just a general comment. If you don't want the grooves just find prefinished with a square edge. They do exist. You have the risk of 'overwood' but you won't have the 'grooves'. Personally I can't imagine how any of the new products with a 'kissed' edge could ever acculate enough dirt for you to be concerned about. Second the aluminum oxide finish put on factory finsihed is much harder and resistant to scratching than anything you can apply onsite, so to go to the trouble of installing a prefinished just to sand it all off makes little to no sense. If you were trying to make all the flooring 'blend' then site finished is really the better way to go.

We just went through the same scenario, except we were waiting for our 18 year old dog to go. We have existing oak floors which needed finishing and I wanted wood in the kitchen and family room, which adjoin the d/r wood. We opted to have it all done at once, new wood laid and old refinished. I know the finish isn't as strong when it's prefinished, but the advantage is it can be polished every few years, and boads can be replaced if they become damaged - my floor guy said you can't do that with prefinished. Each has its advantages, but I wanted the finishes to match as closely as possible. Except for the fact the new floor boards are wider, the colour is exactly the same. If you like a pretty close match, you might want to get them done in place.

See, in my past 2 experiences putting down pre-finished floors, the finish wasnt all that hard. The first time was red oak Bruce flooring. 2nd time was Lauzon birch. Both were pre-finished. And my dogs beat them to piss. I have a black lab and a 3-legged german shepard. I was hoping that by putting on 3 coats or so of a high-gloss that the dog(s) would have a harder time scratching up the floors. I found the finish on the pre-finished flooring to be quite thin.

its a common misconception that you can somehow make wood 'harder' to scratch by putting on more finish. Most factory finished have 5-7 'coats' of finish so don't know why you thoght the 'finish' was quite thin.

I thought the finish was thin because it was thin. Looking at a board from the side there didnt seem to be much finish at all. And it scratched so easily! I am sure my family is not easy on floors, but it seems like if the finish on pre-finished is that great, then it shouldnt end up looking like its 10 years old after just 1 year. Which is why this time I really wanted to have the floors finished on-site.

You won't find a site finish, that is as durable as aluminum oxide, found on the majority of prefinshed, these days. There are still some oilwax prefinished, but it is getting harder and harder to find.

Boy, have you been misinformed and led down the "site finished is better," BS line.

It's not better, it just has more options, to make it very custom.

You won't find a site finish, that is as durable as aluminum oxide, found on the majority of prefinshed, these days.

Not to mention it's applied by machine under perfect environmental conditions, something that generally can't be replicated on-site.

Unfinished that is finished on site and prefinished that is finished in a factory are two horses of different colors. I do both in my work. The aluminum oxide finishes that are factory applied to wood flooring are very difficult to see in cross section; the coats are extremely thin. Whereas site finished flooring is usually a three or four coat process and the coats are much thicker than those given to prefinished. By three coat or four coat process I mean one coat of a sealer or stain and then two or three coats of the finishing product on top of that.

There are some aluminum oxide finishes that have been developed for the sand and finish industry and some others with what the manufacturers describe as finishes with 'nano-technology', although I have not yet worked with either. I have worked with the two-part commercial waterborne finishes and I can tell you they are unbelievably durable, serviceable and attractive.

The appearance of each of these two hardwood flooring options is unique to the item. If you want the value-added concept of a solid hardwood floor finished on site and that is the look you want, then do unfinished now and finish with one of these quality hardwood flooring finishes.

Any expert floor finisher who does excellent work can give you an almost flaw-free floor. Unfortunately, we are difficult to find and we charge what the work is worth.

floorguy - I actually haven't been led down any BS line saying that site-finished is better. This is all from experience. My experience with the pre-finished flooring has been awful. I havent been to a flooring shop where someone has tried to get me to have them install and finish new hardwood. The past 2 times we have been looking for hardwood floors we have been steered towards pre-finished. And we bought pre-finished. And 6 months later I am left wondering why the floors have scratches all over them. So this time I would like to try un-finished. Except my husband doesnt want to deal with finishing floors 2 times.

It is unlikely that you will find the person you're looking for at a flooring shop.

I don't need to look for someone to do the refinishing. I already have the name of someone my SIL used who did a great job.

I think the misinformation was about screening and recoating a site finished and doing a board replacement. On site finished if you have a problem its much harder to do a single board replacement and have it blend. Most times you would have to resand the entrire floor to make it look good. With factory fiished a single board could be replaced without resanding adjoining areas. Either could be screened and recoated without sanding.
Comments about factory finishes scratching are sometimes due to the fact that with multi coat products the almunium oxide is left off the top coat. It tends to look milky and the idea is to make the top coat easy to repair when scratches occur so its often pure urethane with the AO below the top coat.

"Comments about factory finishes scratching are sometimes due to the fact that with multi coat products the almunium oxide is left off the top coat. It tends to look milky and the idea is to make the top coat easy to repair when scratches occur so its often pure urethane with the AO below the top coat."

Actually the scratches in an aluminum oxide finish are more noticed, because the aluminum, reflects light more than a finish without it.

No matter what finish is used, they will all scratch.

Hi all,
Sorry to revive an older thread, but I have the exact same question, and didn't quite get a clear answer from the posts. I am also interested in putting down pre-finished hardwood, and maybe in 10 years, refinishing it to get the groove-less site-finished look. Due to our contract, the labor for the pre-finished would be free, but site finished labor would cost me approximately $15-20 per sf (change orders!!) so I would rather go with pre finished now, then refinish at a later time. Don't want to argue with my contractor...after all, it IS a change...

In the experts' opinions, can you refinish the pre-finished flooring to get that site-finished look?

Tia!

Absolutely, we do it every week.

Thanks! That makes me feel much better about my decision! Also nice to wait till the kids are older...

but site finished labor would cost me approximately $15-20 per sf (change orders!!)

Yowza! Remind me to give my GC a big hug for not being a jerk about change orders!

That change order is unconscionable.

Just wondering...even in one of the most expensive markets in the U.S., what would be an approximate per sf cost for site finished, 3 coats hardwood flooring? I've seen ads on craigslist for pre-finished installation of $3/sf in my market, but am not sure of going rate for site finished. One of my friends had it done about 5 years ago, and paid about $17/sf, but I think that INCLUDED her Brazilian cherry wood.
I do thank you all for putting my mind at ease with my decision...now to shop for some higher end pre-finished hardwood... I hear Mirage or Lauzon are good brands.