There are numerous quality brands. Our #1 brand is Mirage. They make a nice product and have a fair amount of variety. That said, I don't see much in the way of truly bad flooring. In prefinished we carry Harris, Anderson (some recent reports of lower quality), Mannington (ditto), Armstrong/Hartco, Kahrs, Ark, Homerwood, Johnson, Bella Cera, Navarre, Garrison, Hallmark, Triangulo and Columbia. Each has decent offerings. My feeling is that if one can find an ideal floor that's prefinished, it has valid advantages. To be clear, we also do unfinished floors and refinishing.

Yes, it is being installed perpendicular. I know it's not the ideal... but in the interest of time and budget, it's what we've landed on. We are likely going to do an engineered floor on top, to eliminate a little bit of the extra height. I would (just for my own knowledge on what to expect) love to hear the cons of this method, even if we're likely to do it anyway :) And it is a wood subfloor - so just add plywood ontop of that until it becomes flush is what I'm hearing. Thank you!

It's pretty widely accepted that most dishout is caused by the big machine. After you Trio the floor, there isn't enough screening done to cause dishout and as I pointed out, the weight of the buffer divided by the area sanded doesn't provide enough pressure to cause dishout with a 100 or 120 grit screen. I seriously doubt I could cause dishout even if I tried. I also haven't experienced the release of grit on the floor as you claim but I'm mainly buffing with using dust pickup. Perhaps if one was not using the Trio and was buffing with a heavier grit sandpaper for a longer period of time to eliminate ripples or chatter, I could see it, but in that case one should be using a hardplate. Even then the screening process after the hardplate isn't aggressive or extensive enough to cause dishout. Perhaps you're using the term "screening" to refer to the entire process done after the edging and big machine work. If so, I can see your point. http://www.hardwoodfloorsmag.com/component/com_kunena/Itemid,292/catid,6/id,404/view,topic/

It would show up right away, not over time. Look into Bona sealers and urethane. They have three sealers that achieve various levels of a raw wood look, ClassicSeal, NordicSeal and NaturalSeal. These can be coated over with a non-yellowing finish like Mega HD or Traffic. The key to avoiding tannin pull is quite easy, apply the first coat very thin and make sure there's no runs, puddles or drips. I've seen people here recommend a few other products that maintain the raw look but I haven't used them and can't recall the names but if you search under NordicSeal at the top the threads should pop up.