"They will be shop painted - not on site That's better, right?" Peacecorp: It is all in the look (and budget) that you are after, site painted has its place for sure....some of the highest end (priced) brands are all site painted. The look is certainly not for everyone, but I don't think that this is one of those situations where one is better then the other Because it is shop painted, the more important question to ask him is what type of finish is he using...based on your description of his shop I am assuming that he is not using a BM paint out of the can, he will be making the color of your choice in a something in either a water base or solvent based lacquer... If it were me I would be asking what the make up of the finish is that he is using...ideally you would want a post-catalyzed finish or maybe a high performance acrylic urethane Samples for sure can be a pain from the shop, it is not like going to the paint store and ordering a sample size and brushing it on...this is all hand made, with dry times between priming, painting and top coating

So your floors are ALREADY FINISHED in a HARDWAX OIL finish?????? And you now want to add POLYURETHANE? Oh dear. Let's pull that bus over for a minute. OK. Here we are. You have an oil finished floor that is looking dusty. It looks "dusty" because it is THIRSTY. It needs more oil. The maintenance oil that you purchased for the floor at the time it was finished (ahem....I'm making an assumption here) is what it needs. Oiled hardwoods can require multiple oilings a year (1-2 every year) until they take on a lovely patina that says "I'm happy and glowing with love,". If they look DUSTY it is because they haven't had their doses of oil. Their required oil maintenance is probably missing. If you wish to get away from the hardwax oil, this is going to take more than "a light sand". You are going to have to remove ALL THE WOOD that has soaked up the oil. This isn't a quick 'pass' with the sander and redo. Nope. This is taking this down by 4+ passes or more. It takes a LOT of effort to change an oiled floor to a polyurethane floor. Why? Because oil PREVENTS the poly from grabbing. All it takes is a SPECK of oil on a plank to cause adhesion failure. And if you see ONE SPOT with adhesion failure you MUST ASSUME you have other spots that will eventually let go. Please bring in a seasoned professional who works with BOTH oil finishes AND polyurethane finishes. They will know how much wood to take off (that includes all that lovely colour) and how to "eye ball" whether or not they will be able to successfully apply the poly - or if they need to shave off more wood. Please do not think this is easy. Converting these oiled floors can be done. But it is not a quick switch. This is a FULL SAND AND REFINISH. All the colour = gone. All the extra effort to sand WELL PAST the oil contamination = MORE MONEY to do this. An NWFA Certified Sand/Refinisher charges $4-$5/sf for a regular sand/refinish. This could come in at $6-$7/sf. And you only have a 3 year old floor. A full sand and refinish will remove 20 years from your floor's life. You 3 years with this finish is supposed to "last" 20 - 25 years before a full sand and refinish is 'needed'. Please look HARD at the options. Take the time to add the oil...and then keep adding until you feel the wood looks healthy and well oiled. That's how they are supposed to look. What is your oiling routine right now? How about your cleaning/repairing routine? What cleaners are you using? Touch-up colour/oil? When was the last time you did a full oil application (one room at a time is FINE...that's what these floors are known for)?

i just got the matte finish on plain old (new) white oak in my kitchen remodel. They used amber stain because they said it would match rest of house best (old white oak floors that have yellowed). Even though I might have preferred lighter I was OK with that. But decided to hold my ground and asked them to use the matte finish which the floor guys were sort of against. I love the finished product!! It's super smooth, no shine and makes a more modern clean look. It dried nearly instantaneously and they did the whole thing in a day from sanding to top finish. Amazing what new products and technology have done to transform floor finishing. (I last had floors done in around 2001 - big mess). I sure hope this stands up because I love the look. I recommend it. And no smell at all after it dries (same day!)

The colour variation between the old and the new could be for several reasons. First it could be the wrong species. Your first posts indicated that you *might have white oak. Now you know you have red oak. If the installer laid white oak (because that was an assumption at the time) it could be a species mis-match. The second reason could be the wrong 'cut' or selection of grade for the wood. Without seeing more of the old floor up against the new, it is hard to say. The third option, which is MOST likely is the AGE of the wood. The old floor could be from older, denser trees (older at time of harvest) which could account for higher amounts of tannins in the wood. The only other thought I have is the old floor has NOT be sanded down yet. I'm assuming it has been....but again this is an assumption. The only other thing I can think of (to get away from this mis-match) would be to harvest old flooring from a second bedroom/den, etc and lay it in the area where it is going to be most visible. Then lay the new material in the out-of-the-way room and hope for the best. Personally I love the look and feel of the Loba 2K Supra AT. If you lay down three coats of the satin you are going to have one of the toughest floor finishes available on the market. I'm not sure why you would use 2 coats of Invisible AT and then switch over to 2K Supra AT for the final coat. Traditionally you start with 2 coats of GLOSS (2K Supra AT Gloss) and then FINISH with one coat of Satin if you wish to have a satin finish. The additives in the finish (that create the matte finish) can cause the floors to look hazy. This is something you will want to avoid. Unless the Loba rep. can GUARANTEE that the matte additives in the Invisible WILL NOT be a problem (ie. s/he guarantees you will NOT get a hazy looking floor) then I would stick with three coats of the Loba 2K Supra AT (2 gloss + 1 satin). If the two coats of gloss scare you, then go ahead and work with the semi-gloss. The Loba 2K Supra AT comes in three finishes: satin, semi-gloss and gloss. You want to avoid the "haze" of matte finishes as much as possible.