Water based polyurethanes are non-yellowing. Oil modified products will amber...a little. White Oak has TANNIN PULL that will cause the yellow tannins to PULL to the surface causing the white oak to turn a little yellow. This is made worse with water based polyurethanes. Thankfully there is a solution: sealants! Yes. A sealant is used over White oak (it doesn't hurt red oak...now worries there) to STOP the tannin pull. If the wife is against the YELLOW or the ORANGE then a water based poly finish with a SEALANT is an excellent way to go. Rubio Monocoat natural can increase the yellow tones. Not nearly as bad as oil modified or oil based finishes....but it can raise the colour a little bit. You will need to make 2 sample boards. The first is finished in water based poly with the sealant. And the second is finished with a Rubio Monocoat. You need to choose once it is on the sample boards. And move the boards around throughout the house for a few days. You need to see each sample in all 5 DIFFERENT lighting presentations. Only then can you decide.

In THEORY....this fix should be between the Builder and his flooring guy. The BUILDER allowed YOUR FLOORS to get disturbed. His CREW scuffed them, he deals with it. For this VERY REASON, flooring PROFESSIONALS (ahem....professional being the operative word here) will finish the floors MINUS the FINAL COAT. Then the CREW comes in and beats up that layer (second to last coat). Once the build has been FINISHED (and the floors "look" trashed) the flooring professional comes BACK IN (as scheduled....because he KNOWS the industry and KNOWS this is SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN) and does a FINAL clean, FINAL buff and then FINAL COAT!!!! That's how this is *supposed to work. It is up to the BUILDER to SOURCE his flooring professionals. The builder is going to bring in "his guy" to do what should have been SCHEDULED for in the first place = final clean, final buff and final coat. And no, the finish isn't "soft". That's what happens to FRESH FINISH that is NOT FULLY CURED/hardened. Water based finishes are known to be fast drying/fast curing. A THREE COAT system will need 10 - 21 DAYS to cure to perfection. A "4 coat" system (sounds like a coat of primer and three coats of finish) is going to take LONGER TO HARDEN then the three coat finish. The rule of thumb is "after 3 coats, you add another 7 DAYS for each coat". I'm going to guess that timing was not allowed. So long as you have proper adhesion, the BEST OPTION is to put down ONE MORE COAT of the ORIGINAL finish used. That way you are not "mixing and matching" your finishes. When you 'mix and match' you run the MASSIVE risk of FULL ADHESION FAILURE. A buff and recoat of the thing that is already on there is really all that is needed. And PLEASE let the POOR THING CURE properly before moving in. No boots. No ladders. No hammers. No painters. No NOTHING for another 7 - 10 DAYS after the recoat. This poor finish needs TIME. Time will harden it. It has never had TIME to do anything but get beaten up. Good luck. Stick to what is already there.

The x98 looks like a typical 2-part water borne finish with low odour and low VOC content (the information page indicates "less than 200g/L"). Cure time = 4 days. I would expect the odour to reduce or be eliminated by that time. This is typical for 2 part water borne/based finishes. http://www.pallmann.us/uploads/tx_dddownloadmatrix/Pall-X_98_PDS.pdf If Pallman is the only water based product the finisher uses, then you should be fine. Please ensure that they plan a total of 3 coats. Some refinishers will try to convince people that two coats are all that are needed....which is where we get the issues with finishes "not standing the test of time" = complaints. When it comes to wear resistance I prefer the Loba 2K Supra AT (2-part water based finish out of Germany that has ceramic nano-beads infused into the liquid). The scratch resistance is OUTSTANDING and the slip resistance is second to none (literally...it has the best slip resistance ratings on the market). And the odour is gone within 4-6 HOURS. Total cure is 5 days.

Houzz has a search feature at the top of the page. I've searched PoloPlaz several times over the past year and recently had our pre-finished red oak sanded/sealed with PoloPlaz oil, no stain. It does have a hint of amber but it works with rest of the wood here. I had quotes for both sanding/sealling and lacquer using UV which is a newer process. I opted for tried and true. I also brought home samples from a flooring store before deciding on no stain. A good refinisher can match your floors.