Any advice appreciated. Currently we have hardwood unfinished installed downstairs in every room except for our dining room and living room. We are planning on installing unfinished hardwood in the dining room and leaving the living room carpeted. Additionally we were thinking of unfinished on the stairs and landing on the second floor. So far so good. My two kids rooms are off the second floor landing. I was thinking of prefinished for several reasons, less mess and odor (my son has asthma), less cost and quicker installation. When I received an estimate the installer said that he would recomend unfinished throughout incl the kids rooms. I know the look may not be matched up perfectly however they are seperate rooms being upstairs. Do you think my idea would be ok or should I be following the advice of the installer. At this point I'm not sure what to do. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!!!!!!

i think your fine going with prefinished, especially since it is not butted up to the other wood. The installer probably just wants more labor by both installing and finishing. I would rater install prefinished then sand any day of the week.

Thanks for your response. I think your right about the extra $. However it will butt up if I go with unfinished in the landing upstairs and prefinished in the kids bedrooms. However I don't think it should be much of an issue or would there be issues I'm not thinking about?

Who said hardwood should be stained and finished the same in every room of the house? Musta been some decorator. I'd do his room totally different because I doubt you'll get it matched exact.

Being it is your money and your house you should do whichever you think looks best and you can afford, I see no issues either way. Although my preference is unfinished. I don't really make any more per hour doing either one unfinished just takes more time.

Mickey, You mentioned that it doesn't cost anymore per hour. However when looking at the overall cost does prefinished usally cost less because the labor cost is much less due to it being installed in less time? Also as far as overall wear, if I have unfinished installed with two coats of poly am I looking at putting another coat or two on in another 1-3 years? How many coats is standard with unfinished floors? The installer I talked to said two. Thanks!

We always use four coats of finish and we are normally less expensive than a prefinished floor unless you purchase something like LL or HD or some cheap floor. As far as durability I'll put mine against prefin any day, I know this will get a lot of disagreement but this has been our experience/

You've convinced me. I think I'll go with the unfinished and put up with some dust. At first I wanted to avoid it due to my son's allergies. If a flooring specialist is only going to put down two coats of poly should I look for someone else? I would imagine he just wants to get in and out faster by putting down two coats.

I would recommend looking at a few estimates and checking references that will allow you to look at their project, this is always a good indicator if you can look and see if you like the end result. I would look for at least 3 coats and make sure it is not some cheap finish use Basic or Bona, I dont use oil but am sure someone can recommend a good oil finish also.

I have sanded and refinished a lot of floors that were only two coated. The standard for my company and my related contractors is three coats of finish. I generally consider two coats of finish insufficient.

If you are ok with the 2 not being exact you can go either way with it. I personally prefer site finished.