What an "odd coincidence"! Then it's LVP for me!
Thanks, Peg.

When we were at the flooring store ordering our new floor, the saleslady told us one of the reason you can't finish floors with aluminum oxide on them is because it eats up sanding pads before the finish can be broken up so it's very hard to find people to refinish it, and if they do, it's going to be more expensive than replacing the floor.

Cancork.... You always give such great, thorough, reliable information!!

Are there health concerns regarding sanding/making these AO particles airborne? Breathing the dust? Being sucked into HVAC systems during removal? Will this be future generations "asbestos"?

Had oak hardwood floors refinished in a previous house. They were sanded with a floor sander and finished with 3 coats of polyurethane. Turned out beautifully. Had similar floors installed in my present home. Natural oak, installed, sanded and finished on the spot. Longer, messier process, but worth it.

Bubba- I asked rep that questions ! Of course, answer was no. Why should he throw away his bread' butter? Only for people's health! Ok. Now I'm mad. Gonna call installer. DH may be right-am like dog with a bone. Have to find someone accountable. Or at least tell full truth.

What are your thoughts on water vs oil based poly?

Peg...What does their website say?

"Nanolinx ". 5 x more weR resistant than competing, clean hypoallergenic, transparent, flexible to preserve appearance & prevent cracking, UV protector. Then each attribute has a short demo. Nothing about refinishing.

Hi Bubba - I've enjoy your support. You are always on the money with your advice! Great minds...blah,blah, blah.

AO health concerns: Airborn AO is a known lung irritant and should be avoided. In essence it is gets into the lungs and begins to chew up the tissue before the body has a chance to get rid of it. People with dust/allergy/lung sensitivities should not be in the space until the work is done and the clean up is finished.

The dry product is stable/inert and is not "supposed" to be harmful. It is the airborne dust that is the concern and not the dry/hard/stable finish.

Floor finishers MUST be protected with proper masks (more than just a dust mask is needed - it must have a mircro filter on it) when cutting the planks during installation. Cutting should be done outside or in a heavily vented area.

Anyone who purchases a prefinished hardwood, and are contracting out their own installation job, need to inform their installer about the type of finish. This allows the installers to chose their personal level of protection. Ceramic based finishes are not as bad...but still a macro particulate getting into the lungs is not fun.

I await the health studies that are sure to come in the next 10 years on workers exposed to the dust.

Refinishing is like having the Sahara blow through your house. You cannot over-prepare to protect your belongings from the massive amount of dust the sanding creates.
Wrap sheets around your clothes.

Makes you question why the boxes/websites/sales people do NOT ADVERTISE the Aluminum Oxide finish. They used to, but now all that "easy to find" MSDS product information is hidden. Two years ago, I could look up any floor finish and find the product used and contents of the finish. Now I have to do a 30 minute search of the web and the company website to find "Nanolinx"...and then "infer" from the "nano" part that this is AO. I'm going to guess there has already been some backlash against AO and the companies are trying to "hide" the information so they can close the sale.

Very intriguing.

Omg! Installers were covered in dust! Cut it outside on the deck but wind would change and I'd have a fit to make them move saw so it didn't blow in the house. Thousands of families are going to be affected by this. Just my luck, after all the searching for the right flooring,I'd choose one that has all these issues! This stinks!

All the interesting information above sparked my curiosity. I called the manufacturer of my floor. They do not recommend sanding a floor with the AO finish. It is extremely difficult to remove and may damage the floor. It is a very hard finish and the floor shouldn't have to be refinished if it is properly maintained. The sales people should let the consumer know. (I probably would still buy the floor, knowing the finish will last, if it is well taken care of).

Hi vjs12. The AO floor can "last" many decades....but it has issues in appearance...sometimes after only 7-10 years. AO can scratch...which turns BRILLIANT WHITE. These scratches are very difficult to hide...they do NOT stain with 'stain pens', they do NOT accept any form of 'touch up'. The AO finish is a multilayered finish with the nanobead aluminum oxide "backed" between the layers. These layers (7-10 layers deep) can "split apart" from one another. This turns white as well. This is quite common with bamboo or other 'soft' floors like engineered hardwood. When something heavy is allowed to hit the floor, this can cause the wood underneath to dent. At the same time the brittle, ridgid finish will then crack - internally. Again, these turn brilliant white and there is NO FIX.

As these floors age the AO finish starts to haze or turn milky. I've heard this happen quite often with bamboo and cork flooring. I would assume other wood floors (I know...bamboo is NOT wood) have this issue as well. Some of these floors haze inside of 5 years...others haze inside of 10 years. The problem still remains...they haze, scratch and dent without any way to fix them.

