OK I explain. It is a floating floor what we call in the UK engineered floor, so it is not solid throughout but a thickness of the wood mounted on a plywood base. It is a Malaysian wood, not so hard, so I suppose high heels could dent it perhaps, it is not the hardest. It is a click system not requiring glue, interesting. Now from Malaysia it says it has five factory coatings of which some contain aluminium oxide. It got worn out over the years. So a year ago I sanded the wood with the machines with the correct paper and vacuumed well. Then I applied one coat of Bona Traffic silk, you know the glossy one. I then noticed a number of parts were very coarse to the touch. So after some hours I sanded again with slightly finer paper but still coarse. Now I applied again Bona. Once again certain areas were coarse to the touch and you could see stains. So now I did a final very fine sanding but this was by hand with very fine paper particularly in the areas affected. It took me hours. Then I applied the third coat. I called the Bona representative who was at a loss!!! He gave me a bottle of Bona "refresh" it is a type of product to do another pass over. I applied it to the worse parts of the floor. Although one could see areas which were coarse to the touch and which did not look quite right the shine was sufficient to fool guests for Christmas. Now I am exactly one year on. In those area I mentioned there are now black marks. I attach some photos of the present situation with example of the black marks. (sorry I do not know how to create a new thread). I want to sand it and apply Bona again before New Year when my mother is visiting, my wife will just about tolerate me sanding on the 27th Dec. I had the suspicion it was the Bona product maybe the bottle I bought was old or had been exposed to low temperatures where I bought it from but the Bona representative told me it was very unlikely to be the case.

The acclimation you've been recommended to use is generally how we've done floors forever EXCEPT when using wider planks. As was noted above, have the plywood and wood checked. If they're too far apart the area can be dehumidified to bring the plywood moisture down and/or the wood will add moisture if it's particularly dry. Make sure the contractor is putting a vapor/moisture barrier (not retarder) between the concrete and the plywood. I don't recommend any barrier between the wood and plywood. Some pros have been burned using (probably cheap) water based finishes and refuse to use anything other than oil based. Others think you should use only the newest technology finishes and exclusively use water based. We use both. With a stained, hand-scraped White Oak, I would choose oil based polyurethane. No water based finish compares to the durability of oil modified. Considering the cost, it's a no-brainer unless you have special circumstances. As to staples vs. nails, we've used both and seen little difference in the performance. My preference would be for nails but the industry seems to have moved more toward staples.

The "recoat" time will have taken into consideration the time that you can step on the floor (with clean shoes and PAINTER'S booties). Again, DuraSeal is a low grade product. I'm not entirely convinced the "1-2 coats" of finish is going to give you 7 years, let alone 15+ years. Remember: low grade water based = short wear life. And DuraSeal is ranked as one of the lowest grade "professional" products out there. They are only slightly better than Minwax (owned by the same company). You appear to be concerned about wear life....1 coat of DuraSeal (or even 2 coats) will not offer you the wear you are looking for. This is almost guarantee that you will achieve a floor that wears out too quickly (which is the same as the complaints you listed above). You need to move the DuraSeal's High build formula. Please be aware of what you are "buying into".

wannabath - you are absolutely correct. You get what you pay for. But I had floors refinished in my old home many years back. Also oil finish and no issues like this. My project is a kitchen renovation being overseen by a GC. (My cabinets and countertops were ordered and installed through a cabinet maker.) Everything else organized through the GC. It is the flooring guy he uses on all his jobs. I installed new wood and had it sanded and finished, so I don't have a px just for refinishing....I'm not saying all cleanup would be as meticulous as Lyndee Lee...and I am not expecting perfection...but he was definitely sloppy, He created all the dust, he should have done a better job cleaning it. He was also a little careless with my cabinets. Some small bangs/chips, some polyurethane splashed up on the bottom of my cabinets. Why wouldn't he cover the bottoms with some painter's tape? He only covered the bottom openings for dust. No protection from the liquids...and I asked him about it. He said not to worry, only the very bottom of the cabinet base will get some stain (and thankfully no toe kicks are installed yet). Well that was clearly not the case. **I am glad to hear you think the bubbles and nibs will flatten out over time. That is what I am most concerned about.** The flooring guy is very nice, but I realized I am not happy with the caliber of his work. No sense to make him come back and redo. it probably wouldn't be any better,...and then I run the risk of more potential damage to my new cabinets. I would rather live with it as is...and for some reason if it doesn't improve down the line, I will do my own research and select my own flooring person.