Since my husband and I recently went through this DIY, I can make a few suggestions, although we didn't refinish, we installed unfinished rustic inexpensive red oak floors ourselves and finished them. I don't know anything about removing a wax finish, maybe someone here can advise or you could try a different hardwood flooring forum. For the sander we rented a U-sand, which is a floor sanding machine that is supposedly made for the DIY'er. It worked great, got right up to the edges and was really easy to use. I don't know how well it would perform for refinishing, as that involves more sanding. For the stain and poly, we went with the professional grade stuff. It was so worth the extra money as the products were much more forgiving to work with, and I think will have better long term durability. We went with the Bona products which are designed for hardwood floors. We`used the Bona Drifast stain, which is an oil modified stain that dries quickly. The stain is very rich looking and was wonderful with any accidental overlap. We mixed a couple different colors for a custom stain color. We went with the new Bona waterbased Traffic HD in the extreme matte finish and I love it. I think the traffic HD has one of the highest durability commercial ratings. A matte finish will hide more imperfections and scratches than a shiny finish. Although it says extreme matte, the finish does have a slight shine with a very natural wood look, it looks great with our rustic grade floors. I've never seen a poly finish like it, it's so velvety smooth and natural looking. It's sheen is in between Bona Naturale and Bona Traffic Satin HD. The water based polys I believe are more durable than the oil base and this one is meant to go on top of Bona's oil base stain. The Bona waterbase poly also had very little fumes that disappeared with in a couple days. It has a separate catalyst (hardener) that has to be added and then you have 4 hours once you add the hardener in. We were concerned at first, but with the T-bar applicator, we were able to get one application done in about 45 min-1 hour (650 sqft+ stairs). We have two dogs who like to race around the house and hate to have their nails clipped, I have yet to see a scratch, this finish seems to be wearing like iron, I am so impressed. We applied the stain, waited 48 hours, then applied the first coat of poly, the next day we buffed it, wiped down with a damp cloth, let it dry and then applied the second coat and let it fully cure. We bought the T-bar poly applicator, which worked out well. We also bought the Bona Mixer bottle, so we could mix smaller batches when we needed to and didn't have to mix up a whole bottles worth. This was 7.00 well spent as we mixed up a gallon and a half for each application. For wood filler we tried Woodwise floor filler, and Timbermate, I thought the Timbermate performed a little better, but both products were much better than anything at Lowes, or Home Depot. The waterbased wood fillers are great because wiping off excess with a damp rag is fairly easy, even after it's dried. Plastic putty tools should be used with the waterbased fillers as some metal scrapers can discolor the filler. Since the Bona products are professional grade, we bought them through a company that sells to the general public and professionals. Their business is mostly an online store, but people can come in and buy products from them locally. Since they were local for us we got to talk to them in person. They were great, they took the time to answer all our questions each time I stopped in for products. I found them extremely knowledgeable and very caring, their how to videos on their website were also helpful. Floor Mechanics Online Store We spent about 1,750.00 total for 1,000 sqft of very rustic red oak flooring, Pneumatic floor nailer, moisture meter, sander/buffer rental, and finishing products. It was some work, but worth it for site finished, solid hardwood flooring. Good luck with your son's floors.

I paid to have an independent, certified flooring inspector come in to evaluate my floors. His final report noted that the pinholes were caused by an improper finish. The flooring contractor applied 2 coats of polyurethane on the same day and did not allow sufficient time for the first coat to fully dry before they applied the second coat. The inspector noted a hazed appearance in numerous areas that were indicative of the previous coat not being fully dry before the second coat was applied. The wood was not a number 2 grade selection and the inspector contacted a technical adviser from the National Wood Flooring Associate and he said that there was nothing inherent to the red oak that would have caused the extensive pinholing in the finish that was observed and that this was due to either incompatible finish products being used or improper application procedures. I had a second company come in and redo the entire refinish - sanding down to bare wood and reapplying stain and 3 coats of poly and there are no pinhole visible on any floors in the house. The fact that the issue could be corrected by completing redoing the work lends credence to the original job having been poorly done. The original company tried applying a 4th coat of polyurethane but this did nothing to fix the pinholes. If you look at page 59 of this PDF, pinholes can appear in the finish of a floor if the previous coat was not fully dry (http://www.crescenthardwood.com/nwfa/ProblemsCauses.pdf). The bottom line was that I was out a lot of money from the first contractor, which was a large reputable company in my area, because they refused to fix the issue or even test to see if their finish job was the issue and had to go through the aggravation of having the entire job redone. The second company came out and sanded the floor of a closet and reapplied stain and 3 coats of poly to ensure that it was the previous finish and not inherent to the wood. The test area showed that when done correctly no pinholes in the finish formed.

You should have your banisters stained at the same time. On the sheen we did satin. I can't remember the brand name because the wood floor person brought it, but I think it started with a "D."

I have white oak floors throughout. Pictures will tell us whether red oak was used. Please post a few.