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Botched Hardwood Finishing Posted by TammoD on December 23rd, 2011 11:29 AM
Hello. We're remodeling our kitchen/family room/entry way. We're doing some work ourselves and acting as our own GC to sub out jobs like the cabinets, the counters, and the floors. We had the floors installed and the first finish coats put on a month ago, before the cabs and counters were done, but there were a few weird problems, kinda all over the floors. 1, there were a couple of spots where the sander had formed ruts in the floor, and 2) there were streaks of missing stain here and there, kinda everywhere. They looked like big scratches, but they weren't. Just stain swiped missing under the first finish coats. Our flooring person agree to repair these patches and the rough spots and came out this week to do that. But there were so many of them, that he determined it would be best to resand, restain, and refinish the entire floor. He was apologetic. We left and moved the family to a hotel for a few days. But just last night, we had our first peek at the redone floors and they came out AWFUL. They look way worse than before. There are ruts everywhere and linear gouges, too. And the finish is only slightly better. Some spots are nice and smooth while others are rough and uneven. And he didn't even bother to sand right up to the cabinets now installed so there's area of especially dark, double-stained wood feathering away from the cabinets. It's awful and we've already resolved not to allow him to do any further work. The question I have here is this.
We still owe him 25% of the estimated cost. He's showing up today to return our house key and undoubtedly ask to be paid. My guess is that it will cost more than the balance to repair his finish work. What is the best way for a homeowner to handle this kind of a situation? I really don't want lawsuits, in either direction. We are reasonable and don't expect freebies. But I also don't want to pay for work not completed well. Any guidance? Was this post helpful? Yes: or No: |
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