Q: I just had my floors re-finished, and new one’s installed. The floors felt as if they had a fine layer of dust all over. And there were lots of sanding marks. The installer returned and tried again. The floors are definitely better, and brighter, but still feel like there is a fine layer of dust (like sand paper). There are still visible sander marks everywhere and it is not a glossy finish.
What do I do? The are 3/4 Red Oak with a Swedish finish.
A: If you can’t live with the excessive scratches, the floor will have to be sanded and finished over. Swedish finishes are tough, but extremely nasty to apply, and also nasty to remove. The best chance of hiding any flaws is with a low sheen finish.
Similar Q: We’re moving into an apartment soon. We just got the keys and went by the place. They were supposed to redo the floors. When we opened the door, the floors looked wet. I reached down to check it. It feels like sand. Are there additional steps they still have to do to finish it? Or am I stuck with gritty floor?
A: Sounds like they used Hi Gloss and a lot of grain raise. The floor will need to be thoroughly buffed or polished with a fine screen to knock down this roughness. After thorough cleaning of the floor, another coat will have to be applied. They need to make sure their finishes are clean also. I now work out of gallon cans and after every job I pour the left over finish from a plastic bucket through a strainer and back into it’s original container.
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