Well...plenty of Americans have a similar dearth of writing skills--and that's when writing in their native language! I've also been curious about midrange engineered flooring from Reward Floors, Cali Woods (of Cali Bamboo infamy) and a few others. Quality all looks pretty much the same in the $6-7 sq ft range, or am I missing something? All this makes me lean a little closer toward my original plan: reinstalling about 400 sq feet of our old Junckers solid ash and adding about 1,500 sq feet of new Junckers solid ash. Going green (by reuse) does not come cheap as the new Junckers I'd need to add is $10/sq ft. But hey, some day I can tell potential home buyers the floors they're walking on were made in Denmark!

I have the Reward Flooring Costa Collection Rustic Grade European Oak Vela. We like it so far we have had it s year. My only complaint is a couple boards were a little more rustic imperfections than I like. (Pictures attached) The floor was installed in a new house by the builder thus the installer placed the boards with lines in it in front of my refrigerator and the one with the dark spot near my island. I had a independent hardwood guy out and he said the floor is a very good floor he installs it a lot but had his company installed it he would have placed boards like that by the wall where they aren’t seen as much. If you can oversee the install I would say this is a good medium color wood floor.

We've seen homeowners out of the house for close to 3 weeks or longer when the odour of the oil based products is 'locked' inside the home. For those of us who are sensitive to odours (migraine sufferers, asthmatics, COPD sufferers, etc) we are unable to sleep in the same house as a 10 day old oil poly floor. For us, the stink is like breathing in ammonia. It constricts our lungs, it causes massive headaches (I lose vision in my left eye), vomiting (often goes with migraine) and a sense of feeling unwell for the entire time the floor takes to cure. These are all KNOWN reactions to HIGH VOC content. Since the OP is in California, the VOC content in the finish *should be lower (than Minwax 550...which means VOC 550g/L) it still means the VOC content is still allowed to be HIGH if the containers of the product are small enough (don't get me going on that little nugget). The top water based products (not the off the shelf stuff nor the 1 part products) are tougher than oil based. Yes the cost is higher but then again the cost of living in a hotel for another 3 weeks is also pricey. Loba 2K Supra AT, for example, is infused with ceramic nanobeads. They are equal in performance to Aluminum Oxide factory finishes. The myth that water based products are inferior only goes as far as the Home Depot parking lot. So long as the professional works with PROFESSIONAL GRADE materials (not Varathane, not Rustoleum, not DuraSeal) then the 2 PART water based products are superior to oil baed. But the caveat of "...so long as the professional works with professional grade materials..." is the ONE AREA where we see concerns. Many "pro's" do not have the education (ie. paid for the Bona or Loba training themselves) to work these high-end products.

If the manufacturer allows nail/staple down installation of their engineered floor, that should be sufficient. Since your selection is NOT wider than 7.5", the warranty is valid. They won't address any issues with movement or squeaking though. I can imagine there may be a little more sound emanating from the floor but that would be acceptable to me, especially if one considers what would have to be done if your floor was damaged and required removal after being glued and nailed. If I was going to glue the floor down with a full spread adhesive, I see no advantage to nail/staple it also. For a better underlayment I would recommend Aquabar B, which is carried by Home Depot. https://www.homedepot.com/p/Fortifiber-500-sq-ft-36-in-Wide-x-167-ft-Long-x-7-mil-Thick-Aquabar-B-Tile-Underlayment-Roll-70-195/202592567?mtc=SEM-VF-F_D23-G-D23-23_6_FLOOR_AND_WALL_TILE-Multi-NA-NA-DSA-2150536-WF-New_Engen&cm_mmc=SEM-VF-F_D23-G-D23-23_6_FLOOR_AND_WALL_TILE-Multi-NA-NA-DSA-2150536-WF-New_Engen-71700000077168191-58700006540356281-39700059170875303&gclid=Cj0KCQjwhr2FBhDbARIsACjwLo33OGF8tiZIs8wUOKWMZ1XxG1JDAIsLbwsMH82Ahl0cZp9ethZdDe4aAsqZEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds#!bvstate=ct:r/pg:2/st:p/id:202592567