We just had our red oak floors refinished. We ended up going with water based poly due to the fact we have cats and dogs and needed to remain in the house. The floors came out good but as we were told water based poly definitely comes out lighter than oil based poly. Our biggest concern at this point is how easily the floors are scratching! It has only been a week! We went with gloss finish. I didn't expect for them to scratch so easily. They all look to be surface scratches but are still very frustrating to see. The company who did our floors used Bona Novia gloss and I know they did sealer before they did coats of the gloss.
Thoughts? In hindsight, I guess gloss and pets don't go together but it just seems I never noticed scratches as much on the hardwoods before which were here when we moved in 4 yrs ago. So this is our first time refinishing them. Peoples thoughts on Bona Novia? We are trimming nails left and right but that isn't enough.....it just seems way too fragile.

gloss finishes are best suited for sports floors where only rubber sole shoes are allowed. Pets and gloss are a no go unless the customer insist/request. I assume it was your choice because it is very uncommon to see high gloss in a residential setting.

yes it was our choice; we love how it looks in other peoples houses and I guess didn't think about pets and gloss together though we also weren't advised against it either....

why do you think it is scratching so easily from a finish perspective? I would think the finish would hold better....

My helper has large dogs and he uses these things called soft paws.
They glue on to the nail of your dog and they are vinyl. He says they stay on well and he doesn't have any trouble with scratching his hardwood.