The finish will NOT wear through...that is for sure....but the appearance of these issues (milky haze, brilliant white "scars", unable to touch up, etc) often cause these 50 year floors to be ripped out well before they would normally need a "buff and coat" (usually between years 12 - 20). That means you have an ugly looking floor for another 40 years...if you listen to the sales people. Not many people put up with ugly white scarred floors for an extra 40 years just because the finish is still intact.

I've had clients throw out their "W______ers" floors after less than 7 years....for all of the above reasons. They threw away $15,000 worth of cork because the finish "...was so horrible. I hated it!". Good for me (sales person) bad for client (who is ultimately the person I serve)...I'll try my best to save any floor...but ugly is ugly.

Good to know Cancork, thank you!

Cancork, the web site I've been referring to said the UV protector eliminates hazing and if something heavy is dropped, the nano technology keeps the finish flexible so it dents with the wood and adheres to the wood. As to the white marks, I will keep that in mind also. Thank you for your info and expertise. This is probably going to be an ongoing problem that some will want to keep hidden from the public. With discussions like this, there will be less chance of that happening. My nature is not that of demonstrator etc,but I will not let this go until I know what the dangers are and what is being done to remedy the situation. Thank you all. I will keep referring to the info here.

I am in the process refinishing my hardwoods after an 8 month major renovation to a 126 year old "girl". While we have loved all the work our GC - general contract - has done i should not have said "yes" to him refinishing our floors.

Advice: hire a master hardwood floor refinishers instead of your a good quality general contractor. That way you don't have any worries at all on how it comes out, they have the best equipment including the best dust collection machines.

It's the icing on the cake after all the work....hiring a master craftsman on it would have been better. Period.

We refinished the wood floors when we moved in here. It was incredibly time consuming as the previous owner had GLUED down the carpet, but it was worth it in the end.

We had our hardwood floors refinished. What I wish I had know was to pick the correct finish type - satin, etc. Also, I wish I knew the amount of work it takes to clear out the areas to be done. We had to do it in two sections and I am now waiting on the second section. We just did not have the space to move everything to non-hardwood areas. Fortunately, we found an easy breakpoint. Also consider if you want the closets done. It's extra and do you really care if the doors are closed?

We renovated an old home and after living with old worn floors, it was a fantastic surprise to see how they came up. Having had mixed success with sanding and varnishing previously where the finish 'retarded' and was sticky underfoot for weeks!! we opted for a flooring contractor to sand and varnish the floors. I use oils for my furniture but for a hard wearing surface which would cope with kids and pets, we chose gloss polyurethane 2 or 3 coats with the topcoat a satin finish to soften the end result. Looks awesome and I still love it 8 years later.
Pros - someone who knows what they are doing lol
Cons - smell (actually moved the family out for a couple of days whilst it was done)

Old pic of what it used to look like lol. and a new ones taken last year (after 7 years of wear) but still looking good. The floors are NZ hardwoods and we're told a mixture of Matai and Rimu. This is a large kitchen/living room and we continued the polished floors right through all the living areas, only carpeting the stairs and bedrooms. Can't go wrong with real wood.

I had been privy to 3 floor refinishing's in the past ( both 75 yr old oak floors ) with great results so when it came time to do a show room I was working on , also roughly 75 yrs old but maple, I opted to tackle it myself. I rented the best machine possible and the corresponding sanding pads in different finishes as is customary but encountered something I had never seen or heard of before. As I began with the roughest grade paper, small balls of lacquer began beading up in hot , burning balls and adhering themselves to the floor with subsequent passes. What was left in the sanders wake resembled cigar burns on the wood. I had to stop what I was doing and retrieve a sharp chisel and pop off all the burnt circles I ended up hand scraping the floor and giving it a hand antiqued finish. It looks terrific, however , thank god it was for myself as a client would never have paid the amount it cost . Has anyone else dealt with this and why? I asked at the rental if I had done something wrong and was told , no, that happens sometimes???

The dust gets EVERYWHERE, even in an empty house. the refinishing dust gets into every crevice and sticks too. Be prepared for heavy duty cleaning and dusting when they are done. But, the 1950's dark oak floors, with dirty wax build up in the corners ended up being several shades lighter (white oak actually I think) and totally changed the feel of the house.

Use a professional with a dustless system to sand - then apply a green low voc product like Rubio Monocoat yourself to save money and fumes and curing time.

I've been trying to decide on a new floor for the last year. I've finally decided to install raw wood and finish on site, but I haven't nailed down (haha) a species. I absolutely love the look of walnut. The grain and color are exactly what I want, but it's just too soft. Can anyone recommend another avenue to get this look?

The extra coat is worth it, especially if it is for a home with kids. Also, if it's possible to get it done while you're on vacation or before you move in, do it--and wait a couple of weeks to move in to let it cure. I wish I hadn't put 4-5 inch discs under the grand piano wheels (to protect the floor) after refinishing. When we moved out of the house 11 years later, we discovered the color of the wood floor under those discs had darkened while the rest of the finish exposed to the air and light had not. If I would have rested the piano wheels directly on the floor, perhaps the discoloration patches would have been much smaller.

