You will need to start with the correct wood specie and that's white oak. The cost of white oak is higher than red oak. About $0.50 per square feet more for 2 1/4" strips. This will be most likely an upgrade in your contract.

The easiest way to get the look you want with an inexperience finish is to use two or three coats of Loba's pre-color white and 1 coat of Loba's gray stain. Then apply Loba's invisible over it.

The pre-color white will give you a nice light base to start with, so your gray stays light.

Bona's Nordic seal or natural is tricky for inexperienced finishers.

All these finishes will be an upgrade in your contract.

This is super helpful! I saw that someone did 50:50 of Minwax “Classic gray” and “Simply white”. Is this something that is recommended? And do you need to put a sealant before you stain this also?

I told the builder you need to seal white oak before staining and he was saying I am wrong. He also said he is not going to hire someone else just because I want to use water based finish. He also said his guy is capable and it should not be that hard for him to use water base vs oil base.

Below image is the Minwax formula I mentioned above.

"I told the builder you need to seal white oak before staining and he was saying I am wrong."

When you tell him how to do his job, you take ownership of the problems when they arise.

What's with this builder you seem to be having many issues with him?

He is a solid reputable builder in the area who has done most of the homes in this particular expensive neighborhood in our area. I think the problem is that he has been doing more traditional homes and is not experienced in natural finishes or modern exterior etc...

hawami , you make a great point. He may be the best builder on earth but if he is not savvy on floor finishes this may be outside his realm of expertise. Bona Nordic Seal with 2x or 3x coats would most likely give you the look you want over White Oak. This wont be an inexpensive floor mind you.

Thank you @Oak & Broad. we do want to keep the cost down. Do you recommend maybe doing a light stain? We are ok with stain as long as it’s not dark. I saw Bona Birch (?) that looked nice. And again 50:50 mixture of Classic Gray and Simply White in Minwax looks good. Do you then just stain and seal the normal way?

White Oak is KNOWN for tannin bleed. That's when the orangey-yellow tones in the wood pull to the surface when a WATER based finish is used. This is unavoidable unless you use a sealant. Something like Bona Nordic Seal will do TWO THINGS: It will offer a slightly silver colour while SEALING the White Oak. You can then top this with 3 coats of Bona Traffic HD for one of the toughest floors in industry.

To compare costs of product ALONE:

Minwax stains = $20/quart (covers 150sf; or 600sf per gallon)

Bona Traffic HD = $130+ gallon (covers 400 - 500sf per gallon)

Bona Nordic Seal = $80+ per gallon (covers about 400sf)

Minwax Finish = $40/gallon (covers 500sf/gallon)

Notice the Bona Traffic is 4 TIMES more expensiv than Minwax???

Cost for the 'guy' to get the training = $$$

Cost for the builder to get this WRONG = thousands and thousands of dollars (which you have to FIGHT him/her for!!!)

It is CHEAPER for the Builder to send his 'guy' to the Bona factory to take the three day course than it is to have his 'guy' mess this up! I am NOT kidding about that.

And I would argue the builder's statement "...should be able to handle a water based system...". Sigh. I've seen it over and over and over again. Oil based guys (especially if they are 'old-timers') have a HARD time figuring out Water based. I actually had one 'finisher' who believed he had been using 'water based' finishes for the last 20 years. His reasoning? Because the stuff coming out of the can was 'liquid'. He thought that meant 'water'. Yep. It has happened. It will happen again. And it will continue to happen until water based is the ONLY option.

Ask your builder if you can out-source the finishing of the wood floors - with credit going to your budget because he doesn't have to deal with the costs. I doubt it. They make WAY too much money on the mark-up for flooring...but you can try.

@SJ McCarthy thank you for your comment! I agree with you that he will probably not let me outsource this job. He already said “I am not going to hire someone new just because you want water base”. He did say he can work with Duraseal and Bona. I am thinking about just using Bona Birch and putting 2 coats of Mega Matte and 1 coat of Traffic HD Matte. Whether the floor subcontractor will be capable of doing this, I am not sure. I can also try doing half white half classic gray from Duralseal to see if that will do the trick.

Interested to hear your thoughts on this!

Thank you!!!

To get the toughness of the Traffic HD you NEED 2-3 coats of the HD. Mixing finishes does NOT give you the toughness you are after.

And when you finish, you want two coats of semi-gloss or gloss and then the FINAL COAT is matte. If you use too many coats of matte, it can start looking 'hazy'. The two crystal clear coats underneath PREVENTS this from happening.

Again, anytime you use grey or white with WHITE oak, you must seal it against tannin pull. You need to work with stain that is compatible to the sealant. And you need to use a sealant that is compatible with the FINISH. And the FINISH is the most EXPENSIVE part of the deal....which means you REALLY should be working with Bona stain + bona Sealer + bona finish.

For each level of bona you force the 'guy' to use, you risk a mistake. So far I'm up to 4-5 potentials for BIG mistakes by someone untrained in Bona.

Oh...and Bona is HELL to deal with. It has SUPER short working edges. Like 2 MINUTE working edges. Compare that to Minwax's 45 minute working edge. Or even DuraSeals 10 minute working edge.

Imagine the 'guy's realization that he has TWO minutes and not 45 minutes to get a single pass down? Yah. That's where it goes to he!! in a hand basket. And he won't figure it out until it is FAR too late.

You can have them make samples of the Classic gray and white combo. If, you want to lean to a more silver color, double or triple the ratio of white.

Bona is not that difficult to apply. What will make it difficult is not prepping the surface properly. A rough surface is more porous, which will cause the product to penetrate and dry faster. If, the recommended prep work is done. The product will perform properly and is easy to work with.

You should investigate more on the experience and skill level of your contractor, in regards to floor sanding and finishing. Prep work is key with any water base finishing system.

i took the chance of doing a Bona finish myself .. with no experience with floor finishes. The first coat was nerve wracking because of the "perceived" blemishes or inconsistencies while applying. There were bubbles and streaks, although I watched several Bona how to videos and followed the directions pretty well. When I came back the next day, the floors were perfect ! Well mostly perfect.

I have existing red oak (on two apartments) and very old original pine (with some blemishes) on another apartment. For a DIY, I decided that dark was best. Went Ebony. Worked really well for both woods and turned out better than expected. Saved thousands by just bringing in flooring contractor to do the sanding.

It's been about 5 years now, and when a tenant moves out, I add another coat. All of the scuffs and small scratches come out. If going with water based poly, Bona is worth the extra cost, imo.

How goes the argument with the builder? Any progress?

I am curious what you ended up with too!!!