I recently purchased a 1960's home (foreclosure) to use as a rental home. I had already checked and noticed red oak floors underneath the terrible carpets and intended to refinish them. I asked each of the guys I had bidding on the hardwood refinishing about finishes. I explained that my personal position was "do it once, do it right" and that considering the labor on the effort, the price of the finish just wasn't something I wanted to pinch pennies on. I'd rather put the best down and not have to redo it as soon, or put something down that was easier to re-coat later.

The floors are stripped down, we've filled or replaced boards, and will be bleaching out some dark spots soon. After that I plan to apply a redish tone stain, nothing too dark or too light, to hopefully conceal what variations we can't bleach out.

So, here's my question after all that "background"... which poly to use? All my research so far has pointed me to three coats of either Bona Traffic, or Bona Naturale. I'm leaning toward the Naturale. I don't plan to allow pets, and I plan to verify they use "furniture coasters" even if I have to supply them. The floors are in the living room, hall way, and three bedrooms.

Assume cost is not a factor for right now... I want something that will stand up to renters, and be easy to repair when they inevitably aren't nice to them. I searched the forum and didn't see any threads about rental houses with high end finishes. I hope that's not a sign that I'm silly to go that direction and would be better off with a less expensive finish with more frequent touch ups... but I can't get the math to work out on that.

Thank you guys for your advice!
-Jim

The traffic is a great choice for a rental. It will hold up very well.