Thats what the water popping does, it opens the grain, which leads to what you see.

Read here.

I believe your floor is white oak. I avoid staining white oak,especilly staining dark when possible. I would clear it natural or in a light shade. At any rate,next time do a sample before going all in.

For decades, most hardwood floors have been white oak. I've had floors refinished multiple times in multiple houses over the past 40 years and I'd never before heard of "water popping", nor was it done on my floors. I like a nice, tight grain and it appears that water opens up and coarsens the grain. I would not be happy with that.

Having said this, I've never stained my floors with a dark stain - always done a mid-tone, custom stain. Perhaps that makes the difference. I certainly would have wanted a sample of this before they did it and I'd be inclined to make them re-sand the floors and do them over.

Millworkman's link to "water popping" seems to skip a critical step in the finishing process, the sanding step after dampening the floor. This is a procedure I always follow when finishing anything that has been sanded-- sand to final grit, lightly dampen the wood to raise the grain, then come back with the final sanding grit for a *very light* final sanding (usually by hand) to knock off the material fuzzed up by the water. This step is essential for water-based finishes, lest you end up with a rough final finish.

Mary, the flooring is very beautiful. How much uniformity are you looking for? The Rift & Quartered grain is stunning. Do you have a comparison photo we can see?

I am sorry, you are not happy with the floors, but, I agree, they are beautiful. I love that you can see all the graining.

Here is a shot of a similar Rift & Quartered grain White Oak floor. Its got a medium brown stain. It was not water popped and you can still see the natural variation between planks.

Wood comes from trees. Different parts of the trees. Entirely different trees. Different forests for different trees. Different states for different trees. And wood behaves like wood.

You can have all the uniformity you want if you choose plastic. Maybe laminate would have been a better choice for you, rather than real wood.

Thst looks like real wood, and has behaved like real wood. And it’s great looking.

You just need rugs and furniture.

I’d love to have those White Oak floors with that grain variation. Awesome floors.

In my experience, when you go with this just past mid-level of darkness, it really brings out the difference in the grain patterns from plank to plank. A lighter or darker color would have camoflauged that, but this tone accentuates it. That said, I have the same look on my floors and love it! Like Sophie said, get your furnishings in and see if you even notice it anymore.

Thats Oak. Oak has a heavy grain. If you didn't want any grain Maple would have been the choice to make. I think they're beautiful. Lucky you!