I should add that I planned to use Bona Traffic HD finish as well since I read how durable it is and how it goes on clear without yellowing the wood. Our contractor suggested Bona Mega to save some money. Will Bona Mega keep the wood color natural and avoid yellowing over time?

Mega turns yellow. Skip the 'money saving'. Your floors are as important as your roof. It is the single most abused/used FINISH ('finish' means 'pretty) in your home. Gravity works. Which means something is sitting on, grinding down, pressing into or just plain 'sitting on' your floors every second of every day. How 'cheap' do you want to go with something that important?

You have a special floor. It looks like you have SOLID 5" (that ranks as wide plank = glue assist) White Oak. Many people would give their eyeteeth for floors of that quality.

The 'raw' look is a special look. It requires a special approach. In the finishing business, 'special' requires a bigger price tag. NordicSeal is going to give you a white frosting. That doesn't sound like what you are after. The ClassicSeal will offer a hint of yellow but will not be horrible. The NaturalSeal will offer the closest to the 'raw look' you are after. I think the choice will be between the Natural and the Classic Seal.

And using Bona Traffic HD is a MASSIVE upgrade over Mega. Mega is the 'cheap' level of the Bona line-up. Bona Traffic (original) is two steps up from Mega. The Bona Traffic HD is three steps higher than Mega. And it does NOT cause ambering...but the Mega does.

And you want to have 3 coats total. That means a coat of Sealant and two coats of finish. I prefer to see three coats of finish...but if you MUST save money while still using Traffic HD then you can go down to two coats.

Of course the MORE coats you put on today....the FEWER coats you have to ADD in 15 years time (called a buff and coat and costs $3/sf on average). You either pay the piper today...or you pay a couple more pipers in 15 years...The choice is yours.

You can use Poloplaz Pearl sealer with Endure or Pallmann's Pall-x white seal and Pall-x Pure. You will save a little compared to Traffic HD, perhaps $0.25 psf. less. It still a major upgrade from Bona MEGa.

If, Bona Mega is your budget. Ask for Bona Mega One. Mega One is a clear non-yellowing finish. Still a good quality product line, just not the best. It is slightly better than a oil base polyurethane system.

Thank you for your input. It is 3/4” x 5” solid white oak hardwood. We installed almost 3000 sq ft throughout our home and it is the most important feature of our renovation. I agree that Bona Natural or Bona Classic will likely be what we choose. When I see Nordic in photos it looks beautiful, but I don’t think I want a white wash. I think we can make Traffic HD work in our budget if we hold off on a few things and I can convince my husband. My fear was that a lower quality finish would yellow or amber the wood. Thank you for suggesting Bona Mega One. Our hardwood installer and contractor use DuraSeal products often and Bona Mega. But they did just complete a project with Bona NordicSeal. I will ask him about Poloplaz Pearl and Pallman products as well.
Would you suggest a satin or matte finish? We want a more modern aesthetic.

For a house your size and a $50k budget. I would use Bona natural seal or classic with traffic hd extra matte. Do not use the following Bona naturale, Loba invisible, pearl or pure For the top coat. These will give you the raw look, which prints tend to show up on. Hd and Supra extra matte does not.

Okay we have decided to go with Bona Traffic HD in extra matte! Thank you to all of the experts for weighing in. I need to see the seal samples still but I’ll post a picture of the finished floors in a week!

If you have 3000sf then the $2500 upgrade is nothing. It is less than $0.85/sf. The cost is nothing compared to the durability it will give.

Carly, we are trying to decide between Bona Classic Seal or Natural Seal? Which one did you end up going with? Can you also please send a picture of the floors with the seal and traffic HD?

We went with natural seal and traffic HD finish. They are dry and need one more day to cure. I’m very happy with them and they are exactly the look I wanted. They are light, modern, and show the natural color and variation of the wood. Classic seal gave a deeper color but I found it to be too yellow. And the Nordic seal was beautiful but it was a little cold and it didn’t look as good next to a warmer paint color we plan to use.

One more

carly...how many coats of HD did they apply? When was the last coat applied? Floors look VERY good!

1 coat seal and 2 coats finish. It was applied Saturday morning.

3 coats in one day. Let's see how long this finish last.

It wasn’t 3 coats in one day. It was one coat of seal. Then the next day a coat of finish. Then the next day a coat of finish.

If you read the question carefully, you would understand I answered that the last coat of finish was applied Saturday.

I was asked two separate questions. I answered them in order.

Bona is designed to be 'hot coated' that is to say it does BEST when coat 1 and coat 2 (like sealant and then 1st coat of finish) come in quick succession (less than 24 hours but nothing less than the 'minimum time between coats').

