With the dark stain, it visually won't matter that much. White oak will tend to have tighter grain (softer texture) than red oak. It is also a slightly harder wood which is better for dents.

Rift and quartered has a different look than plain-sawn flooring. It is linear looking with annual rings running more or less in straight lines along the planks. 10-20% of the R&Q lot will exhibit ray fleck, which is quite pretty. Plain-sawn produces a cathedral pattern with the annual rings, what most people think of with oak. R&Q is superior in dimensional stability and should seriously be considered if you go with solid wood and 5" or wider planks.

Anything over 8' in length is probably overkill unless you have huge rooms or very wide hallways where it might show. I installed a mixed width and I don't care for the 7" wide by 1' long. It seems out of proportion. Average length is the key and look for 4'-5'. An 8' long by 8" wide is actually as large as I would recommend for a typical remodel because of access (unless the wood comes in through the windows).

Here is what I did (you can zoom in on the pics to see the grain and fleck):

Here is a link that might be useful: Waterlox on Oak

Thanks JR... your floor looks great - the R&Q definately is visually more appealing.

I met with my builder yesterday - he talked me out of anything wider than 5" (my rooms are all modest in size) and pushed me to spend the extra on R&Q if I chose to spend more at all.

I will seriously consider that - I may end up not going super dark - R&Q I think would be worth it.

Thanks again.

If you get quarter sawn, I would not stain it dark. The grain of the wood is beautiful and I think a dark stain would hide it. Bottom line to me is that the quarter sawn/dark combo would be a waste of money.

jrdwyer, I just love your floor so much. If I could have solid wood floors in my townhouse on a slab, I would love the Waterlox Finish on the Rift & Quartersawn Red Oak floors in the #1 Common grain.