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.

If you are on slab, I'm not sure what you would be nailing TO. Adding in a sleeper subfloor would be very expensive and will still require a vapour barrier underneath. *Technically a glue down SOLID hardwood can be done on slab - but it isn't recommended unless your HIGH END flooring installer has done it successfully in the past. A glue down engineered floor is technically "more stable" in the widths they are suggesting, but I would question a comparison to a 2.25" solid hardwood. Especially if the solid NARROW strip hardwoods are rift or quarter sawn. The same adhesive would be used regardless of plank structure (solid vs. engineered). The RIGHT adhesive (aka. EXPENSIVE glue) MUST be used over slab in TX. And then the proper SPREAD RATE must be used (lots and lots of the expensive glue will be required) as well as the PROPER TROWEL profile/depth will be required. These expensive adhesives ($100/gallon is common) will achieve 30-50sf per gallon. These adhesives will be the vapour barrier. The most expensive ones will have "limitless" moisture content as one of their key features. Even with the TOP adhesives, the installation will still be cheaper than a sleeper subfloor + nail down installation. The sleeper subfloor would mean a lower priced flooring professional can be hired to achieve the nail-down installation. The glue down method will require the higher skilled professional with all the knowledge required to install a glue down wood floor PROPERLY. And the next issue is the HVAC system. Regardless of the installation method, your HVAC will have to have the ability to maintain a CONSISTANT level of humidity. Sometimes A/C isn't enough in high-humidity environments. Sometimes a whole-home dehumidifier is required in extreme humid areas. Please review your HVAC system's abilities to TIGHTLY control humidity (somewhere around 40% is PERFECT...and it must be maintained 24/7 for the next 25-60 years). Start there. Spend more money for the upgrade on the HVAC system so you can have the wood floors - regardless of width/composition.

A wide plank (anything 5" or wider is considered "wide plank) has plenty of requirements. If you are looking at a nail down floor, you will need to work with glue assist. This drives the cost of installation up. I'm a little confused about the $15/sf installed quote. Is that for a 7" wide SITE FINISHED engineered hardwood? Or is that for a factory finished plank? If it is the cost for the SITE FINISHED than I'm concerned with such a low price. Ya. I said low. These beautiful, wide plank site finished engineered hardwood floors should have a purchase price around $15. Cost of install/finishing would then be added to that price. They are MAGNIFICENT. They are the best of the best (especially the US or Canada Made products). Please explain the TYPE of install (nail down, floating, etc) your type of SUBFLOOR and whether or not your quote was for factory finished or site finished. Oh. And your location would also help. What is cheap for one area could be top of the market in another region.

@shead, it is not an either/or between engineered and onsite finishing. I am planning to get an engineered floor — that will be supplied with the raw white oak top layer (to the thickness I specify) and it will be finished on site. There will not be bevels between the planks. I can specify the quality of the wood of the white oak (character grade or less knots — I’ve forgotten what all the grade levels are called). It is my understanding that if I want boards over 3 or 4” wide, the engineered boards help prevent cupping, curling and etc distortions. The humidity in the house also needs to be controlled. Although I love the look of really wide planks, I understand that people have more problems with 10” and wider boards so I plan to stay around 7”. There are various companies that offer this raw wood engineered product. The color of the white oak varies from where the trees are grown so that may impact your choice (and mine). I haven’t yet decided on what sealer (or stain) I’ll use — the installer will provide samples on site. If I go with Bona for the sealer, I also plan to use the Bona water-based protective coat (leaning towards 3 coats of Bona Traffic HD as the installer uses that a lot and is not as familiar with the similar quality Loba product). The installer also uses Rubio Monocoat; I haven’t researched that yet to see how it compares to Bona. So far, I haven’t heard a downside to taking this route — if there are any pros out there that think differently, please let me know.