photos of your scratches?

IMO this in a perfect world would take more than a week to do the coats and then IMO it needs to cure . I am curious about how long the floor even acclimated in the space before install.This sounds like no pros involved at all. Dragging a soup can across any finish is going to leave a mark. When I have floors installed the guys install one day come back the next do a sealer coat go on to some other job come back the next day do the first coat of finish go to another job and so on, so there is lots of dry time in between coats. They sure don’t hang out while the coats dry.

Thanks guys. To answer some questions...

-The wood absolutely acclimated properly. Sat in my apartment for 3 full days and was tested before install

-The can of soup was dragged very lightly against the floor. VERY lightly. I can say with certainty that my old floors with the oil finish absolutely would not have had that happen. From the very first day of seeing the finish on these floors, as nice as it was, I could tell the durability potential of water vs oil was night and day.

-The outside condition during install/finish was cold but not frigid. I remember those couple of days being in the high 40's

-I am unsure of the exact SF of my apartment. It's a 1 bedroom, rather small joint. Bona products were used for the finish.

Though hard to see and the camera didn't pick up MANY super light scratches that you'd only see if looking for, some photos are attached. I should also admit that I (perhaps foolishly) brought back in my area rug on the 4th day after being back in the apartment. There was a brief moment where the rug was dragged on the floor which could have resulted in SOME scratching, but absolutely not all in my opinion. I was just so used to those rock strong oil floors all the years that I didn't think any serious damage would happen. I'm also reading that water poly can take at least 2 full weeks to "cure", but even so, this damage is unacceptable. There is still a VERY light smell of the poly in the apartment right now, 10 days after finish, but its basically gone at this stage.

Those are scuffs, nothing to worry about. It's normal for uncured finishes. You will need to baby it until the cure time is complete.

The acclimation time was 'thin'. It is rare to have floors acclimate PROPERLY in "three full days". So there are some concerns there. It might not be an issue...but I never like the idea of "three full days" for acclimation. I prefer 1-2 weeks.

The finish has not been allowed to harden. Water based polyurethanes (Amberseal is oil modified sealant) require 7-10 DAYS before they reach FULL CURE. And full cure calculated from the LAST day the final coat of finish goes down. Which means if you were out of your place for 'almost' a week, the floor was finished on day 3 (it sounds like). It means you moved in 5-7 days too early.

You mention dragging in an area rug on day 4 after your move in. Area rugs are to stay OFF of a finished floor for 30 - 90 days at least. I prefer 6 months...but most people don't have that type of patience.

As stated above, these are scuffs. That's when material (aka the soup can) is put DOWN onto the finish. This is not the finish scratching through...it is material being put down. Just like dark soled sneakers will leave black marks on a gym floor (aka 'scuff marks').

I would keep this a 'socks only' floor for another week or two. NO AREA RUGS for 6 months (wood can change colour over time when exposed to UV light so it is best to let it do it for 6 months before putting down area rugs).

Put soft pads on the bottom of every leg of every chair. Etc. You've had wood floors before. You know how to do this.

And just be glad you went with Water based polyurethane. Oil based polys take 30+ days to cure...and most people cannot stand the chemical smell they give off while it happens. An oil based finish would have left you on the street for 2-6 weeks.

Thanks SJ. The whole process took 4 days. The night after the last coat of finish was put on I was back in the apartment moving my furniture back in. I agree on the area rug. I totally jumped the gun with that, not to mention handled it poorly (dragging). I had to go with water bc my place is a co-op and Oil is not allowed due to the extreme fumes.

I have had the soft button pads on the bottom of all chairs / tables / furniture from when I moved in years ago. I just hope the water poly here really does harden up and can resist basic abrasion in the near future. You also mention color. Its funny but even after around 10 days now since the job was done, it seems as if the wood color has "neutralized" a bit. The day it was done it had a bit more of an orangey/pinkish hue to it. It could be me, but it feels as if that has died down a bit.

You have a new floor. Treat it as such. Don't slide things on it. The urethane is likely not fully cured. Consider that the floor is freshly sanded and without flaws. Minor scratches are going to be readily apparent, like the first door ding on your new car.

It would be nice to know which Bona product was used.

Hi everyone thought I'd report back here with an update. It is at the point now where I feel there truly is something wrong with my floors whether that be with faulty finish application or perhaps the finish itself. I have those button pad things under all my furniture for example (chairs, coffee table), and you wouldn't believe it if you didn't see it, but even they are scuffing the floor. This floor is literally being scuffed by ANYTHING. I did a test pushing my coffee table and then looking where it just glazed, and bam, scuff right there. What the hel!?!? First of all, can any of the pros say that now there is certainly something wrong? and two, what is a good way to try and get rid of these marks on my new floor??

Alex thank you for your comment but i'm unsure of what kind of product you are trying to say. Are you saying you had water poly for a period of time and it was bad so you refinished with oil at some point in the future? If so I certainly understand why. I always knew water was inferior but this is downright scary what's going on here.

First things first: The name of the finish. Find out the ACTUAL name of the finish. The high-end Bona products are tougher than oil based. I mean MUCH tougher. The entry level Bona is less then perfect.

Get the name...and please stop dragging things across your floor. It may still need a few days to get itself to the point of absolute hardness.

