The bubbling is in the poly coat -- it alligators or bubbles up if the surface isn't quite dry when it's applied. The solution is to buff the whole floor and reapply a new poly coat. As far as the stain color it's pretty, but yeah, it's not the stain you chose.

Thank you both! The color is nice but it's just not what I wanted.

I read a thread awhile back about oil based poly changing the color of a stain to look more orange. if they didn't apply the top coat on your samples and used an oil based poly on your finished floor, they won't look the same.

They used a water based poly so I didn't think I would have to worry about that. You're right, oil based will change the stain color.

You do not have white oak. It looks more like red birch. Which means red hue, regardless of what you do.

Which water base poly did they use? It could have been a oil-modified water base. Which will give it an amber.

It is white oak. We confirmed with the previous owner after the fact :).

I believe it was bona traffic, definitely bona brand.

@18hellokitty I'd trust @G & S Floor Service on this one. That is not white oak, the previous owner is mistaken.

The previous owner gave me a copy of the invoice as well which showed what they ordered so I'm not really sure what else to say.

Does it not work with your wall color and furnishings?

You might be able to change your bulbs to tone down the warmth of the floor.

That being said, I agree, it does look different from the sample.

@missenigma @G & S Floor Service Just added two more pics of what the floor looked like after it was sanded. Also, I am mistaken. I grabbed the invoice and it says oak, not white oak. Perhaps a different type of oak? Not trying to argue with anyone here just confused as I have the invoice in front of me and there would be no reason for them to not be honest with me.

Were these photos taken at the same time of day, in the same spot, under the same lighting conditions?

@deegw I mean, it doesn't look bad but I think a cool toned floor would look much better. I am partially just being picky but at the same time, looking back on the pics, it's not what I asked for. We have white walls and a mix of wood tones, grey, cream/ivory and black furnishings for the most part.

Your floor has a lot of variation in it based on the larger photos you posted. To me, it looks like your sample and the darker pieces in your floor look similar. So it may be that the sample area just didn't cover enough of the lighter pieces to make that coloring come through. It is also possible that the poly changed the appearance a bit, even if it wasn't supposed to (doesn't look like your samples had poly applied?). Anyway, if it's not what you asked for (and it doesn't look like it is), I would definitely expect it to be fixed. He's not going to volunteer to do it though, so you'll probably need to push.

I love the natural color of your floors. I would have tried to keep them close to that color.

@Chessie Thank you & ugh,I know! That's what I should've done. Even the flooring guy recommended that but I was afraid it was going to look too "coastal" so I opted for a mid toned brown, or so I thought lol.

@anj_p Yes, there is definitely a lot of variation for sure. I think I am going to contact him so I will report back once I've spoken to him. Thanks for the advice.

@18hellokitty I don't think you're being picky. I totally understand the disappointment. There is white oak and red oak. But looking at your sanded pictures and the grain pattern, it doesn't look to be either white or red oak.

What @G & S Floor Service was pointing out is that it not being white oak, it may not be possible to achieve the tone you want.

@missenigma Totally understood! Really I would be happy with anything that was more cool toned and less amber, if that's possible. When sanded the floor appeared more yellow than red IMO. If @G & S Floor Service is able to respond back and doesn't think what I'm looking to achieve is possible, then maybe I'll just stick with what I have.

I liked the color of the floor when it was sanded but if it's just going to turn amber after the fact, I think I'll be unhappy with that too.

What you wNt is achievable. Find a contractor that uses Ciranova’s wood floor finishes in your area. Have them apply a coat of pink blocker. Then you can do whatever you want.

I'm going to guess the floor was finished with Bona Mega. It is the low-end Bona product. For a Bona finish, it is the 'cheap and cheerful' choice for many flooring refinishers. Why? Because they can say it is 'Bona' without having to lie. It is cheap(er) than Bona Traffic HD (which is the BIG BOY in Bona's line up) and it is EASY to work with....unlike the Traffic HD (which is a beast to work and takes training that you have to sign up for/travel to).

Bona Mega LOVES to turn orange (we call this ambering). Technically Bona Mega is a waterborne finish. It 'sounds' like a water based...but it is not. It is a hybrid. It has some characteristics of water based but many of the oil based as well. For one thing...it turns orange.

I'm having a hard time seeing 'oak' in the floor you have. I know the receipt says oak...but I think you have Red Oak. Which LOVES to turn peach/salmon. If you add in a mid-tone brown that has amber tones in it (your sample swatch is reading gray on my screen) it will turn orange/brown on red oak.

The refinisher MUST apply a coat of finish over top of the colour swatches. Must. I am not seeing finish on your swatches. Which means you were picking 'blind' as to the final colour. I can see the gray-tones in the wood (of the finished floor) but the ORANGE of the finish is causing the whole floor to look orange.

I'm sorry this has happened to you. Sadly, the finisher did not do the ONE thing s/he really needed to do = apply a single coat of finish to your swatches to show you the REAL colour you would be living with.

Some woods are marketed as Oak that aren't the usual north American Red or White Oak. I suspect your floor is really Brazilian Oak aka Tauari

https://www.novausawood.com/tauari-hardwood-lumber

https://www.lumberliquidators.com/ll/c/Amber-Brazilian-Oak-Solid-Hardwood-Flooring-BELLAWOOD-BWAMBO3SV/10040191

I also suspect your samples didn't have any urethane applied when you looked at them. Both oil and water based urethane will bring out the color of the wood beneath yielding what you ended up with.

