We are having a professional come and give us a quote tomorrow to refinish our existing red oak floors, add (extend) the red oak into the living room and possibly install it on the stairs. We have two dogs (thick nails) and get traffic from the deck to the breakfast area (Colorado snow). What questions should we be asking? We want it stained a bit darker and want a very good, strong finish for the top coat (he mentioned something about commercial grade to use when I initially called him). Thanks.

Yes. I have sanded and finished subflooring for customers. Really no different from any other flooring finish work, except that you have to consider the fact that it happens to be a single construction floor system and, therefore, you have to take steps to protect what is below the floor when you sand and then apply stains and finishes. Anything you do above to the floor surface can easily find its way down to the space below...dust, stain and finish. You have to sink any top nails below the surface of the wood before you sand and continue to punch them below when necessary. You probably can never remove all tar paper lines and staining, but that is OK, as the floor will have a great look all by itself. I have finished these natural and stained a few. I also colored one green once at a customer's request. That one was unique and beautiful.

I'm curious to see the replies. My son almost bought an older house, 1951, the wood under the carpet is about 2"wide strips looks like solid wood, but seems to have a lot of nails. Is that how it was done back then? I wondered how it would look if he had them finished, but he backed out of the deal after the inspection. We are about to tear out decent wood because the sun has faded it and since it is not a big area it would cost a lot to refinish, and I hear the refinished floor would need to be done again much sooner than a new prefinished. I wish I could take out the old wood in a way that it could be used by someone, but I think it will get wrecked. The store I am using charges $3 sf to install it, the wood price obviously varies. They use their own employees, no subs, and did a nice job on our mbr and hall, so I will use them even though I dont know what an independent installer would charge. My maple will cost $5.54 sf, plus install.

I do this for a living in an area with very finicky clients, so my standards may be a little different than some. I'm pragmatic but do recognize that appearance and feel of a floor is important. I don't think the sealer and stain will cause a problem, but personally, I would not like it. My White Oak master bedroom floor was finished about 15 years ago with BonaSeal and maybe Pacific Strong Silkmat, which is inferior to Traffic. It's held up well but does have some scuffs and dings where some a/c ducting was dropped from the ceiling. It would not have benefitted from an extra coat of finish. Had it been finished with a stain and four coats, I think the dings and scuffs, and scratches from our dog, would be more apparent. If I was to move the furniture and recoat the floor, it would look quite good, except for the dings. What kind of wood is your floor?