POLL! Do you prefer site finished or pre-finished hardwood flooring?

Since this is a DIY site, I would have to vote for pre-finished. Though I love the look of the site finished, they involve more expertise and more time. The pre-finished can be installed and the room restored to usable space immediately, where the site finished has to have additional time for finishing and drying before use.

Site finished is extremely popular for the reasons Susan stated. And a good choice for most people as they do come in a variety of finishes to suit almost any taste. I have done both over the course of my lifetime. When I replace the floors in one of my future projects in my home, I would go with site finished. This way I can achieve the exact tone of stain for the light in my home. May be a bit more money and longer time frame, and I do not mind the slight inconvenience for exactly what I want.

Site finished !

We recently had our hardwood floors refinished, they had been covered up for over 30 years. They came out beautiful. The man who did them, told us that the prefinished hardwoods are coated in a very hard finish and down the road if you need them sanded they are very tough to sand. So if this is your forever home and you are staying awhile, go with the site finished.

I have also had both kinds. One issue with the pre-finished is that we had one of the popular brands of pre-finished red oak installed by a local flooring company and as it turns out that brand is not all that durable. So we had to have it refinished after 6 years. The refinishers had to do more sanding to make the floor completely level (so the finish wouldn't pool in the bevels at the edge of each board). However, I also had beautiful pre-finished hardwood from a local company here in Chelsea, MI installed and I believe that it will be much more durable.

I have site finished oak. I have s couple of areas where the finish has become quite thin. Any suggestions how to fix without doing whole floor? Or am I just dreaming that this is possible?

Here in Florida with most of our houses built on concrete slabs we find prefinished engineered hard wood to be most satisfactory. Easy to install quickly, easy to keep clean. A very satisfactory solution.

I've had both. I prefer prefinished hard wood. There are beautiful shades to choose from and it's faster. When you have them site finished you will deal with the odor (plan to spend days somewhere else), covering areas to keep sand off of additional items, drying time for stain and varnish, plus additional drying time if it's humid or raining, and dealing with the odor for several weeks. I have a cat and the odor and time it took to refinish the floors was hard on her and so not worth it. Go prefinished.

We installed pre finished bird,s eye maple.....within a short time we could see it marking

And realized there had only been one coat on the hardwood. It required redoing the finish.

Pre finished. It just looks more consistent and the color is better.

You requested pictures of the flooring so I am sending this in hopes of some advice. The edge of the wood is VERY thin, actually bare in a few areas. Hope these pictures are sufficient. Thanks Darlene Brownfield

My cabin originally had site finished oak flooring that was in very bad shape. I had it refinished but it did not hold up to traffic and dogs. The dust from the sanding was awful & the wait time was very inconvenient. I had it replaced with prefinished Strand bamboo which is 5 times harder than oak. It looks great & is impervious to scratches.

The dark areas between the boards are spaces I presume are from shrinkage due to l o w humidity. If I remember correctly the gaps lessen during higher humidity weather. Our floor was not installed professionally ( my oldest son did the installation ) . The area in the photo is under the kitchen table where the chairs slide in and out. I do have problems with sand getting between the boards even though I do sweep, stiffer, and vacuum frequently.

I am very hesitant as to what would be the best way to clean my floor.

We are in our senior years and I must admit it is tempting to " let the next owners worry about it". LOL