Thanks for the response SJ but what am I supposed to actually do? Awkwardly call the contractor and ask for the name of the finish while saying my floors have a problem? All I know is it was Bona. That being said SJ, whether it was Bona Mega or Bona High Traffic, etc, would it really make a difference? Certainly what’s happening to my floors is not normal in my opinion. If you or anyone can suggest a way to get these tough scuffs out of my floor it would be appreciated. I rubbed them with a tennis ball, tried some floor polish, to no avail.

"Awkwardly call the contractor and ask for the name of the finish while saying my floors have a problem?"

No don't ask, tell him you want to know. You paid him for his services and the brand and finish type applied is part of what you paid for. And exactly what was put on the floors makes all the difference in the world. Without it you cannot hope to figure out exactly what went wrong. Unless you just want to pay someone else to completely strip and refinish your floors?

Millworkman is correct. YOU paid for your floors to be refinished. YOU paid for the product on the floor. YOUR home OWNS the finish. YOU have every right to know the name of the Bona product.

And YES Mega is MASSIVELY different than Bona Traffic HD (which is the toughest product on the market today).

Bona Mega is a ONE PART product. It is (relatively) cheap (less than $100/gallon) and is SUPER EASY to use. It is one of the products that gives 'water based' finishes a bad rap. It is a nice product but it is NOT the best.

Bona Traffic HD is a TWO PART product (2K = 2 Komponenten = German). All 2K products are MORE expensive to purchase (much closer to $200/gallon). They are MUCH harder to work with (Bona 2K products are NOTORIOUS for being difficult and requiring 3 day training sessions before the refinisher is competent).

An NWFA certified wood flooring sanding/refinisher is going to charge $5/sf for any sand/refinish job. If you add in Bona Traffic HD you have a cost of $6/sf or so.

How much did you pay for your job?

And you have EVERY RIGHT to know what is in your home. You paid for it. It would be like knowing what size engine you have in your performance vehicle. It's not awkward. It is required. No one buys a Porsche 911 to go to the grocery store. They buy it for its PERFORMANCE.

Your wood floor needs to perform. You need to know what the product is so you can understand the performance. You need to know if you PAID for a Panamera or a Pony.

I did not pay for the job myself. I live in a co-op and the co-ops insurance covered it after a massive pipe burst leak under the floors resulted in buckling/cupping in about 40% of the apartment. This was an ordeal for many months before the time finally came for the job to be done. I appreciate your feedback and expertise, I really do, but at this point what am I to really do if he were to tell me Bona Mega? Demand a strip and refinish?? 😫

And if Bona Mega is such “poor” quality why is it even used? What a nightmare… But thank you.

In a Co-op setting I can almost guarantee it was Mega. And in a Co-Op setting you would have to ask for permission to add 2 coats of Bona Traffic HD (buff = not sanding down to wood) and pay for it yourself.

The scuffing you are seeing is normal for a fresh finish that was NOT supposed to be 'lived on' for 10 days (Mega = 10 days).

The finish is FULLY FUNCTIONAL. It just isn't making you happy. There is a difference between 'failure' and 'aesthetic acceptance'. The floor is functioning. The scuffing is NOT pushing past the finish. If it shows 'raw wood' underneath it is a serious scratch. A scratch that only goes down one layer is not a problem. It is what finishes do. They take the abuse so the wood doesn't have to.

You will live with it or you will have to pay for another 2 coats of a higher level finish.

It’s just surreal to me how with my previous oil finish I could literally roll raw chair legs and furniture over them and it wouldn’t scuff, yet with this I push a coffee table 3 inches with slider pads underneath and I have a mark. Well there has to be something that can help get these scuffs off. I’ve heard of dryer cloth’s doing the trick. Any idea?

At this point, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND you do nothing. This is a brand new finish. It will not perform to the level of the old finish for a little bit of time.

An old oil finish (lets say 15 years of 'hardening') is going to be much HARDER than a fresh water based finish. You must be patient with this. Whomsoever 'let' you back in on that floor after ONE DAY is the one you need to speak with.

Bona MEGA needs 10 days to reach a full cure (that means it is no longer soft enough to peel back with a fingernail). Bona Traffic HD cures in 5 days (again no longer soft enough to peel back with a fingernail).

Please respect the youth that is this finish. If it took 15 years for the old finish to perform the way you say it did, you will need to allow this finish the same amount of patience for this new finish.

Remember: a floor finish is a floor finish. It's chemical characteristics will not change. The laws of physics and chemistry will not change. The only part of this equation that can 'change' is the human being.

Either accept the finish for what it is (super young and needing time and patience) or pay for another finish that will suit YOU.

There are more commodity level contractors than there are luxury level ones. So, you will most likely be offered entry level finishes. If, you want high quality finishes. Do more investigation on your hiring. See what products they offer. Then decide which product is a right fit for your lifestyle. We all have access to fine floor finishes.

Thank you again to those who have chimed in the last couple of days. I should point out however that after reviewing the photos some people have been adamant that these were "scuffs" on my floors. If they were scuffs wouldn't they be relatively easy to remove? I have tried rubbing with my finger, dryer cloth's, and Mr. Clean's eraser bar all to no avail. These are legitimately scratches on the finish in my opinion. Not scratches deep to the WOOD of course, but a scratch on the finish. If anything believes differently or thinks there is another way to "remove" them, I'm all ears (or eyes)...

I just had mine redone with Bona HD and they DO NOT scratch easily.

Bona Traffic

Hi Michael……just reading your experience and we have had the same situation with our hardwood floor finish. were you ever able to fix it? like you, Inhave tried everything, please let me know. thanks

@Michael L any updates to this? We are experiencing the same issue and I am in tears.