I did not mean to let this thread drop. I want to say again, thank you all so much for your support. Greendesigns, that is probably the nicest offer of help from a perfect stranger I've ever received. And if you ever do roadtrip near Portland, hit Heirloom Roses in St Paul Oregon. :) Update---I did insist they refinish the floors. The GC told me the flooring guy agreed to "take care of the floors" which when pushed I discovered they were going to "repair" (which they'd already claimed to have done) rather than "refinish." I expressed concern over this to GC. They did the repairs last week. The spots are still there. :( Many/most of the spots are greatly lessoned/gone, but the worst spots (the ones in front of the front door and an area in the dining room) are still visible. It was because of those two areas that I insisted upon getting the floors redone. Obviously, I'm not happy and the GC knows this. (I'm sure the floor guy is not happy either because he's now invested another day on this job.) GC told me Thursday that he needed to talk to the floor guy and see what our next step is and I've not heard back yet. I'm sure his next step will be to tell me to shove it. You all understand--this is so exhausting--this has already delayed us moving in for several weeks, we missed our deadline of being in the house before school started because we made the floors a priority. And they're still not fixed! I gave floor guy 2 opportunities to fix it... what would you all do at this point? I am now done-stick a fork in me. I will live with those ridiculous spots--that never should have been there, had he done a careful job in the first place--but I refuse to pay this guy as if he did a good job. He did not do a good job and has shown he is not able to fix it. Does this seem reasonable...I am thinking that I should pay floor guy for materials and installation, but not the line item for finishing? That gives me the option to get them refinished properly later (I know it's a hassle) but then I am not seething that I've paid for/accepted an unacceptable job. What do you think?

Actually unfinished engineered is rare. And thus generally MORE expensive than already finished. It generally is only for domestic woods too. No exotics. I can find unfinished engineered oak all day long for $6-7 a square. And pre finished at the same quality level for less. Moving up the scale, you can find higher quality custom produced unfinished engineered, but you’ll. Be in the $15-$20 a square for that. Anything ouside the norm, or produced in smaller quantities, will be more expensive. Have your builder give you the $2 a square credit that he’s likely hiring out to hacks and have a flooring professional install prefinished. It will be days faster and no VOC’s to deal with. The Janka scale was not invented by the internet. What a ridiculous statement. That makes you look like either a wiseass or an ignoramus. And you are supposed to be in the wood field? An Austrian named Gabriel Janka created it in 1906, and it’s an ASTM standard and has been for years. But hardness only one small piece of the puzzle in how a floor wears. It’s not one to hang your hat on and live and die by.

As stated above, mixing manufacturers can be tricky. DuraSeal works well with water based finishes because DuraSeal MAKES water based finishes. Minwax does not. Minwax produces oil based finishes that are illegal in 11 states. Bona is MUCH more expensive than either DuraSeal and most definitely more than Minwax. I am extremely pleased to see a professional reach for Bona stain for Bona Finish. That tells me all I need to know. @Design2 girl - If you are getting used to the colour (as it is) then feel free to see if a small discount can be given for leaving it in place. If you feel this is not the colour you want to live with, then you will need to have it sanded off and start fresh. A double application of stain is a NO-NO in the flooring industry. The second coat can and will PREVENT bonding of the finish to the wood! That means you run the risk of the floor pealing like a sun burn! Yep. In a few days to a few months the whole thing could slough off like snake skin. Not pretty. Personally I like the colour as it is right now. This mid-tone cool brown (not much yellow/orange) is very desirable. I would put down some satin finish over top and enjoy a very handsome floor.

Have you looked at Hallmark’s lines? They have 3mm face thickness, wider plank and nice finish options. You couldn’t be convinced to do 5” wide white oak solid stained on site? That’s why I asked about thickness. Sometimes engineered is better because the overall product thickness is less than 3/4 solid and meets site goals (like door clearances and such)....but if you don’t have those restrictions then solid wood is always the better and gives you a lot more leeway with stain options - not to mention if you ever need to repair an area due to a flood or whatnot then you’d be happy you chose the site finish which can always be patched in. Engineered choice will most likely not be available so solid is always a better resale choice. But I understand about your wish for a wider plank. We also wanted that but had to do engineered and chose American Relics. This product is not 3mm thick unfortunately as our budget did not allow for that. But if we could have done solid we would have. Good luck!