Many exotic woods have a glow from silica drawn up into the tree during growth. Changing your lightbulb temperatures will alter the tone of your flooring and if you're currently using warm white, it would make the floor look less red.

Otherwise your recourse is to do it over and perhaps water pop before staining, so it soaks in more stain, go with a stain that has more green like Jacobean, Coffee or Ebony, or live with it as is.

I don't see any bubbles in the pictures you posted so I'm unable to comment on what it would require to address them.

@SJ McCarthy Thank you for your input. You are correct, they did not apply anything over the stain. At the time I didn't even think of this. I wish I had so I could've asked him to apply the sealer. I also feel like they should've mentioned this though!

Do you think it's possible to buff off the sealer and apply one that wouldn't go orange? Trying to see what all my options might be (assuming my floor guy is even willing to do anything at all).

@Timothy Winzell The close up pic of the link from lumber liquidators looks a lot our grain pattern. Perhaps you are correct! Our floor also has no knots in it. Editing to add, I just googled "brazilian oak" and I think you hit the nail on the head here. From what I'm seeing, this looks incredibly similar to what we have. The closest I've seen for sure.

I'm considering changing the bulbs but I really like the overall color of our bulbs so it's a hard choice. And we have a loot of bulbs throughout the house lol.

What stain would you recommended if I wanted to keep it looking more natural? Would that be possible, all while avoiding amber/yellow? The floor was really pretty when sanded down and natural.

Bona makes a couple lighter sealers that would maintain the look of your raw wood. Classicseal is very neutral, Nordicseal is a faint white and Naturalseal is in between. My only worry with going light is whether the stain will show up in deeper grain, cracks and end grain.

@Timothy Winzell Here are photos of the bubbles/bumps. Super hard to capture.

The 'bubbles' look to be debris that has been trapped underneath (a few layers of) the finish. I could be wrong but from the photos it looks more like debris then finish failure.

As to removing the 'sealant' (which we call the finish = polyurethane) there is no way to remove just the finish without going past the staining. The work to do this should be pretty easy because most of the work has already been done.

If you have debris trapped underneath the finish (again this is just my assumption based on two photos) you can negotiate the price of the redo. If this is adhesion failure (horror of horrors) it will cost you NOTHING. Adhesion failure is 'paid for' by the refinisher.

Right now, we know nothing for sure. If you want to change the colour, you will need to negotiate the price. And you will have to FIND OUT what the finish was (Bona is a brand...it isn't the name of the line...we need the name of the LINE of finish) and make sure it is NOT used again.

I have a sneaking suspicion the finish is the Bona Mega which is helping turn your floor orange. You will have to confirm this when you speak with the refinisher about the lumps and bumps in the finish. The refinisher is responsible for 'knocking these down'.

@SJ McCarthy Thank you for your opinion. The only reason why I think it might not be debris is because this happened in basically every single room. Some rooms worse than others but I was able to find these spots all over. Unless of course they were just that careless in cleaning up.

They would be able to get these spots out without needing to apply more finish?

Definitely going to contact him tomorrow. Thanks again, really appreciate all your input.

If this is debris, then the refinisher can screen the floor to smooth things out. Ideally these would have been screened out BEFORE the last coat. The debris is often in the first coat and as you add more coats the little bumps become bigger lumps (hence the idea of screening before the last coat). The last coat should have a smooth surface to go over. That's part and parcel of a beautiful smooth finish.

Not to be crude but how much did you pay for this job? All total? How many square feet involved here?

Those bumps can be from raised grains that did not get knocked down enough with screening. Very common with water base. The installer needs to re-screen and re-coat. There is a few coats on it now. So, they can be more aggressive and not have to worry about screening through the stain.

The only issue that you might have is. After a aggressive screening, you may need two coats to cover up the screening marks. One coat sometimes is not enough. Remnants of the abrasion may still be visible.

@SJ McCarthy A little over $4K for about 1500-1600 square feet. I can't remember exactly. I'm in NJ. We had four quotes, this was the highest one but not by that much. We went with this company because we got the best vibe from them and they came highly recommended. I think I'm making it out to be worse than it is if that makes sense. No one would really notice the bumps and they're still smooth to the touch. But when you're paying for something, you want it done right, obviously :).

You paid $2.50 - $2.67/sf. The North American average cost = $5/sf. Even in areas which are suffering heavy economic loss, the cost is $3.50 - $4/sf. I think we might have found the root issue.

I know for sure they used Bona Mega. The job would have cost you $4.50/sf if they had used Bona Traffic. And more like $5.50/sf (or more) if they used Bona Traffic HD.

The bumps don't bother me either. The colour on the other hand is a big issue. To get away from this orange, you must work with 100% clear coat polyurethane = water based polyurethane and not the lower-cost option of the waterborne (they sound the same but they are very different animals).

And when you speak with wood professionals, try to remember they FULLY BELIEVE a wood floor should be YELLOW/ORANGE. To them that is the NATURAL colour of wood. You have to get it in writing that you do NOT want any yellow or orange tones in the FINISHED appearance.

And for that they need to spend the money (ahem...you need to spend the money) on the good stuff like Bona Traffic HD.

How long did the job take them?