Poly balls
Q: I had my oak hardwood floors sanded down and refinished. I have for the most part been satisfied with the job the contractor did; however, within the last week I have noticed that I have small rough spots forming in the cracks between the boards. These look like little black balls of stain or finish. It has been relatively dry this year and within the last week we have received a good amount of rainfall, so I wondered if the boards have maybe expanded and are squeezing something out? I am not sure what I should do about this or it is a problem or just normal.
A: It sounds exactly as you describe it. You will likely have to keep gently scraping this away until it stops. Saying this is probably akin to shutting the door after the horse already got out of the barn, but you need to try to keep the humidity in the home more stable. If the RH drops into the mid to low 20% range, adding moisture to bring it up to 35-40 in winter would help.
(Attached: Stop_Polyballs.pdf)
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