Parquet Floor Restoration Issue

[deema]

I’m going to be devils advocate. How do you know that the colouring it is now, isn’t the original colour? Can you prove the different coloured blocks were caused by staining that he agreed to remove? Did you agree a standard of the colour for the finished floor. If you take him to small claims, you have to prove your case.

Now, whether you or anyone like the finished product is irrelevant. If the blocks are stained all the way through, it suggests to me that that was their original colour. Even radiator gloup wouldn’t stain blocks consistently all the way through. A lot of what this chaps done sounds sensible. He didn’t and wouldn’t apply filler as this would have cracked and look a mess. He didn’t try to stain the floor to hide the issue as he didn’t feel he could achieve a satisfactory result to meet your aspirations. You agreed and accepted a price reduction, so, to be honest, I think you’ve not a leg to stand on. If you’d wished to take this further, you shouldn’t have accepted the £200.

I wouldn’t start take your frustration out on social media, he may well take legal action against you! You’d again have to prove your comments were justified and accurate.

 

[johnnyb]

To uplift the floor, screed then refloor will cost loads way beyond what I imagine this guys charged. How would he know the exact result wouldn't come out like a new floor. I think your expecting a bit to much from the contractor(ie knowing what your expectations are, that anything that's not as good as a new floor is unacceptable) I'd accept the £200 and treat it like what may have been a huge cost saver that didn't quite happen. I had an old boy sand and finish my oak parquet last week. His work was also a bit slapdash in places but I understand at his price point compromises have to be made. I'd phoned others and had huge quotes. He used rubio monocoat(coat and run) his filling was dubious as in 1 day there's no time to wait for drying. He didn't fill using the dust method once again no time. But he had the right kit and made a decent job of sanding. I recall last time I did this job(20 years ago) hiring the sander/buying the finish cost as much as his price!

 

[Phil Pascoe]

How would he know the exact result wouldn't come out like a new floor? A little experience would have taught him.

 

[Chubber]

Oh dear! Awful result for you, this is a good example of people who think they know what they are doing and are professional purveyors of bovine ordure. I do understand your disapointment.

An oxalic acid bleach over the entire floor, followed by a neutraliser and 48 hours airing would have been the way to go. It should have been polished/maintained with nothing but wax, or, believe it or not, brush scrubbed with weak beer and wiped dry!

Sorry if this has all been said elsewhere, I really am posting to offer my sympathy and to lament with you that cruelty to tree wood. Now I don't know what to suggest, clearly the 'varnish' has to come off to do anything further with it, but how bleaching will work then is anyone's guess.

There may be sufficient thickness left for a second sanding?

All our ground floor in Southampton was parquet. When a neighbouring property was 'updated' the blocks were all burnt in the garden. Sob.

 

[Lons]

Now, whether you or anyone like the finished product is irrelevant. If the blocks are stained all the way through, it suggests to me that that was their original colour.

I wouldn’t start take your frustration out on social media, he may well take legal action against you! You’d again have to prove your comments were justified and accurate.

If he stated the staining is all the way through I'd question how he actually knows that. He would have to remove some of the blocks to know. When he inspected the floor prior to quoting he would have seen the staining, you cant miss it even from the before photo. He should have highlighted that and fully discussed options and declared that it may well make the appearance worse. He certainly shouldn't have applied varnish before speaking to the OP again once sanding was complete.

There are many ways of posting feedback on social media without leaving yourself open to counter action. It's simple enough for anyone with a modicum of commonsense. Posting photos and saying is this acceptable is enough to provoke a response similar to some of those on here. How other people respond is up to them not the original poster.

 

[johnnyb]

But without the staining it's still not a new floor. And never will be. Who thinks that any stain can be guaranteed to be 100% gone before starting? Even after treatment? Bottom line is its your floor and your stain. He thought it would come out but it didn't and he reimbursed you an amount agreed. In the final analysis you call the shoots.

 

[deema]

@Lons being devils advocate, the buyer has a responsibility to correctly and unambiguous define what they want doing. He’s sanded and sealed the floor with a coating that may have been agreed. The floor is ‘as new’. If you have to take the blocks up to determine if they coloured all the way through or not, then you’ve lost the moral high ground. Staining is normally only a mm or so, so would reasonably be expected to be removed by surface sanding. If the colour didn’t change then the assertion it’s the colour of the wood all they way through is a reasonable assumption. Ie. The original colour of the floor.

There are no before pictures, just a buyer with an image in their head of what they hoped / expected. What’s been achieved may be a miracle compared to what it looked like before.

I’d like to see the specification the contractor was working to in order to arrive at a balanced opinion.

 

[Jake]

It looks to me a bit like the dark bands just aren't fully sanded, maybe a dip in the middle? The corners of some of the darker blocks clearly haven't been hit at all. The dark edge band might just be not enough changes of direction, so reflecting the area where the machine was lifted at the end of a pass.

That might not be the case but it's worth exploring a bit closer as that's an easy fix if so - and can't be much argument that it shouldn't be done under the original price.

