"rzaleski" wrote

I just moved into a new house. The builder did not do a great job
with the floors. There looks like small bubbles on the varnish and it
doesn't seem smooth. If I rented a buffer and ran that over the floor
would that smooth it out? If so, how does the buffer actually smooth
it out, does it wear it down or apply heat?

Buffer, not the recommended unit. Also note another who is quite correct
that once you touch it, the builder is no longer liable to fix it.

1. The house is newly built.
3. The floors were finished on site.

I have refinished 3 houses with wood floors. None were 'new'. One had a
mix of real wood planks (1 inch thick) and laminate 'tounge and groove'.
(the other 2 were older houses built pre-WWII with real planks).

You need to know what you have there. Without experience, you could be
thinking you have the real planks that are at least 1/2 inch thick and
normally are 1 or more inches thick in older homes. These, you sand down,
restain, and apply a top coat to. Thee will be a huge amount of dust and if
possible, you move out for the time when you do this.

Laminate is another animal. Pesky and thin. Often not much more than 1/4
inch. Looks actually fairly good and last longer than you would think with
care, but not for refinishing by the average neophyte. You can easily have
to replace it all if you use a sander. Now, a buffer with the type of pad
used for that sort of floor to 'strip wax' may work but you will have to
reseal it when done. It will take a bunch of runs to *gently* take it down
past the bubbles and is actually harder to so than sanding down fully to
bare wood on real planks then restaining and applyng whatever topcoat you
feel right (we just waxed it well).

New house, today, I bet you have laminate with an acrylic top that looks
show room pretty but the top coat of acrylic will wear off within 6 months
in all traffic areas.

Personally? If I had that here, I'd just let the bubbles wear out and wax
it well as it happens to retain the shine. In 6 more months, you wont be
able to tell the difference.

PS: Real Hardwood is used to make those laminate sorts too. I may be using
the wrong term but I mean the really thin stuff sold all over the place now.