@kacie worth I was told by my installer is to lay the planks in the direction light goes through your home is ideal. At first I cared a bunch, but on the day of install I was so tired from moving things I could care less which direction he laid it. He actually laid it opposite to what he told me was ideal. I never asked him why he chose the direction he did, maybe he realized hallways and some entry points would be better served that way so it can lay down better? Here’s my 2 cents. The areas of the flooring that I appreciated the most are the areas where they took advantage of the full length of the planks… smaller cuts of the planks look too repetitive for me and make it look like cheaper planks. So go in a direction where you’re not forced to make a ton of smaller cuts with your planks. For the stairwell I have 3 landings. He actually used different directions on the landing and I thought it was super attractive there with the smaller cuts. The steps are in different direction from the main top floor and it doesn’t bother me (I’m a person that notices small details and will get bothered). If you lay them diagonally keep in mind you will need more flooring. So it’s gonna be more costly and that consideration should have been made at the time you bought the flooring so you know you will have enough at time of install. For a fresh looking install, just buy new baseboards or if you can preserve the ones you have make sure you repaint them. Baseboards make all the difference in the world. A competitor company said they will always install something like a 4” baseboard with this flooring because they found the more substantial the baseboard height it really helps make the flooring pop. Since I wasn’t doing my whole house and just the stairs and upstairs I chose to match my preexisting baseboard which I think was 3” or 2.5”. I used the same paint color as the existing baseboard color but a fresh coat of paint on the new ones made the floor looked fresh- so I think I got lucky even on the standard builder grade inexpensive baseboards I have in my home. Good luck and would love to see pictures!

I really appreciate these updates! It looks like the Bona products have really held up as far as color is concerned. We have LVP throughout and just purchased white oak stair treads. I tried and tried to match with stain but the yellow kept bleeding through. I’m now considering the Bona finish on my treads and keeping the natural oak look. Unfortunately the Bona is only sold in large sizes and I will probably use less than half of it. Your treads look really good! You said they were stained with minwax weathered oak. Do you happen to know if there was a sealer applied first or what the top coat was if any? I think that’s where I may be going wrong. Any advice you can offer is greatly appreciated! Thanks again for taking the time!

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.

Turns out the boxes are labeled in that way: "Revwood", even if the actual product is Revwood Plus. There is an insert instead with "Revwood Plus" printed on it. Also, if you were using Mohawk MoistureGuard or SoundGuard or SilentGuard underlayments, the brand name shown on the label is "Performance Accessories". I have seen the blue colored one (MoistureGuard) is "Value Underlayment" and the white one (SilentGuard) is "Premium Underlayment". Confusing choice by Mohawk.