We had unfinished Brazilian teak floor installed in a kitchen/dining room remodel in 2012. We have had no problems of any gaping and absolutely love it. Also, the installation was a breeze for the contractor who is our son-in-law. In 2017 we remodeled the master bedroom suite with walk-in closet and again installed Brazilian teak. Flooring material was purchase from the same dealer and installed by the same contractor on both projects. The wood had more than 7 months in the room it was to be installed in to acclimate to the indoor environment. Our son-in-law had a lot of problems with the installation on the bedroom project. Installing the flooring took more man hours and we are convinced that the second batch of wood came from a different supplier. It seemed to be a lower quantity even though we were told that it came from the same supplier. There are some gaps but after having the salesman we dealt with inspect the flooring he had them filled before his finisher completed his work. We absolutely love the floor in both areas and wouldn’t hesitate to use the same material if we were to ever move.

I quit using mineral spirits (paint thinner) to remove glue because the manufacturers adhesive removal cleaner is far and away better. That said, mineral spirits should not harm the finish but it does tend to leave a dullish film that will need to be cleaned off.

acountryfarm, I just love your Travertine tile! I love the various sizes and the colors. Real stone is truly beautiful. I am thinking of going with Porcelain Tile that looks like Travertine or tumbled marble in the kitchen or vinyl or Linoleum tile. I love the look of hardwood in the kitchen but My 4 little furkidz are let in and out of the sliding door by the kitchen solid wood table and I do not want to worry about damaging the floors. Right now I have Linoleum sheet floors in a very light color that is actually pretty but they are old (I bought my home 11 years and they were here and my home is 18 years old so I am not sure how old they are) and need to be replaced due to some damage on them. I love how I can spill anything on them and they wipe right up with no staining. They are so easy to take care of. But now I want something that is not worn on the edges by the door and by the walls and is rich and beautiful like your floor or light and happy like Brutuses kitchen floor. My kitchen opens up to the family room that right now has beige carpet but I hope to change it out to a hardwood floor but keep going back and forth between Brazilian Cherry versus Amendoim. I love the colors of the Brazilian Cherry and how rich it looks but I love that the Amendoim barely darkened up when I left the samples outside in direct sunlight for several days.

I had med-dark floors and what made them look dirty was the sheen! I believe chinchette. They were engineered wood and they were so smooth you could see footprints in sunlight with CLEAN feet right out of the bath not even wet. Drove me nuts. I've been wanting to go with real wood (handscraped with a little tonal variation to hide dings/scratches). I may consider engineered if I can get it in a matte finish, because the engineered held up beautifully in my previous kitchen, and I'm worried about a true hardwood in that area. It will be one or the other, I love wood floors. My friend had a darker almost espresso floor, now those you had to dust all the time to keep looking clean.