Sounds like you need a screening and a recoat .

After reading the various threads and looking at the pics, I'm sold for the basement but we're also considering it throughout the first floor. I'm concerned about resale (though it's would be decades away). The homes in our neighborhood are selling for $700,000+, and the expectation of course is high end everything. I'm considering putting this in the main living area too due to the ease of care and who knows what I'll like in 10 years? Our last home we had extensive use of hardwood. I loved the look but the constant worry, and no shoe policy was unpleasant. I want a house that we can live in. For as cheap as this stuff is, we couldn't even have the floors refinished, for what this stuff costs new. We currently have hardwood in the front foyer, front bath, dinette, kitchen, and laundry room (I wouldn't say the previous owner made a wise move on that decision). With all the remodeling though, much of the wood will be trashed anyway, so it's like we'd be starting from scratch. Are we crazy to even consider vinyl (even for a decade) when we can afford the real thing (installation and all), when the expectation is high end? It's only my husband, myself, and a little dog on a daily basis.

Magg5412 that's lovely! wow. It's been 3 years already since I posted my question and finally went with wood laminate that was less expensive than the luxury vinyl I wanted. We went with Pioneer laminate from Flooring Liquidators (sweetwater) my husband installed himself starting the day we got keys. The 18" tile floor the builder put in kitchen & baths looked so nice that my DH just wouldn't agree to ripping it up for my 'vision' of uninterrupted wood floors. (I just paid a service to steam clean all my ceramic tile where grout got too dirty for me to get it really clean--well worth it!) im in the middle of repainting inside of my house so no good pix. but the 3 years of wear on the laminate only shows where water got spilled near a plant and no one saw. Sweep. Mop. Done.

I would try to vacuum the worst of it up before your hardwood guys come. Even though they'll generate some dust (but nothing like I expected, they must use newer machines), you want to try to keep the area as dust-free as possible when it's time for the finish to go down. I recently went through this -- I didn't dust beforehand and saw a lot of bubbles and trapped particles in the finish. I called the floor guys back out to screen & poly (and then I dusted/vacuumed before they came), and the new finish is much better. I don't know if I made the difference giving them a much cleaner room to start with, or if they did a much better job cleaning up the dust before putting down poly (or both), but I'd say why take a chance -- get the worst of it off the counters, other surfaces, and maybe you'll improve your changes of getting a good finish on the floors.