 

[Lons]

@Lons being devils advocate, the buyer has a responsibility to correctly and unambiguous define what they want doing. He’s sanded and sealed the floor with a coating that may have been agreed. The floor is ‘as new’. If you have to take the blocks up to determine if they coloured all the way through or not, then you’ve lost the moral high ground. Staining is normally only a mm or so, so would reasonably be expected to be removed by surface sanding. If the colour didn’t change then the assertion it’s the colour of the wood all they way through is a reasonable assumption. Ie. The original colour of the floor.

There are no before pictures, just a buyer with an image in their head of what they hoped / expected. What’s been achieved may be a miracle compared to what it looked like before.

I’d like to see the specification the contractor was working to in order to arrive at a balanced opinion.

I agree with some of that but certainly not all Deema and realise as you said you're playing Devils advocate but the OP has posted a before pic in an earlier post if you look again you can see the staining.

I had a very successful building and repairs business for nearly 20 years and laid quite a number of floors, mostly oak during that time and I refurbished maybe half a dozen plus my son's Victorian pine floors. I don't profess to be an expert in any way but bearing in mind that in most cases the customer had little practical experience or knowledge what they were buying was mine. A major part of that was my responsibility to clearly explain the process and likely result and in some cases manage their expectations which often meant a different, agreed approach was decided. If an issue arose during a job then I certainly would pause at that point and further discuss with the customer. That's good business practice and the way to build and maintain a good reputation.

My experience of quite a number of old parquet floors is that they were laid carefully and distinct variations in colour would have been spread around or discarded not laid like that in distinct obvious lines so if I was inspecting that floor I'd have suspected staining as a cause, (I've seen similar caused by an old Labrador bitch peeing on the floor and had to replace a section with salvaged blocks stained to blend in).

The customer very definitely is not always right which is why everything should be in writing and in this case without knowing both sides of the story we can only make assumptions but his advice was not to stain the floor which in my experience was the wrong advice and he would have known that well before he finished sanding.

 

[Sean33]

@Lons being devils advocate, the buyer has a responsibility to correctly and unambiguous define what they want doing. He’s sanded and sealed the floor with a coating that may have been agreed. The floor is ‘as new’. If you have to take the blocks up to determine if they coloured all the way through or not, then you’ve lost the moral high ground. Staining is normally only a mm or so, so would reasonably be expected to be removed by surface sanding. If the colour didn’t change then the assertion it’s the colour of the wood all they way through is a reasonable assumption. Ie. The original colour of the floor.

There are no before pictures, just a buyer with an image in their head of what they hoped / expected. What’s been achieved may be a miracle compared to what it looked like before.

I’d like to see the specification the contractor was working to in order to arrive at a balanced opinion.

I was going to say exactly the same, from the images you can’t tell if there is a dip in the floor there. I would put a straight edge over it to see

 

[Windows]

The floor is laid on wooden stats. Its fairly flat but does move and creak a bit. Its almost a sprung floor. For this reason the contractor said he would not run over it with a screed filler as he normally would on a solid floor, saying it would crack & crumble with the flexing of the floor. So we would be left with the existing gaps. The whole floor seems to have been given an even sanding. The stains were, he said, right through the blocks & further sanding would not remove them. It now seems to me He hoped the varnish would magically fix everything. The darker strips were there before but not as obvious as the floor was darker. We just wanted the whole floor to have a consistent even look.

The sanding began at 8am and varnishing began around 12 noon. They were gone by 2pm

Perhaps the least of your concerns at this point, but 3 coats of varnish needs 2x the recoat interval plus 3x application time. I am not familiar with all available varnishes - I hope someone who is can comment - but I’m having doubts that they applied 3 coats of varnish in 2 hours while also following manufacturer’s instructions. Was it definitely varnish or some other kind of finish?

 

[Jake]

This closeup shows what I mean by blocks not having fully been sanded level at the ends (which makes me wonder if that is the source of the issue, which is not at all incompatible with there being a stain beforehand). It looks like the high spots were taken off at least partially but not the low spots. There are some very odd other things in the close up though.

 

[Jake]

Like this step-line in the sanding here, no overlap between passes there and it looks quite like more passes this side of the line than the far side. But maybe it's an out of flat issue

 

[--Tom--]

From my floor water marks stain the ends more as they absorb more water through end grain than face grain so would expect that tonal variation from staining, and it would persist through sanding as has gone in through the ends rather than just down from the top

 

[--Tom--]

Not the best pics as was nearly 10 years ago and need to hint for better but here was my before and after

All of the black stain was due to water damage, but I was able to get it sorted.
Took more than an afternoon though

 

[HOJ]

I’m having doubts that they applied 3 coats of varnish in 2 hours while also following manufacturer’s instructions.

Maybe they have a product that non of us know off, even Ronseal quick drying varnish needs time:

"Apply 3 coats of Diamond Hard Varnish to give the best protection, leaving 2 hours between each coat

Before the final coat, lightly rub down with 240 grade abrasive paper, then wipe over with a damp lint-free cloth and allow to dry

Ronseal Diamond Hard Floor Varnish is touch dry within 30 minutes, with a re-coat time of 2 hours."

I've done a few floor resto's that have taken numerous days to even get to a point ready for finishing, not a 4 hour sanding job, and to add, I've only ever applied a hard wax oil finish, never used a varnish.

I'm curious now, I have family that live in Hinckley, hope it's not one of them...