Our wood floors were also installed about 1991 and finished with Street Shoe, which our installer said he used at shopping malls, on their wood floors as well.
We says sand, grit and stiletto heels are really tough on wood floors, as well as water.
My husband HATES the little beveled edge of the prefinished hardwood that we put in throughout our summer home. Our summer home will be our retirement home when we move back to the US and he wishes upon wishes that we had gone with the traditional hardwood that needed to be sanded and finished. So make sure you know what you want for an end result. I don’t really mind, i think the floors are so pretty, but he really wanted that old fashioned look and feel. Make sure you know what you want for the end point. And we have lived in Asia for so long I am not sure we could ever wear shoes inside a house ever again, so that is not an issue for us.
Street Shoe is also used on bowling lanes.
I knew when we bought our house back in '86 that I would hate beveled edges on hardwood and that dirt would accumulate between the boards. We were easily able to get pre-finished, square edged hardwood for our flooring at that time so I’m confused by some of the posts seeming to claim that pre-finished hardwood always has to be beveled.
Apparently it doesn’t have to be beveled, but the subfloor has to be perfectly level if you want to use straight-edged prefinished wood. Therefore it’s not common. From what I’ve read, it’s easier to do this with engineered wood, although I don’t totally understand why.
I have oak prefinished “click” hardwood in our little beach house. It was installed like laminate but it’s engineered hardwood made by Tarkett. It is now nine years old and there are no scratches. I have a Labrador and children. The prefinished hardwoods are much tougher than finished in place. IME it was the early prefinished hardwoods that have that bevel, which I hate.