Thanks so much for the information. I'll check out those brands, but I recall seeing a couple of them in the store. I saw Hartco in the store but it was higher priced. Also, some of them may not have had the finish I'm looking for...I'd like a finish that is somewhat shiny, not flat, and many of the floors I saw in the store only came in a flat finish. Maybe the brands you mentioned are in that category, but I'll check. I am working with a knowledgeable salesperson at a local store, and she seems to have a wide range of products and is showing them all to me, but I'll also check your website. Any more suggestions are appreciated! Thanks again - Susan

I prefer site finished. It is easier to refinish when it needs it. Your friend has probably done "buff and coat" procedures. This is normally done ONCE and then a FULL sand and refinish. If your friend has been doing the buff and coat MORE THAN once, then she's doing it "wrong" (could be "right" for her, but it isn't the regular way for hardwood). Traditionally the FULL sand and refinish occurs around the 20 year mark. So the floors, after 20 years SHOULD look like this. That's kinda what tells you "it's time". A buff and coat only adds a coat of finish (to freshen up the floor). It doesn't "correct" anything. The FULL sand and refinish will do 10 TIMES more for the look of the floor than a buff and coat. The sand/refinish will strip the old finish off and then carve off 1-2mm of WOOD. That means 99.9% of all dings and gouges will be taken care of. The "dirt and food in between" (the planks) is MUCH MORE likely to occur with factory finished floors. These floors have bevelled edges (a little shoulder on every plank that creates little valleys between each plank). But it can occur with floors SHRINKING from LOW humidity. The floor can create little gaps between planks. That's normal if the humidity is too low or is uncontrolled. The THINNER the plank, the LESS the wood will/can shrink. That's why narrow/strip hardwood is the BEST option for uncontrolled humidity. Those big, beautiful, expensive, wide plank products that are SUPER trendy = not an option for uncontrolled humidity. A factory finished hardwood (with Aluminum Oxide = AO) is going to be SUPER expensive to refinish and here's why. The AO finish is SOOOO tough (how tough is it SJ?). It is SOOOO tough it takes 2-3 TIMES the amount of effort/material to strip it from the wood floor. Once the AO is gone, the wood turns into a normal hardwood floor. And just for fun, the 'refresh' buff and coat is almost IMPOSSIBLE to do. Even the toughest finish looks tired around the 15 year mark. Sadly, AO finishes often prevent a recoat (the finish is chemically very slick...almost nothing sticks to it = HELL to add '1 coat'). The average cost of a full sand/refinish = $5/sf. The average cost of a sand/refinish of AO = $7-$9/sf. Yes. It is THAT TOUGH to remove. A traditional buff and coat = $2.50 - $3/sf. So if you do the math, the site finished hardwood may cost a bit more on day 1....but by year 30 it will be MUCH cheaper/easier to deal with/live with. It allows you to freshen up the finish around year 15 (if you wish). It allows for a routine sand/refinish without adding a HIGHER COST of labour. So "cost effective" today can be much more costly by the time you plan on refinishing. In fact, so many people look at the extra costs and figure a new floor is cheaper....and they are right. Sigh...so there goes the idea of using up all the life on the hardwood (3/4" solid hardwood). That goes out the window when the owner realizes the costs are much higher and they choose to rip it out and throw it out; thus negating the benefit of a solid hardwood!

@kenuss I believe mine is laguna vibes driftwood, I'm out of town until tomorrow but I can confirm that when I get home. Yes, I'm still very happy with it and get lots of compliments. No one knows it isn't full through real wood. It cleans beautifully. If something sticky drips in cracks you I may need to use a microfiber cloth by hand here or there but that is rare. It does have a lot of texture throughout each board with tiny grooves if you haven't actually seen a piece in person. I have 2 dogs and a parrot and other than sweeping it with a cordless hard floor vacuum with a soft roller in it a couple times a week for dog hair, beach sand & dust and moist mopping with a microfiber mop with sprayer or my mopping machine occasionally it doesn't need anything heavy duty or time consuming.

Don't be devastated. Just don't. You have new floors, and it sounds like the color/tone is right, just too many knots. I personally think color/tone (and of course, choosing the right material and quality that will serve your needs) is way more important to the overall look and feel of your space, than whether your floor has more knots than you wished. This is where you need to work with managing your expectations and seeing the big picture. My advice is to focus on layering in your rugs (plenty of them) and furniture, and coordinating your paint and artwork to create the entire effect. Forget about the knots. Everyone else who sees them will not know you didn't intend them. Truly, decorating regrets are what brought me to these forums in the first place, many years ago: I would obsess about choosing one item of decor in my house, and usually dislike it for a reason that I had never considered when shopping: lessons learned. Money spent on a sofa with an inadvisable color; terrible paint choices; and much more $$ spent that didn't work out as planned. But what I now realize from the excellent designers who give advice in these forums is that the decor and design and feel of a space come from the totality of everything in it. Don't focus on just the one thing you don't like: learn from it, design around it as a professional would, and create a whole effect and feel from everything else you layer in. Does this make sense? Just work with it. You can do it.