Yellow spots on parquet after varnishing

Hello everyone,

we have bought a new apartment and had it completely renovated.
Four weeks ago, a company completely sanded and oiled the existing parquet floor (maple) at my place. We had agreed that the existing parquet would be renewed again. The original parquet was also lacquered and smooth before. After the company finished, the end product looked very nice. So after a few days, we started cleaning quickly and noticed that the freshly renovated parquet no longer had the "smooth" characteristic. It was rather rough. Asked the company again and they said that we had not mentioned this during the consultation and therefore no lacquer was applied. There was some back and forth. From the company's side, they said we did not mention it. Our argument was that the original parquet was also smooth and no one had told us that the newly sanded parquet would be very rough. I am surprised that I should have even mentioned this in the initial consultation. We couldn't even mop the floor without the broom constantly catching on the rough parquet. When moving the furniture, you could see the smallest discolorations on the parquet, and no matter how often we wiped it, the floor always looked dirty. We then agreed that the floor would be re-treated for an additional charge of 500 euros (for oil and lacquer). I would have gone straight to a lawyer and never paid the 500 euros, but my wife had no more patience. It was said that the time between the last oiling was too long and the entire parquet had to be sanded, oiled, and then lacquered again because otherwise, the lacquer would not hold. The company then implemented this and now we see a yellowish color on almost all edges. The company said that this was normal from the lacquer and would disappear in a few weeks. By the way, in some places after the second treatment of the floor, you can also see streaks from sanding or from the machine. I also posted a photo of that. This was not there after the first treatment.
There are certainly some experts here, what do you think about this? Attached are a few pictures... meanwhile my nerves are at their limit and the whole fun has cost about 6000 euros, by the way. The floor is smooth after lacquering now, just as we wanted in the beginning.

Thanks and regards

Poki

How many square meters are we talking about here? Unfortunately, I can't offer you any experience. However, the statement (craftsmen and sellers) that I have already heard from several people is that it is better to lay a new floor rather than sanding down the old one. To me, it looks in some places as if stains or wear have penetrated deeper into the top layer than what can be sanded away. In my opinion, you shouldn't see the streaks from sanding. The machine was either placed down or operated "crooked" / with too much pressure. For about €6000.00, I had approximately 120 sqm of Haro parquet flooring installed in my place.

In the end, it was about 80 sqm of parquet. The problem was that it would have probably been more expensive if I had removed the old parquet. The old parquet, which has now been renewed, was glued, and the removal would have already cost a few thousand, so we kept the old one...

I still wonder what I can do with the yellow spots?

I would wrap fine sandpaper around a block and work on the spots by hand.. They seem to me to be the spots that the sanding machine didn't reach.

I would wrap fine sandpaper around a block and manually work on the spots.. Those seem to me to be the spots the sanding machine didn't reach.

I wouldn't do that myself; the craftsman has to do it. Then the next problem is that the sanding marks are in the wood and they are covered by the varnish.... in my opinion it wasn't done properly... The yellow areas look like the varnish thickness is greater there, maybe it needs to cure longer... Were the baseboards removed for the work? It's not a must, but then it's naturally easier to work on the edges... PS: I'm not an expert, I just have personally refinished parquet myself.

Although I was not asked here:
It is common for wood fibers to "stand up" on the surface after a parquet renovation.
But it is also common that the parquet is briefly wiped damp (over) after the penultimate sanding so that the fibers stand up.
During the final fine sanding, these raised wood fibers are automatically removed.
Now to the surface protection:
It was originally a surface-sealed plank (according to the information).
However, in at least two of the photos, it is recognizable to me that the baseboard was not removed for the sanding work.
But this is necessary if the work is to be carried out properly!
In one of the photos it can be seen that only machine sanding was done.
Here too: where the machine cannot be used, hand sanding with a sanding block must be done!
So that the last craftsman does not damage the (not removed) baseboards with the machine, he preferably stayed a little away from them.
This means: where no sanding was done (but still oiled), an oil film formed, which remained there in a certain film thickness after polishing. The parquet oil cannot penetrate the wood pores due to the remaining sealing residues.
Now the thing is that such oil/wax mixtures always have to be polished out well because the hardening occurs oxidatively, i.e., with atmospheric oxygen.
If an unpolished oil/wax film remains, as in the edge areas, it oxidizes with atmospheric oxygen – and turns yellow/yellowish.
And this is exactly the reason for the "yellow edge areas" which we also find in (machine) inaccessible places.
Conclusion:
No, the work was not carried out as carefully as can be expected professionally!
technical solution:
Hand reworking with a sanding block in the edge areas.
Machine "patting" with a sanding mesh on the surface.
All this is considered so-called rework, for which the contractor has the right (here rather: the duty).
In a court evidence preservation, every expert of the respective trade (here: parquet work) would come to this conclusion.
However, if the questioner themselves only "has a go" in one place (starts sanding themselves), their claim is probably legally forfeited.
legal solution:
- Registered letter to the executing company.
- Reference line: Complaint of defects with request for rework within 2 weeks of receipt of this letter.
- Brief justification that the executed work in the present form does not correspond to the recognized technical rules because .....
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Greetings to the group: KlaRa