If you're thinking of going dark, just know that it shows EVERY. SPECK. All dust, crumbs, lint, even mud shows up on dark floors. We started with Ebony by Minwax and had them redone to only 1 coat of Jacobean. Now I'm super happy. Plus, we can see the grain of the floor much better.

Here is another option thats "dark" but will still hide dust and debris. Its an Oiled/Wax finish from Belgium. We are putting it over White Oak.

Love that Oak & Broad! Perfect...ashy brown with no red...nice!

Thank you so much for your kind words!

@Janice Pollard - What species is your floor? Oak? I agree - the after looks awesome.

Thanks, @vvachula! It's Select Red Oak. The living room (closest to the camera) was already oak, but 24 years old and a honey color. The kitchen (farthest from the camera) was tile, and they were able to blend new oak flooring with old and stain it all to look new. You can see a few other peeks at the floor on this post: http://designrefind.blogspot.com/p/kitchen-makeover.html

Wow! Your kitchen looks beautiful! Soooo dark before with those cabinets and floors. Nice job!

Thanks so much! I do consulting (even virtually) if you're interested. :-)

We are in the process of refinishing red oak floors. What is your opinion on water based poly vs. oil based poly? We are using a Minwax stain which is oil based (in fact, I was told that all Minwax stains are oil based) does that make a difference as to which poly we choose?

A water based poly will be less yellow than an oil based product. It will leave a little more natural look to the floor.

I am answering the original question: This is NOT a DIY project. Get the best professional you can! View his previous work on a sunny day from an angle to see that it is perfectly smooth.

Will the water based poly have very little sheen compared to oil based poly?

The sheen is not oil/water specific. Both products have various available sheens.

Definitely hire a pro! We had ours done with Minmax Early American, see photo. What a transformation this was. The color is perfect! Not too dark, doesn't show off dust, etc.

Thanks for the warnings about the dust. We are having our floors refinished next week, and I'm planning to take the pictures off the walls and take down all of the window treatments. I was sort of wondering if I was taking it too far, but it sounds like I'm probably not!

Plastic drop/drape cloth EVERYTHING unless you take it out. There is no such thing as over protection. Clothes, drapes, vents..........We lived in a house that had the floors refinished and the house was empty when it happened. Years later we were STILL finding dust on every surface and crevice that you could not imagine. If you can afford it, hire a cleaning crew to come in after the floors are done to get the mess cleaned up.

I just wanted to point out as a hardwood flooring professional that aluminum oxide floors assuming that they are solid and not engineered CAN be refinished. It just takes a lot of work, sand paper and proper (not rental) sanding equipment. I am currently in the process of refinishing yet another one right now. If a guy walks off of a job after starting to sand it because he realizes that it is aluminum oxide you might need to find a real professional.

Excellent point. I know that AO can be refinished but it is usually more than people want to tackle. Just for an example, what would be the difference a home owner should expect to see re: cost/time when compared to a traditional polyurethane finish? Is it 50% more expensive? 25% more expensive? How much longer would it take to sand off AO and refinish?

I think it is a valid point for people to hear. There are plenty of factory finished solid hardwoods with AO on them. In a few years, people will discover the truth about them. A little bit of education could help make a decision today.

Ok folks let's clear up some myths here on this thread. AO can be refinished professionally. You will want to note a few things such as does your floor guy operate dustless equipment? Is he fully dustless or partially? Secondly there's a tool called 'diamabrush hardwood tool' that scrubs off AO pretty effortlessly on the market. Always make sure there's at least 1/8" of 'meat' on the wear layer before refinishing. NWFA guidelines call for a sand job to take off no more than 1/16". Also make sure your floor guy can deal with maple as it can be a bit tricky for the guys that always do oak or walnut. YES factory finished flooring can be refinished. Bamboo sometimes but I personally turn down those jobs because I'm fearful of exposing my guys to nasty nasty chemicals used in the glue to bind the 'strands'.

Interesting thread! I have Homerwood handscraped walnut prefinished floors (solid, not engineered). They have an AO finish. After years of having them, I can see it is unlikely they'll ever need to be refinished in my lifetime as the finish is so tough. They haven't turned milky or turned white where any dents or scratches have happened. I have absolutely hated the mess of having floors refinished in previous homes, thus I chose this floor in hopes it would never need refinishing, which appears to be the case. But, I'm glad to hear it can be done if need be.

I have been charging %50 more to refinish ao floors than traditional polyurethane hardwood floors. But it should probably be more. It easily takes twice as long and twice as much sandpaper.

@elite try diama brushing the floors first. It cuts down on time and costs. Been doing it awhile now. I blow the competition away using it.

Just got our floors refinished. Went with a dark walnut and very happy with the outcome.