or is it me? I recently did a small remodel where we took out a wall that divided two rooms. One room had oak floors, the other had fir. The flooring guy added oak under where the wall used to be and then sanded between the oak and fir. Then he put swedish finish on the oak, but also the fir where he had sanded. The result is a discoloration of the sanded fir and the rest of the fir floor and the customer ain’t happy. The floor guy says there’s no other way to do it. I said he should have put blue tape on the fir to make sure no swedish got on it. Then we could have dealt with the sanded fir floor another way. The floor guy also said that the discoloration on the fir will oxidize over time (couple months) and you won’t see it anymore. He wants to get paid, but I’m waiting to do that. I want to be fair to him, myself and the homeowners.
Any thoughts?
Mark
Replies
Resand, refinish
mark
Was the entire fir floor sanded to remove the finish that was there?
Was any stain applied to either the patch or fir floor?
Easy solution.
Pay him in a couple of months when the floor oxidizes to match.
Another Way To Do It
Tell him that another way to do it would have been to tell you and the homeowner before he did it , and all options, so that you would know what the result would be. The advice I keep hearing from flooring pros is to let the customer know up front so there won't be any surprises when they see the result.
You probably already know this but when he sanded the fir he removed the natural patina/oxidation. There is no way to artificially reproduce that although a really good finisher can come close. Your floor guy probably isn't a really good finisher. You didn't post a photo so we don't know what the floor looks like. Maybe there's a way to design in a satisfactory fix. In any case, it may take more than a couple of months for the color to reestablish itself. And maybe it never will... whats the finish on the existing fir? Is it swedish also? If not, why would it ever look the same?
I agree that the floor guy shouldn't have touched the fir. He most likely did so in order to make his job easier in bringing the two floor into a smooth surface. It's easier to sand the high spots off of both than to shim the low spots.