If the baseboard or shoe mould is painted, i guess you could carefully caulk and paint the base or shoe. Other than that, the bottom edge of the base or shoe would have to be meticulously scribed which not too many would be willing to tackle that project. Another avenue would be to shave down flat the flooring where the base or shoe makes contact, but again a lot of effort. I think it's one of those things you live with and probably forget about after awhile because i dont think the gapping is going to be that severe. As far as drafts or dust, i never heard of the base or shoe moulding being a deterint for those, it's all about how the exterior is treated with house wraps, caulking under the sill plates on slabs, air infiltration issues in general that keep those problems to a minimum. This is expected on new builds and would have to be addressed on older, less tight homes.

I'd say keep looking for the perfect floor. Maybe try different stores or brands?? If you think of it as "wavy" now, I would guess that after having it in your house for a long time that the "waves" won't go away but would keep bothering you.

I don't see any problem at all...the dogs are going to add to the distressing of the handscraped product...and all you'll have to do in the future is to clean real good (use one of the no sand preparation products, such as TyKote by Basic Coatings or Prep by BonaKemi) and recoat with one of their two-part waterborne polyurethanes. It'll be a cinch! But, by the time you need a recoat, there probably will be newer preparation products on the market.

I don't think the stores have a clue what they are talking about when it comes to flooring. They recommend laminate and look how many people HATE their laminate in their kitchen compared to how many people hate their wood floor. I've only met one in the latter catagory. Plus, I found that once I made my choice (solid wood), the very same guy who was detering me from solid wood was suddenly endorsing it as being a fine choice. Another thing about not being able to sand and re-do handscrapped is that I think ANYTHING is possible if you want it bad enough. If it's solid wood, it should be able to be refinished, even if in the process it goes from handscraped to flat. Oh well - it will still be pretty. I would not hesitate to strap on a respirator and sand the floor myself and then bring in someone to apply the finish if the floors needed it bad enough and that's what I wanted to do. I don't care what they say. It's pesimistic, naysayer mindset to say you "can't" do something. Anything can be done. I think another aspect is expectation. You can't expect your wood floor to look exactly the same 6 years later as the day it's installed unless you are family with no kids and pets and no accidents of any nature who only wears socks and vaccuums up dirt a couple times a day. But that's the beauty of wood to me - even beat up, it still looks pretty good. Truthfully, our 12 yr old oak entry has some deep gouges in it, there are scratches everywhere, the finish is worn in areas, etc...and whenever I mention how terrible of shape our wood is in, nobody believes me. They say it looks great. I have to actually point out the gouges and even then they really don't see it. Now what looks terrible to me is linolium once it starts getting gouges in it. I have to mention that my mom has had site finished white oak for the last 16 years and it's worn with dents and stuff, but it still looks great.