I wanted to write this report so that no one makes the same mistake that I have made. My husband and I ripped up the carpet in our upstairs and decided to get the old hardwood floor refinished. We decided to check out Mr. Sandless because they advertise that their process is done within one day, looks as if the floor was sanded, but without the mess.
We were a little skeptical at first since in the past we had the hardwood floors traditionally refinished at our old house, but we would be sleeping in the living room until the floors were finished so we were hoping to go with a quicker option. The salesman came to our house and assured us that since the floors were in decent shape, they would look beautiful when they were finished.
We had talked about how they would fill in all of the gaps in the floor with a matching putty. We also decided to have them remove all of the tack strips and staples from the carpet for an extra charge. We were told that we didn't need to remove any of the clothes from the closets or the baseboard, since it didn't create a mess.
Two guys showed up on a Friday at nine to do the job. Although for much of the afternoon there was only one guy here working. It clearly seemed that they were racing through to get the job accomplished in one day even though they had all of the staples to remove, three bedrooms, the hallway and the stairs to do. They finished working around five and we were told we had to pay the head guy. With the exception of the bottom stairs, we were unable to see the finished product since we couldn't walk on the floor for three hours.
When we saw the finished product we were appalled! They had not filled in any of the gaps or nail holes even though we had agreed upon that. There were several whole staples still in the floor and at least one that had broken off and was sticky straight up. They had stopped sanding about an inch away from the baseboard throughout the whole upstairs. The baseboard and newly painted walls were splattered with their solution.
My husband contacted the owner on Monday and told him our concerns. He said that it is not their policy to fill in gaps since the floor can sometimes expand and then crack. My husband told him that our past hardwood had the gaps filled and had not cracked in six years, so we would take our chances. Besides, that was what we agreed upon and would have not gone with their company otherwise.
He assured him that he would come out and see the floor and fix any mistakes including the gaps.
He did not come out until the following Monday, meanwhile we had to sleep in our living room.
When the owner showed up, I was extremely surprised to see that the owner was the guy who did the initial sloppy job! I pointed out the staples, which he removed. I also complained about my newly painted ruined walls.
There was no apology from him, he simply took a rag and tried to scrub it off the walls. The stains have faded somewhat, but they are still clear and I will definetly need to get them repainted. He claims that there is nothing that can be done about sanding up to the baseboard, which confuses me since my last floor was totally complete, there was not an unfinished edge like he did. He then told me again about how it's not company policy about the gaps.
I told him that it was agreed to be done before the floor was started so that is what we expect. He was not happy about this and started filling only the very large gaps with a putty that does not match the floor at all. He quickly ran out of putty, before even getting to many of the large gaps or any of the nail and drill holes. He said that was all he was going to do because he has already done more than he should have to fix our floor. He himself told us he would take care of the issues including the cracks and came out himself, but then refused to do so.
Because of the sloppy work he has done we now have to spend a lot more money then we would have if we had gone with another company. We have to pay someone to repaint every piece of baseboard and wall that was anywhere near where they had worked. The floor is an embarrassment and we will definitely have to get it redone by a professional.
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