Hardwood floor

I'm in the hunt for hardwood floors and trying to stay within a specific price range. I have oak floors on my first floor and normally, would stick with the same for the upstairs project. I ran across a few good prices on maple floor but prefer a little darker in color. Is it safe to assume I can stain maple to closely match the oak or basically stain to any color I desire?

Reply to
Meanie
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Staining wood is staining wood is staining wood. Of course you can stain, dye or color it the way you want.

You might want to consider a few things. First, the texture and appearance of oak and maple are quite different, and no matter how you stain it (unle ss it is and obscure chocolate brown or black) they will never match. Even then, in deep colors it will only match in color, not in texture. Maple i s much finer in grain than oak as well, which can make it prone to a blotch y appearance when coloring.

White oak is the norm for older oak floors, but red oak has a large market share these days as well. White oak is difficult to stain unless you have some experience doing so as it doesn't absorb stains well. Red oak is almo st never stained as it can be a nightmare in appearance due to soft and har d areas all on one board that take coloring differently, leading to an unac ceptable appearance. So red oak is usually clear sealed, the amber nature of sealers giving it a tint of color.

The last thing to think about is the actual finish itself. If you existing floor is factory finished, the finish will be a complex formulation specif ically designed for the flooring industry. It will be harder, thinner, and more color neutral than the material available to you. Usually they are d eveloped to resist ambering as well.

This means that the finish you put on today that is applied to match the ex isting floor color may not match in just a few years. The "over the counte r" materials available are very hard and wear resistant (and in some cases better than an original factory finish) but react differently to light, wea r and moisture than factory finishes. Your stain/finish work that matches color (not texture) today will probably look a great deal different in 5 ye ars.

If it were me, I would buy the maple if I liked it and color and finish it as a complimentary color rather than try to match it. That way when the fi nishes change, you won't notice.

Just my 02.

Robert

Reply to
nailshooter41

I'd say buy prefinished oak or ash in the colour you want. Pay a bit more up front and a lot less hassle later. I bought my ash flooring from a local mill, prefinished, for less than it would have cost to put in raw flooring, sand it, stain it, and finish it - even if I didn't make a single mistake and end up not liking what I had done.

Ash is less expensive than oak and is VERY close in colour, grain, and texture to white oak With the emerald ash borer decimating the ash tree population there is a LOT of ash available on the market - bringing the price down considerably.

Reply to
clare

Excellent advice. Thank you

Reply to
Meanie

Will definitely take that into consideration.

Thank you

Reply to
Meanie

Totally agree with a complimentary color. Noting looks worse than to try to match and miss.

Reply to
Leon

NO KIDDING!

And worse, if you miss and then try to correct coloring on a stained piece...

99% of the time you will find yourself farther and farther into complete replacement.

Robert

Reply to
nailshooter41

When you are on 2 different floors a few shades difference is totally un-noticeable. I'm AS U ming by first and second floor he means first and second STORY - not 2 rooms (floors) on the same story.

I might be wrong, but that's how it reads up here in snowy Ontario.

Reply to
clare

You are correct. Upstairs and downstairs.

Reply to
Meanie

Then a mismatch of a shade or two isn't even a consideration.. Put ash upstairs.

Reply to
clare

Given that you can buy engineered flooring now for a decent price, I'm not sure I would jump on a major flooring project.

You can buy "finished" flooring for under $4.00sq ft and it will have a finish that is far exceeds anything you could do your self.

Consider some of the new "plank" flooring that is 9/16" and made of several layers of wood and topped out with what ever finish and color you could ever want.

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You can staple,nail,glue and snap together many different brands.

Reply to
Pat Barber

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