How do you know the floor cant be sanded? If the floor currently has Varnish. Then youre best bet is to use varnish again. Color is something to think about. Waterlox wont help you with color. Mixing some stain will get the color. But for prtection unless you remove the old varnish adding a coat of varnish is what i would do.

It only takes one stray grit particle from a coarse paper to ruin the sanding when using a ROS. For pine it's usually not an issue, but on cherry (in particular) it can be a disaster. To fix it, I'd start with a cabinet scraper which will get the swirls out faster than sanding. Then block sand, by hand, with the grain, with 220. A cabinet scraper does require a learning curve for both sharpening and usage, but it's a miraculous little device. Casey

Everyone is so kind . You guys are the best ! Mary lu I just love your house. Did you ever figure out the colors for outside ? I was following the thread with interest. And then there are your roses and bricks...sigh...so beautiful. mpmg: YOu are so sweet. Everytime someone saves something old I feel rewarded. I have a friend that has said I can have the whole old house on their property to salvage all the beaded board and wood floors...I will take pics as it happens and you will see the whole process. I have to get my floor guy to salvage it and then trim and pay it and ...months...and months.. eandhl: ooohhh you have to post pics asap...I can hardly wait to enjoy vicariously. Patricia: you are so sweet. You can sit and have a glass of ice tea when you come to visit and enjoy the table and bench :) Caroline

What GS Floor is trying to say is this: A wood floor finish is INSPECTED (by a professional) for irregularities from a standing position, at a 10 FOOT distance, during daylight hours in NATURAL LIGHTING. If these swirl marks are unnoticeable from a STANDING POSITION at a distance of 2ft feet away (most people are taller than 5'2") you will manage to achieve "10 foot distance". So the answer to the question, "What do these look like from a standing position, 2ft away in natural lighting conditions?" - will be the way you ASSESS the quality of this job. If from that distance these abrasion disappear from view, then the job is to industry standard. Now....the 2nd buffing could mean many things but normally means the light sanding after the stain has been applied. Normally the stain is allowed to dry/cure. This will have RAISED THE GRAIN (made the wood puffy). To get rid of this, the company will buff or lightly sand the wood to get rid of this roughness. This is how they "knock down the grain". Once this has been achieved, they will do a vacuum and a tack cloth and then apply first coat of polyurethane. If you are worried about these abrasions that you are seeing here, I highly recommend you visit the site JUST BEFORE the SECOND coat of polyurethane has been applied. You can then assess the floor from the industry standard: "From a Standing Position, during daylight hours, in natural lighting, from 10 foot distance." I'm going to guess that most of these imperfections will be taken care off by the buffing before the polyurethane. Just remember: you need to view these from the industry standard.....10 ft distance in natural lighting.