There are many factors to consider when selecting a hardwood floor for your home besides color and finish. One of the main considerations is a nice quality finish that is free of debris which is common with sand & finish hardwood floors. Most brands of prefinished hardwood floors, for example, are stained and finished in a stringent controlled environment free of airborne debris and particles. These prefinished wood floors manufacturers such as Robbins also cure their finishes under ultra violet light conditions. The benefit is each board will resist fading when exposed by natural light through the windows of your home compared to sand and finish wood floors virtually eliminating the need for frequent and expensive refinishing due to fading. Furthermore, the long-term value is the color of the floor stays more consistent especially around areas rugs and furniture. In addition, prefinished hardwood products are typically 3 or 5 ply and are cross-laminated for dimensional stability. The fewer the plies the better because it usually means you have a thicker wear layer on top. We recommend nothing less than a 3/8" thickness. However, a full 1/2" is preferred. In Robbins you will find that most of their products are 3 ply except for the exotics. So the top wear layer on a 1/2" product is 1/6" of an inch. This is a generous amount of material for a top wear layer. So much in fact, Robbins gives their 1/2" 3 ply products a 3-time sand & refinish guarantee. On the 3/8”s thick products, you get a 1-time sand and finish guarantee. This sound like great stuff to you and me, but the reality is, when you take care of your wood floors, you may not need to ever re-stain & refinish your floors especially when you consider that prefinished wood floors typically have up to 7 coats of polyurethane applied to them versus the average of 2 coats on a sand and finish job done in your home. So as you can see, prefinished wood floors have a lot of advantages to today's value conscience consumer.