You can get an engineered floor that is as good if not better than a solid product. We produce solid unfinished flooring but we also produce unfinished engineered flooring as well. Solid flooring typically has a 1/4" (6mm) of "sandable" or "usable" surface. Basically after you get 1/4" deep you'll hit the nail heads and so you can't sand below that point. Our engineered unfinished product has a 5mm wear layer. However, the engineered product is already pre-sanded to 80g which means once installed the amount of sanding that takes place is minimal. On a solid floor, most contractors will need to do a rough sanding to get the floor even, then one or two more cuts to get it smooth. Even if you have a very talented sander he is going to take 1/32 off in his sanding on the solid floor. That equates to roughly 3/100 which is nearly the difference between the 6mm and 5mm usable surfaces we began with. So in essence, you are getting very close to the same "usable" surface. Not to mention the engineered is more stable, will keep you from having to install a subfloor as it can be glued directly to concrete, eliminates transition issues between hardwood and tile or carpet AND should take less time to install. My two cents. Sam @ Real Wood Floors realwoodfloors.com

You can drill the dent out with a hole saw or spade bit. And then glue in a round oak plug (1/4" thick). Sand, wire brush (manually), apply brown/smoke reactive stain and white hard wax oil.

Here is the BIGGEST sign that engineered hardwoods are *recommended (but not required): "We live in the midwest and have extreme changes in humidity." That's your red flag RIGHT THERE. Now that's not to say solid hardwoods are NOT allowed. They are. But an engineered product has a better CHANCE of dealing with the climate than a solid hardwood. Now on to the Pink Elephant in the room: humidity control via your heating/cooling system (aka HVAC system). Did you pay to UPGRADE your HVAC system to ALLOW hardwood in your home? Do you have BOTH A/C AS WELL AS a humidifier/dehumidifier attached to that HVAC system? I know the midwest can have HIGH summer time humidity (especially during storm/tornado season) and LOW humidity in the winters (to the point that fuzzy socks cause shocks when you touch the door nobs in your house). The HUMIDITY control is THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT PART of your build. No I am not kidding. Make sure you look at the specifications of your unit (you bought it...you should know what it is and how it functions). Ask the questions of the HVAC COMPANY that installed it. Now onto hardwoods. If you have the RIGHT HVAC system you can have any wood you want. Solid or engineered it won't matter. Now let's look at the quality of the products you are looking at. Shaw 1/2" hickory = thin. The WEAR LAYER is what you are looking at. A nicely made product should have 3mm wear layer or thicker. A 1/2" engineered plank is considered rather thin but can be acceptable SO LONG AS the wear layer is decent. Next is the Asian Walnut. This is a cute way of saying Acacia. Now Acacia has two concepts. One is the Acacia TREE and the other is an Acacia bush (aka 'short leaf'). Sigh. The cheaper versions will be the bush. That means SHORT PLANKS. Like 11" - 48" (less than 1 foot long up to a MAXIMUM of 4 feet). Wow. That's short. Bella Cera website is NOTORIOUS for being difficult to find a specific species. You would have to send a link of the actual product you are looking at. My next question is what is the price range/budget you have for hardwood? You might want to work with a less exotic product if you want a higher quality wood floor. I would hate for you to pay all that money only to find out you picked one of the lowest level hardwoods on the market. But first things first: check your HVAC system and it's ability to keep the house a happy healthy humidity level specifically designed for keeping hardwoods happy.

The industry is going after the HOT trends. That means "matte" with "wire brush" finish. Just like the fashion industry, the interior design industry lives and breathes with hot trends. If you are looking for something outside of the hot trends you will have to look at specialized products. With the word "special" I mean "$$$Special$$$. The *easiest way (not the cheapest) to get the floor that you want (which is already going to cost $15/sf to begin with to get a quality product) is to work with site finished engineered hardwoods. There are some high-end producers out there that make these floors. Or a GC can do a special order from a MILL that is known to create these planks so that the FINISH is left off the product and they can be site finished after installation. Another option: the GC can special order the smooth finish from the same mill using satin. That's going to get expensive because the entire 'run' will have to change. They have to empty the finish tanks. They have to be cleaned and then new satin finish added to the tanks, your floors run through and then they have to switch back once your batch is done. All of that has to be done at your expense. The other thing to remember: Most "European Oak" engineered hardwoods come from China. That's why the products are so easy to find. China produces cheap, thin, European Oak floors for the North American Market. To get away from the Chinese product you need to look to local mills that import the Wear layer (at Canadian prices) from Europe (in Euros) and then manufacture the plank in N. America (at Canadian wages = $20+ per hour for 'Joe Schmoe' mill worker). That's where the BIG costs come in. The wage to pay N. Americans. Now...once your GC (the flooring installer who is HIGH HIGH HIGH END will know many mills) finds a mill who will do the custom order you will get a quote from the mill. The labour to sand/refinish in place will be extra. I'm in Vancouver BC which means we have MASSIVE labour costs around here. In my neck of the woods I would expect $15/sf for the unfinished planks + $5-$6/sf for installation + finish. The higher price for install = Bona Traffic HD or Loba 2K Supra AT as the Satin you choose. What is your budget?