We have just bought our first house, a 1928 Dutch Colonial. The floors are white oak and we're having them sanded and refinished with Minwax Special Walnut stain and then 3 coats of oil-based polyurethane finish. We were concerned that the Special Walnut might have a cold/greyish cast, but hoping that the ambering from the poly will warm it up a bit. We were originally planning a gloss finish, but now we're leaning more towards semi-gloss - haven't discussed this with floor guy yet though.

Our flooring guy told us that for a gloss finish they usually apply satin or semi-gloss for the first 2 coats, then gloss on the top coat. He says the only difference is the drying time, and that the semi-gloss or satin finishes won't affect the durability of the floor because the final coat determines surface durability.

Does this sound right? I thought that (regardless of whether the final coat is semi-gloss or gloss) for best durability and least "muddiness" of the final finish, the first 2 coats should be gloss. Am I hopelessly confused?