Your builder is wrong and he should have covered the floor. Also, I just wanted to comment that we are a shoes on house and all of our friends have shoes on houses (for guests anyway) and we (and as far as I know my friends) have not had any damage to our floors from shoes, including high heels (but I don't recall anyone wearing stilleto heels in our house, although I have worn high heels with the larger or 1/3" or so sqare and I am 5'11" tall and weigh well over 100 lbs:). The finish on our floor does have small scratches (just in the finish) from my boys dragging our 80 pound golden retrieve across the floor when our golden retriever had his claws out resisting. We have site finished qs oak floors with an oil finish and it is my understanding that the factory finishes are supposed to be more durable than what we have. However, the finishes on prefinished wood are really hard and any hard surface can chip when something metal with a sharp edge is dropped on it like saws, screw drivers, levels, tool belts, etc. and will get gouges in it if heavy objects with sharp edges are dragged across it like table saws, boxes with staples on them, etc. Your builder is dreaming (and really lazy) if he really believes that hardwood floors (and vinyl--the vinyl at our old house got a cut in it when the plumber dropped a big metal wrench on it that had a sharp edge) do not need to be protected during construction.

Yes, I have the perfect solution without having to use one of those mats. We got special casters that do not hurt the floor. We had a new hardwood floor in our last house (Bruce engineered oak, gluedown on concrete) and we have a new hardwood floor in this house (site-finished hand-scraped oak, naildown on plywood over concrete). In both cases the casters have not laid a single mark on the floor, and I am a big girl. Before we replaced the hardwood (long story, different issue) in our last house, the original casters on my Bradington-Young chair had done damage to the hardwood. Only drawback is that they are not brass, they are something like chrome. I figured I would have them brass plated, or do some kind of custom faux finish on them myself, but very honestly we put them on and I haven't noticed once the material. It is overpowered by the beautiful chair above it. And I'm picky. Sorry I do not remember the name or number of these casters but if you contact Service Master and tell them the situation, they'll know. www.servicecaster.com Lee Kaspy (lkaspy@servicecaster.com) helped us. This was about three or four years ago, not sure if he is still there, but he was fabulous. The set of five casters was up around $100 maybe more maybe less, but completely worth it. BTW, if you have hardwood glued on concrete, apparently you shouldn't put a vinyl mat over it because it traps the moisture. Here is a link that might be useful: Service Caster

Agree. Get a clear smooth one and NOT one with those dimples for grabbing carpet underneath or it will look like someone went running in golf shoes under your desk. Put your nice area rug UNDER the pad.

The manufacturer of our floor does not say to not use water. As I stated before, I get the mop very slightly damp. No water sits on the floor, etc. I am not getting the floors any *wetter* than I would with a spray product. And the amount of vinegar I use is very dilluted to the amount of water, so no problem there. These floors have been down 11 years - and still look great. I have heard the BONA products are good, have not tried them. I don't use alot of product on the floors, actually. Our floors are not meant to look shiney, I don't particularly care for that look. They have a nice aged patina and are very easy to care for. That's a good idea Johnmari about the swiffer and a microfiber cloth - but the dustmop I bought has such a larger *head* than the swiffer, that I prefer to use it. Since we are big into recycling and reducing trash, I do not use swiffer cloths at all. tina