There are a few choices for finishing hardwood floors and some of them have much nastier finishes than others.



In order of most toxic to least toxic...



1) "Swedish" finish.



2) Typical single component (oil-based) varnishes.



3) Two component waterborne finishes.



4) Single component waterborne finishes.



I would get a detailed account of what process they will use to refinish your floors. I would also ask how much sanding they'll do and whether or not they use a dustless sander. Inhaling fine wood dust can also be toxic to your animals.



The guy who did our floors advertises as using odorless European finishes (#3 from above). But he also happens to put down two coats of oil-based sanding sealer first (#2 from above).



I can tell you that we were basically out of our house for a week and would have liked to have been out longer. All of the finishing was upstairs and we were living downstairs but the odor was still nasty. Fortunately I had researched the products beforehand and knew what we were getting into.



If I had my snakes in the house I would have wanted them out for at least a week if not longer. Fortunately they have a special made room out in the garage.



So again, find out exactly what finishes these contractors will be using and post back. Don't accept "we use waterbased poly" as an answer. Find out the exact process and products, including any sealers they may put down first. If they are vague thank them for their time and tell them you'll be sending your business elsewhere.



One product I did not list is shellac. Some contractors put that down as a sealer and they varnish over that. It is a natural finish but is dissolved in large amounts of denatured alcohol which has a strong odor. Probably just below #2 above. It is so rarely used I decided not to list it.



The products and market for floor finishes is wide open right now so even without critters one should really know their options beforehand anyways.
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