Hello, We'd be happy to provide some information to help with your hardwood floor renovation. Question #1 - is it Ok to use Duraseal stain and coat with Bona HD seal? Bona’s line-up of water based sealers and finishes generally are compatible with most wood stains, including DuraSeal. As with any stain it is important the stain is completely dry before applying a finish. Please be sure to read the label carefully as the dry time for stains will depend on the color. Some colors can take multiple days to dry vs others that may dry in a few hours. When blending two or more colors together you should default to the longest dry time of the colors used to ensure no drying issues. When mixing different brands of stain and finish coats we recommend doing a small test area to ensure compatibility and desired appearance. To clarify, Bona doesn’t make a product called Bona HD seal, but we do have a number of sealers and finishes and they all can be used over stain. Your contractor can help you select the best finish system to meet your needs. Question #2 - I understand with white oak you have to apply sealant BEFORE you stain your floor? So how does it work? Sand, then put sealant on (Bona?) and stain and seal AGAIN? Please do not apply a sealant before you stain the floor. Bona’s DriFast stain as well as the Minwax and DuraSeal stains are penetrating stains and must be applied to raw wood for them to work properly. If the floor is sealed prior to the stain application the stain has nowhere to go and will not look right and will create adhesion issues when you apply the finish coats. If the floor is stained with Bona’s DriFast stain you may apply either a sealer and finish coats or go straight to finish coats. If you use another brand of stain please refer to their label directions if they require a sealer prior to finish. The reason you may choose to use a sealer and finish coats has to do with appearance. Adding in an extra layer with the sealer can provide a little more build and depth to the floor and on white oak can help reduce reactions and bleed thru from the natural tannins. Question #3 - below are some stain colors that I like in Duraseal-Minwax. What Bona stain color combo can replicate the looks? We can't answer this question directly, as we do not have samples of competitor product blends. However, Bona’s DriFast Stain Collection comes in 26 stock colors and they are blendable to achieve any custom look. Please visit bona.com/inspiration to see the many color options we have available. If you have any further questions, please call our Technical Services Team at 800-872-5515. Thank you and have a wonderful day!

Okay, that all lines up with the other reading I've done. Although I have no idea how I missed that ClassicSeal is only for raw wood...it even says on the bottle not to put it over bona stains. I wanted to use the sealer since I've read that it helps prevent tannin bleeding in oak...which is what our floors are. Have you ever have issues with that? If it's not an issue I'd prefer to just put the bona mega one right on top of the verathane once it's dry. And lastly, how long can you leave the wood exposed between the final sanding and applying stain? I know the wood can change color a bit and maybe even close up a bit making it hard to absorb stain. We were going to apply the stain tonight but that would be a little over 48 hours since we finished sanding Thanks so much for your thoughts, it's a bit help!

Replace nosing to match new flooring.

There are no major issues by not sealing over stain coats. Most stain coats are designed to seal. So, if, it is not required, you do not need to use it. If, you want a better build and protection, add a additional coat of poly - Bona HD coat.