DH has ruined week old wood flooring

[Veraper]

I feel sick to my stomach.

We have splashed out on parquet flooring for all of downstairs (sick of renting a rug dr after every dog walk). Have been uber cautious with furniture pads etc.

DH saw ink-like black splodges on the floor last night and had to scrub very hard using the green side of the sponge to remove (still slightly visible tbh). And the floor now has white splodges the size of Xmas choc coins.

We are wooden floor newbies, can anyone save my floors? Has the varnish just come off? They are my dream floors and I didn’t even get to enjoy them yet (still doing up the rest of the house)

I agree about the polyurethane not looking so “sophisticated”, it’s important not to put on too many coats or you get a very flat finish with no grain. You can use one with a UV filter to cut down the yellowing caused to oak by light over time which is a real bonus.

I use a weak descaling liquid, it lifts limescale off. It hasn’t marked my quartz at all, though I suggest you could test on a sample or out of sight area. Quartz is very tough, some people use the abrasive side of a bathroom scrubber.
The coffee stains should just come off with Flash or similar, I find they come off with washing up liquid so I’m surprised you’ve had a problem.

No, it sounds like the product is supplied unfinished, and then once laid, the installers put a finish on it.

Ah descaling liquid could be exactly the ticket I am looking for... thank you!

I don't use flash or anything on it as I was told not to. I do need to phone them and get proper advice on what can actually be used because just warm, soapy water seems ridiculous. My friend uses Milton on hers, but I'm terrified I'll destroy the shine.

I am not wholly convinced that the bit around my sink (and where my kettle is) is as well finished as my island piece as it has always been more prone to "stains". The tea/coffee ones do lift if we are more careful for a while (i.e using a mat)... so it seems to be more prolonged/repeat exposure if that makes any sense.

Whereas on our island piece (where the hob is) we've found that even (overnight) curry stains that looked they were for good have lifted after a couple of sprays of method being left for 10 minutes... wipe and repeat once or twice.

I chose quartz over wood because I didn't want to be precious about it (3 small children)... but because they were so horrifically expensive I am now a bit precious.

I’ve had a darker quartz worktop (Caesar stone) for more than 10 years and obviously it doesn’t show stains, I use descaler on this, and all sorts of different detergent including Flash. Nothing has damaged the surface or taken off the shine. My newest one looks like white marble and, so far, hasn’t needed anything except detergent or descaler. The only thing I’ve never used on either is an abrasive cleaner but it’s so tough that I don’t think this would damage it. I’ve got a sample piece I could test it on if necessary.

@Veraper That’s great! Hope it works well for you and reduces the water spread! Am 🤞 for you and hoping your lovely floors get sorted too! x

https://www.fromtheforest.com/blogs/fromtheforest/3-easy-ways-to-get-scratches-out-of-engineered-hardwood

What they said was use a cream cleanser every week or two as that removes detergent build up. For stains they introduced me to “The Pink Stuff” about a £1.00 from all the cheaply shops and that works a treat on stains. Even turmeric and coffee. Good luck.

We had this - new, very high quality quartz, and nothing removed marks. And then we tried stuff from Lakeland called Barkeeper's Friend and it worked at once. It's like magic.

I'm a long term poster, promise. Lakeland don't pay me! Honestly, try it. It was amazing. I was so gutted as quartz isn't cheap. This was a really good marble lookalike and we have it because of the promised indestructibility - would much prefer real marble. So the month thinking we were screwed was a bad one. Now, coffee, bolognese, rust (my husband put some baking trays to air dry on the side of the sink - and they did not!) all comes off.

@Pinkrinse @perfectstorm thank you both. I have pink stuff and bar keepers friend in the cupboard and not tried either on the worktops. I've clearly been far too soft on them! Will give it a go.

@Pinkrinse which descaler liquid do you use?

Have you been able to contact the fitters or the seller, @Veraper?

If your flooring has to be re-sanded and re-sealed due to a mistake with the finish, they need to do that free of charge, but you should also demand a discount. Your flooring only has a wear layer of 3mm (solid wood herringbone parquet has about 11mm), which means it can only be sanded 2 or 3 times tops before it needs to be changed. This means the fitters' mistake may have shortened your floorings' already comparatively short lifespan by several years.

Just a quick update.

Builders came back today (finally). And confirmed that the wood had not been sealed properly. So many marks have appeared despite us treating the floor VERY gently. The solution is to spot sand it. There is also a thin line of moisture around many of the planks. Almost like the glue has seeped through the cracks. Not great.

Ive been afraid to even go in the rooms where we have wood but at least we have a solution!

Wait what??? Spot sand? No!! They need to sand and reseal the entire thing. That’s some ridiculously defective work.

Yeah that’s not a solution - or rather it’s a lazy builder’s solution.

The whole thing needs to be resanded.

If the floor supplier installed it you need to go back to them.

If your builders is installed it it’s their mess to fix.

Yes, whole floor. They've admitted it hasn't been done properly. Don't let them get away with another crap job. Lazy gits.

The thin line of moisture around the planks - if it’s glue rather than moisture that’s seeped in because the floor isn’t properly sealed - the whole thing has been poorly laid.

I know it's not the done thing, but I've quoted myself to draw your attention to my last post in case you missed it. As other posters have said, spot-sanding is not the answer. They need to re-sand everything. This will shorten the life span of your floor so you really should ask for a discount.

OP we have a similar floor from this company. The fitters sanded then sealed with a clear matte lacquer. It has been totally indestructible, and we have kids and dogs too. Your builders 100% need to do the whole lot again.

For Quartz stains, put a little pile of Bicarb of soda, with a few drips of hot water and leave it for an hour or so and wipe off. Definitely works on curry, tomato and tea stains - try on a small out of the way area first just to make sure!

@CokeZeroForBreakfast and @PlinkyPlonk176 thanks for your responses. I was happy to accept “spot sanding” as I thought this would take a bit less out of the wood. It’s been pointed out that our wood isn’t the thickest and I thought not doing everywhere would extend life and was a good compromise. Happy to accept I’m wrong though. Any advice is much appreciated

Also I’ve noticed that our planks have inconsistent spaces between them. With some really sticking out. The pic I’ve included is not even the worst example just what I have to hand. Is this normal for wood? I saw someone post their wood flooring on MN (unrelated to topic) and my heart sank as there were minimal gaps and it looked really smart. Ours does not.

OP before you get any further you should note you have engineered oak flooring, not wooden flooring. You have thin strips of wood over plywood floor, this reacts differently to and should be treated differently to solid wood flooring.

You should keep this in mind when looking for floor cleaners and treatment options.

The reason for the gaps being uneven is because click flooring just clicks together. It's made to link into the next one, not measured to fit and align with the next plank. Tongue and groove takes longer to install but is a better fit (usually), click flooring is simple and easy (attractive to fitters) and isn't a tight fit, hence the gaps and uneven flooring.

Engineered wood flooring can be sanded all over, usually once or twice so spot sanding should be fine but to be honest stained wood is rarely, if ever just 1mm below the surface.

If it comes to it, look into replacing with solid wood or tongue and groove engineered wood if that suits your price range better. The best they can do is sand and spot stain the bleached areas, then seal it. It's not a guaranteed fix, so please beware the stains may remain, albeit not quite as bad.

It looks to me like your floor has been fitted by builders, and not floor fitters. I really think you should be getting the whole thing lifted and laid by a proper company, it's too expensive to not get it right.

Builders subcontracted work out but apparently they’ve had issues with the person who did it

Ah right. Well, it's good to know they've acknowledged that, hopefully they'll get someone else in to sort it.