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FWIW, some scratches can be from OLD damage where fluids have seeped down to stain the wood (like a pet stain) and simply can not be sanded out. I have several of those on my floors and asked specific questions about them.
And "sanded down to the nails" is, umm... an odd phrasing that doesn't mean anything. Maybe your floors are older than 80 years/1930's vintage, but mine were nailed in through the tongue (exactly like modern installations). And while there are some nails seen from above, the same is true after installing brand new floors. What determines if floors can be sanded again is the thickness of wood on top of the "groove" part of the tongue-and-groove. Get too thin and the stresses can/will crack the planks. Again, I asked very specific questions about this not even a month ago.
Yuck, sorry about putting down such a dark finish. Making me even happier to have skipped the stain part completely and go for a natural finish. My crew said they try to get people to go natural as often as possible due to all the complaints with stain finishes (father/son team who've been doing this for 40+ years).
I have sanded many floors "Down to the nails". When you are almost down to the level of the tongue you begin to sand nails. That id the last time you can sand a floor as there is no more wood to take off. Now. on the floors I have sanded to the nails I have never had planks splitting, warping or doing anything out of the ordinary.
I have tried tyo sand out dog pee stains that were impossible to remove becasue of the depth of the stain. On oak it's black. In those cases I have stained the floors black and sometimes I have "Distressed the floor by light sanding before sealing with whatever product I'm using at the time. I like fabulon bowling ally finish. You can walk on it in a couple of hours and it cures hard in 48 hours.
The swirls are usually from the hand sander that does the perimeter of the room. To me, from experience, it gouges out more wood than the regular floor sander, thus making all swirls around the room. I fixed that by using my regular electric sander to even it out, after the sanding men left....learned that from experience.
also, it could be the stain. I have all new 6 panels doors that I stained dark like your floors, they all came out great, then I year later I replaced one of the doors with a french door and used the same stain, it came out all these diagnol streaks of light and dark.....I think the stain was too old. Of course to me, I ruined the door, but anyone else, unless they are really into this sort of thing, wouldn't notice.
Also when you have floors sanded and stained, before the stain goes on, do not, and I cant stress this enough, do not walk on them bare foot, again, experience....all the floors were done, except my bedroom, then when the stain went on, after it dried, and after the poly was put on, I see sort of a few foot prints, eek!!! and they fit my foot.....why, because I thought it would be OK to walk on the un-sanded floors barefoot, would have been better to walk on them with my timberlands.....
chaulk it up to experience.
I would never stain anything again, without buying a new can.
I wouldnt walk on freshly sanded floors barefoot.
from the pictures though, they dont look that bad. trust me, youll get used to it, where you wont even notice the imperfections. ****sigh*****
as far as the scratches, it makes it look rustic, or old world charm, whic ever makes you feel better.
We right now are in the same boat. Spent a lot of money for solid wood floors and we have the same pics as above and worse, even worm holes. It's awful. We won't take it lying down. I have worked too hard and waited to long to finally have the floors of my dreams. I am so sorry yours looks as crapy as ours. Please let us know what you finally did and how they look now.
It seems obvious that the floors were not sanded well enough. Those scratches across the grain just should not be there on a well sanded surface. I have stained a few of my own oak floors over the years and I'll tell you this, It's tricky. I have gotten great results and I have gottern horrible results. My living room and dining room in the house I have now are stained black because the lighter stain I put on looked terrible. I could not sand the floor any more, it was right down to the nails and so I just stained over with ebony stain. I like it actually.
That's what I'm thinking the sanding wasn't done right.. Sorry...The good news being real wood they can be redone but I'd not let them do it for sure. Overall it doesn't look to bad..
OP, I think you have several issues going on and at least one of them seems unavoidable.
1) The darker shaded areas look like pet stains on an old floor. If this is the case, these darker areas usually simply cannot be removed or lightened significantly.
2) Many of the scratches look very old and deep - and honestly, those don't bother me at all. In fact, I think they look pretty cool.
3) SOME of the scratches appear to be due to laziness and ineptitude on the part of the guy who sanded the floors. This may be the only thing that's actually his fault. His price sounds very low if he refinished most of the flooring in your house. Unfortunately - and I speak from personal experience - you get what you pay for with contractors.
If it's any comfort, I actually like your wood floors. I think they look aged and have an antique look to them which to me adds character.
Personally, I'd put some area rugs down, furnish the rooms and I bet you will not even notice these imperfections at all. I'd learn from experience and next time hire a higher end professional to do the job. But this doesn't look like a disaster to me. Live and learn.
Zar is the name of another stain product. Some of their stain colors are good..........some so-so.....in my experience.
A lot of what you're seeing..........is old damage....brought to the forefront by going with a darker stain. I've left my old oak floors (100+ years old) natural.. with just a satin poly on them. I really don't see any of the scratches..........and there are plenty.........unless I get down on the floor and start looking for them. My chestnut flooring is beat.........but I love it. It's got a lot of history.
I'll never understand the use of orbital sanders around the perimeter of a room. Makes no sense at all. Here in New England.....the old floor guys don't use them. They use elbow grease but then the perimeters normally aren't scratched up as much as the major traffic areas. It's more a matter of removing the finish, not wood.
The deeper gouges can't be sanded out. You'd be removing too much wood. The big splotch..........looks like it was from liquid of some sorts.........may be from pets.......but usually pet stains would turn wood black.....reacting with the tanin in the wood.
For dark floors on our reno's we go with wood dyes, not stains, for a more uniform look as most clients don't want to see the grain pattern........which is why they are going dark in the first place.
K A-
The OP hasn't been here on C-D since starting this thread. 6mons ago!
ah so!
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