There are FAAAAR too many 'dudes' out there that call themselves pros. These are the guys who put down 3 coats in one day and then p!ss off. Never to be heard from again. This is what G & S was responding to....a quick scan of your answer (I'm guilty of it myself some times) can give the impression that everything was done same day (which it wasn't...because I asked about the LAST coat...not the timeline to reach last coat).

Sigh. G & S isn't bashing you, they are bashing the 'dudes' in the industry. We see it FAR to often (as in DAILY) on this forum. I'm sorry you felt diminished. That's not what was happening.

A quick scan of my question and then a quick scan of your answer simply lead G & S to believe all 3 coats were put down same day....which happens more than you really want to know.

Please leave this post up. And all the answers. It is a way for everyone to see how easy it is to misunderstand posts.

What I like to suggest regarding 'cure times' is to give them MORE time...not less. The FASTEST curing water based products are Bona Traffic HD and Loba 2K Supra AT. They achieve 95% FULL CURE after 5 days. Yes they can be 'walked on' after 3 days...but moving furniture in is not ideal until 5 days have passed.

And cure times are the BEST case scenario (temps and humidity are ASSUMED to be PERFECT = they NEVER are in a home setting = please leave an extra day).

Your floors are beautiful. I prefer to see 3 coats of the finish...but the Bona sealants are designed to be 'film building' sealants so they will add to the performance. I think of a coat of sealant as 1/2 a coat of finish. The 3 coats of finish (the expensive HD stuff) is the Gold Standard...but 2 coats + sealant is still very good.

G&S generally makes great comments and has solid analysis but in this case he assumed something not in evidence and commented based on that. It would have been better to ASK if they put on all 3 coats in one day.

There's nothing wrong with making a minor mistake, nor with owning up to it.

Thank you SJ McCarthy for your expertise and explanation of time between coats, drying time and curing time. We planned to wait 6 days to move in and will use felts and place furniture down gently. Our hardwood installer actually did one coat sealant last Friday, then a coat of finish later in the day, then Saturday did another coat of finish. So I suppose it’s even better than 3 coats in 3 days as I originally thought given your advice.

G & S gave helpful advice prior to these last two posts that are nasty. Could my response be taken incorrectly? Absolutely, I can see that. Did G & S need to tell me, “We’ll see how long this finish lasts?” No. That’s a problem I’m left with and he wrote that message to me, not the hardwood installer. I disagree that it was not an attack on me as G & S’s follow up comment said, “oh yeah, hidden message”. It was another rude comment from someone who was engaging in further confrontation.
I’ve already asked Houzz to delete the post. I wish I could do it myself or delete the rude and negative comments.

Thanks for leaving this up. The info is helpful and I’m discerning enough to sort out immature comments. :)

McCarthy September 15 2020 post question about last sentence, or anyone please…”+sealant”. My plan was boba natural seal plus 3 coats HD extra matte, but I didn’t know about a next final step, please provide detail/product for final sealant step

Carly, please provide source for your floors, exactly what I’m looking for. Also thank you for post and thank you too other posters. I had just had floors done by a floor shop, two years of hospice requires me to redo them, seems a layer can be scraped up with a spackle scraper easily and turned dark ( like cherry wood does in sunlight but this was white oak ). So due to budget going to have to give this a go on my own. These posts priceless. After seeing this post and refinishing parents floor, I want your oak in my house … you did fantastic job.

HELP!!! I purchased white oak high grade for our railings and black iron - our floors are Provenza At Ease and my railings match GREAT now, but need to seal them - what do you recommend? I don't want yellow - so thinking Natural or Nordic - but I'm worried about the white wash being too much. I don't want shine either - so do I do the sealer of Natural and then do an extra matte finish? I'm so confused...there is no flooring in the white oak, just the LVP. So hand rail and newl post...advice would be appreciated!

What does Provenza at ease look like?

It honestly looks just like our white oak (unstained, natural) - I wish I could leave it without sealer etc. Here is a link of various lighting for At Ease (it's not shiny at all). I was thinking Bona Natural and then Bona Extra Matte finish? I read that Natural has a bit of white in it too to avoid the yellow, but unsure if that is fact. https://sprucingupmamahood.com/provenza-vinyl-flooring-review/

Use two coats of natural seal and two coats of naturale.

Did 4 coats of nordic and 3 traffic hd on 1 dollar a sq foot utility 4 inch white oak but some was red oak as well but still my dog likes it.

Carlyweiss, your post and pictures are so helpful for those of us in the choosing process. Thank you and the pros who commented for the valuable info!

These posts are so helpful! Does anyone have any pictures they can share of Bona Nordic or natural sealer and traffic hd after a few years? I love this look but am still worried that white oak will eventually yellow.

It will yellow, just not extreme, more like a very pale yellow or tan. You will notice a color change after a year as the tannins works it's way through. The whitener slows it down.