I am building a new house with 2500 sq-ft of hardwood floor. I plan on maintaining the floor with water based finish for recoating high traffic areas once a year or so.
Should I ask the builder to use water based finish for the original finish, or does it matter? If so, what brand should I specify?
If the builder uses an oil based finish, can I put additional coats of water based finish before moving in (after the builder's finish dries)? This will be the last opportunity for coating the floor without having to move furniture, worrying about kids running around, etc. How many additional coats is reasonable? I am thinking of 5 additional coats on top of however many standard coats the builder uses. Is this too many?
I don't want to ask the builder for additional coats, as he seems to have add hefty margins for this kind of requests.