Dog Hairs Trapped in Floor Sealant

Last week we had our red oak hardwood floors refinished (sanded down and sealed). They look much better than they did, but when the workers applied the coats of sealant to the floors, they sealed in dozens and dozens of dog hairs. I would estimate that in the ~1,000 sq ft of flooring we had refinished, that there are about 100 dog hairs trapped under the sealant layers. We talked to the company that perofrmed the work and they said to use a razor blade to cut into the sealant enough to grab the dog hair and then just pull it out. Over time, walking on the floors will wear down the little ridge that was left in the sealant layer where the hair used to be.

This is the first time I have ever refinished hardwood floors, so I'm not sure if this is typical/normal - can anyone who has had their hardwood floors refinished weigh in on this for me? We paid about $2,700 to have the floors refinished and to be honest, I'm pretty disappointed with all the visible dog hairs. They are going to drive me crazy over time when I'm cleaning and trying to dustmop/vacuum up a hair I can see, but won't be able to get because it is trapped under layers of sealant.

Any suggestions? The company that performed the refinishing seems to be done with us - they came back and said they got some of the more visible hairs, but I think they just took off some of the post it notes that we had on the floors pointing to hairs up...there are still so many left. Am I being too picky? Is this normal for a refinish job?

Here are two pictures of examples - one of a larger hair and one of a smaller that is sealed into the floor:





Thanks in advance.

 

Welcome to the forums!

Have you already paid them in full? IMO it's their responsibility to make it right! Ideally the floor would be resanded, all the dust and hair removed and another coat of poly applied. You can carefully cut and remove individual hairs but you are also removing a little poly at the same time. That works fine for a few minor defects.

 

I agree - you paid to have this done right and it is not right yet.

 

Was it your Dog whose hair was breezing around in the environment while they were attempting to re-finish your floors ?

 

Vermont brings up a good point, IF your dogs were allowed to roam thru the room in between coats of stain/poly - part of the blame belongs with you. But if the dogs weren't in the space from the time they sanded until they finished - it's all on them. Sometimes you have to work harder to get a satisfactory job but any contractor that values his reputation will do what it takes to have a quality finish product.