OK I explain. It is a floating floor what we call in the UK engineered floor, so it is not solid throughout but a thickness of the wood mounted on a plywood base. It is a Malaysian wood, not so hard, so I suppose high heels could dent it perhaps, it is not the hardest. It is a click system not requiring glue, interesting. Now from Malaysia it says it has five factory coatings of which some contain aluminium oxide. It got worn out over the years. So a year ago I sanded the wood with the machines with the correct paper and vacuumed well. Then I applied one coat of Bona Traffic silk, you know the glossy one. I then noticed a number of parts were very coarse to the touch. So after some hours I sanded again with slightly finer paper but still coarse. Now I applied again Bona. Once again certain areas were coarse to the touch and you could see stains. So now I did a final very fine sanding but this was by hand with very fine paper particularly in the areas affected. It took me hours. Then I applied the third coat. I called the Bona representative who was at a loss!!! He gave me a bottle of Bona "refresh" it is a type of product to do another pass over. I applied it to the worse parts of the floor. Although one could see areas which were coarse to the touch and which did not look quite right the shine was sufficient to fool guests for Christmas. Now I am exactly one year on. In those area I mentioned there are now black marks. I attach some photos of the present situation with example of the black marks. (sorry I do not know how to create a new thread). I want to sand it and apply Bona again before New Year when my mother is visiting, my wife will just about tolerate me sanding on the 27th Dec. I had the suspicion it was the Bona product maybe the bottle I bought was old or had been exposed to low temperatures where I bought it from but the Bona representative told me it was very unlikely to be the case.

Right now, I'm back to the Wiccanders floating: the actual patterned layer of cork seems thicker. I still haven't seen the 'good stuff' of theirs with the finish containing ceramics, but that one has me spooked because it can only be re-finished by a Wiccanders approved company, you can't just buy it and apply it yourself. That could relate to their pattent, though: maybe it will become available down the road. I like the Durodesign glue down too, though: very cushy, and I'd like the option of having a little more pattern than the floating stuff. Less impressed by Simple floors and the others, though. Not only is the face layer of cork thin, the cushion layer is thin, too. The upside of the simple floors version is that the finish is kind of grainy and matte: much less slippery than the others. The tounge and grove of their engineered seems to be the same as for Globus natural cork, which I don't have a sample of. Yet.

Regardless of finish, or the contractor you pick, please check out his work on other houses and get some feedback from other home owners. I would ask to see some places he has worked on too.

I always say that an NWFA Certified Sanding/Refinishing professional will cost $5/sf. That would include the 2-part Water based polyurethane finish (option #2). The price is a good one for the amount of square footage. But it comes down to the BRAND! The UV Cured water based polyurethane is an intriguing option. Not many professionals offer this! Colour me impressed. The UV curing is EXCELLENT because it is SUPER TOUGH and it is EXTREMELY FAST. The time out of the home is GREATLY reduced. Once the final coat is done the entire PROJECT is done. No waiting. The extra cost you add into the project REDUCES the amount of costs you have to put out for your hotel bill. Depending on your personal situation, the extra $1500 for the UV cured floors could be extremely valuable. Or you could value the $1500 in your pocket and enjoy your 7-10 day 'stay-cation' in your local hotel (in my neck of the woods, we pay over $150/NIGHT to stay in a hotel...and that's a mediocre hotel...nothing fancy. Just two beds and a TV). Depending on the product they use, your prices are right on target for a very good finish.