Helpful discussion! I am installing hardwood on our top floor, and I'd like a good quality hardwood. The trouble is that I have an open staircase going upstairs with lots of railing on both sides of the open hallway. I pulled up the existing carpet upstairs and realized that I only have 1/2 inch between the carpet and the railing. The hardwood contractor says that I'll have to go with 3/8 inch engineered hardwood; If I don't, the new floor will be higher than the railings. Alternatively, the railings will all have to be pulled out and their height increased-which will cost thousands. My question is this: Are these the only two options? 3/8" hardwood or raise the railings? Since we have a dog, I am a bit concerned about getting a flooring product with a 2 mm wear layer.

As stated above, mixing manufacturers can be tricky. DuraSeal works well with water based finishes because DuraSeal MAKES water based finishes. Minwax does not. Minwax produces oil based finishes that are illegal in 11 states. Bona is MUCH more expensive than either DuraSeal and most definitely more than Minwax. I am extremely pleased to see a professional reach for Bona stain for Bona Finish. That tells me all I need to know. @Design2 girl - If you are getting used to the colour (as it is) then feel free to see if a small discount can be given for leaving it in place. If you feel this is not the colour you want to live with, then you will need to have it sanded off and start fresh. A double application of stain is a NO-NO in the flooring industry. The second coat can and will PREVENT bonding of the finish to the wood! That means you run the risk of the floor pealing like a sun burn! Yep. In a few days to a few months the whole thing could slough off like snake skin. Not pretty. Personally I like the colour as it is right now. This mid-tone cool brown (not much yellow/orange) is very desirable. I would put down some satin finish over top and enjoy a very handsome floor.

I paid to have an independent, certified flooring inspector come in to evaluate my floors. His final report noted that the pinholes were caused by an improper finish. The flooring contractor applied 2 coats of polyurethane on the same day and did not allow sufficient time for the first coat to fully dry before they applied the second coat. The inspector noted a hazed appearance in numerous areas that were indicative of the previous coat not being fully dry before the second coat was applied. The wood was not a number 2 grade selection and the inspector contacted a technical adviser from the National Wood Flooring Associate and he said that there was nothing inherent to the red oak that would have caused the extensive pinholing in the finish that was observed and that this was due to either incompatible finish products being used or improper application procedures. I had a second company come in and redo the entire refinish - sanding down to bare wood and reapplying stain and 3 coats of poly and there are no pinhole visible on any floors in the house. The fact that the issue could be corrected by completing redoing the work lends credence to the original job having been poorly done. The original company tried applying a 4th coat of polyurethane but this did nothing to fix the pinholes. If you look at page 59 of this PDF, pinholes can appear in the finish of a floor if the previous coat was not fully dry (http://www.crescenthardwood.com/nwfa/ProblemsCauses.pdf). The bottom line was that I was out a lot of money from the first contractor, which was a large reputable company in my area, because they refused to fix the issue or even test to see if their finish job was the issue and had to go through the aggravation of having the entire job redone. The second company came out and sanded the floor of a closet and reapplied stain and 3 coats of poly to ensure that it was the previous finish and not inherent to the wood. The test area showed that when done correctly no pinholes in the finish formed.

A Red Oak floor can be bleached so that it turns a silvery gray (very light). This is expensive. It adds another $2/sf on to sand/refinish. The average price for sand/refinish = $5/sf. That means your chosen colour (with bleaching) is going to be about $7/sf. That's it. That's all. Everything included. Compare that to a factory finished floor identical to your inspiration photo: $7-$12/sf (depending on how wide the plank is...wider is more expensive). Now you have to pay for the original wood to be ripped out ($1-$2/sf depending on if it is nailed or glued). Subfloor prep is another $1-$3/sf (depending on if it was nailed or glued). And then the installation = $3- $5/sf (depending on if it is nailed or glued). Whew. Makes the $7/sf refinishing price pretty attractive doesn't it? The REALLY pricey bit: the stairs. That is going to run MUCH more than dealing with hardwood. It takes a VERY special wood worker to get the railing and the treads to match the colour. It is long, tedious work. The floor isn't the part I would worry about. I would be VERY nervous about the stairs. That is going to cost and arm and a leg to refinish.