hereigo, It's all a personal preference as far as the look or style you desire. The factors that play a roll include size or sizes of floor boards, color of wood/finish, grade of wood, grain pattern of wood, and site finished versus prefinished installation. Be aware that the higher grades (clear,select) will tend to be more uniform in appearance, whereas the lower grades (#1 Common, #2 common) will have more variation in color and/or visual defects like mineral streaks or knots. Lots or grain and/or a low sheen finish will visually hide dings and dents that can occur. The most visible grain will be with R&Q oak or ash or hickory and it will be in a linear pattern. Moderately visible grain will be found in beech or birch. The least visible grain pattern will be found in maple. A cathedral grain pattern is found with plain sawn lumber/flooring and is most noticeable with oak, ash, hickory, or other coarse grain hardwoods. This style seems to be currently out of fashion. Maple is also a good wood for flooring and it is used on gym floors throughout the country. With a durable, low sheen finish and some care, I think it could remain attractive for a long time before needing a refinish. We have mixed width, wide plank, R&Q red oak, #1 common, and site finished in our upstairs. It works well with our family and 30# dog. It has held up well for 3.5 years and is very stable and the dings and dents don't show. I won't say we abuse this floor, but it has seen dirty shoes and dog/cat claws and kids riding toys and yet it still looks good. My son's Plasma car has scratched the surface finish here and there (Waterlox), but this type of finish is considered soft and can be touched up down the road. I'm not sure how well the harder finishes would hold up against a 5 year old and his car. Finally, the great thing is that almost all hardwood floor finishes can be redone to look like new again. When the surface finish of sheet vinyl or laminate gets scratched and dull, the product gets tossed in the landfill. Best of luck with your remodel.

You received bad information about the prefinish less likely to move. now they could have been referring to the engineered. but Solid prefinish is just as likely to move with a site finish floor. of course the movement will come from the environmental conditions in the home. Do prefinish floors has a tougher finish? yes, but it comes down to lifestyle. if you have a bunch of kids, large dogs, and throw partys every weekend, no finish will hold up for very long. But it sounds like you dont have the problem, so the toughness of the finish shouldnt be a huge factor for you. There are plenty of decent finishes on the market used by pros that for your situation should suit you just fine. I think the thing you should be looking at is price. Does the install of prefinish along with the price of the material work for your budget? or does the site finished work better? Site finish means the project will take a bit longer, because of the added time needed to sand and finish the floors. but those are minor. Have you found a pre finish product you like? In either case you should focus on sourcing a good professional and he will be able to answer the more detailed questions that are particular to your new home.

I just recently did these sealers and finishes to my floor myself. It was a long and tedious process. The contractor didnt want to spend the time doing it right so i did it myself. I did it exactly as bona said. I applied two coats of the bona nordic seal 4 hours apart, then waited 24 hours to apply a third coat. I waited another day before i put on the finish after making sure the floor was completely clean by using a barely damn microfiber mop. For the finish, you have to do the coats within 3 hours of each other or the finish hardens too much (in the directions). After all those coats, no abrasion was needed because the floor was completely smooth. the trick with these sealers and finishes is to apply them at that magical point when they arent too dry or too wet. I also used a pad for the application because it was easier to use in my opinion: way way easier to get an even coat. The directions for both products explained that the sealer ”protects the wood from the finish”. So it absolutely warns not to apply the finsh to raw wood. here is a picture of the floor directly after the second coat of the finish. We are in the process of updating the house, so excuse the 1930s vibe here, lol. we started with the floors. Also, these products dry incredibly fast. One has to have a good work ethic to get them on. You have to be quick and methodic about applying even coats.

Hello, Houzzers! We're building a home... hubby will need wheelchair soon. We want hardwood floors throughout, except at entryways, etc. We had our hearts set on white oak hardwood. Now we're thinking about maple because it's a bit harder. Don't like hickory, too busy visually for us. We're not wild about maple's color shift to margarine yellow, so we'd probably use Loba UV Protect to keep the yellow at bay. But we still like white oak better. Questions: 1. If we use the Loba UV product, how long will that UV protection last? 2. Will Loba 2K Supra AT as the top coats (3?) provide enough protection from a wheelchair? 3. Is maple that much harder than white oak, or do you think white oak will be tough enough for wheelchair abuse? 4. Our builder suggested pre-finished flooring, says it will be tougher. If we need it to be refinished in a few years, that may be trickier than just regular hardwood. Or is he correct? Thank you!