I've read in some places that you should NEVER use more than one coat of stain on hardwood floors, while other places state that you can use multiple coats to achieve the color you want. So I'm confused - which is correct? The reason I ask is that the floor company we are using stated that they didn't think the results of using the initial coat of stain was very good (we didn't like the look of the ebony Minwax sample provided due to not being dark enough, so used another brand). Once applied, it still wasn't as dark as I'd hoped, but I still thought it was better than the Minwax. Anyway, the guy recommended using the Mixwax over the other stain, so we went with that. The color is now what we want, however, once they started putting the poly on, there were issues. We can live with some of the issues (such as some areas being slightly lighter - we're not expecting perfection, especially with dark floors), but there are other issues that appear unrelated to the stain. For example, after approx. the third coat of poly (Bona Traffic), we noticed huge scratches along the floor in one room, then noticed some in another. The company is acting as if we must have done it (yes, I wanted to screw up my new floor, so I went and scraped something across the entire room!), and still insist it goes back to the original stain before they used the Minwax. However, we've now realized that the scratch in one room corresponds to a fairly deep scratch that was there BEFORE they sanded (this room had existing wood that was being refinished), but for some reason, it wasn't noticeable until the final coat of poly. Is it possible that this is actually more related to the initial floor preparation - such as not getting the original scratches completely sanded out, but they just weren't noticeable until the end? We're extremely frustrated since it's been almost 2 weeks of dealing with this now and the company continues to act as if it's either 1) the non-Minwax stain or 2) we did something to cause the scratches. Too bad we don't have a photo of the scratch on the floor BEFORE starting all this, since then it would be very apparent that it's the SAME scratch, at least in one room - I think that's the issue in the other as well (the other room had new unfinished wood, so any scratches weren't so apparent before sanding and finishing). Thanks for any input or insight into this!

I think it's a no brainer. Have the floor scraped and refinished. The new finishes they have these days are so tough, all you need to do is damp mop them to keep them clean. If, after you scrape the floor, you see a big difference in appearance between the periphery area that had been painted and the rest of the area, you can probably deal with that by staining the whole floor a very dark brown which will hide those differences. The other option, if the hardwood is thick enough (and in an older house like yours, it probably is) is to scrape some more to come to the "raw" wood. Scraping and refinishing is a messy job, and probably more expensive than painting. But it is much nicer looking and will last much longer and be easier to maintain, so will be cost effective in the end.

Hee hee! Who knows, with a whole upstairs of hardwood- I may just dance! But we have a three bedroom suite complete with kitchen downstairs, and we would like to keep our options open for future plans- perhaps a B & B, perhaps grown kids moving back for a while, maybe renting out to a student. But even just for house guests_ when I sleep in the basement at my sister's or my Mom's, it sounds like a herd of elephants when people wake up and walk around in the morning. Not a pleasant way to wake up! One of the boxes was crushed by the forklift, so we opened it and 'read the directions'. Amazing- told us NOT to open the boxes, how would you know unless you opened a box!!?!! Anyhow, in the instructions it does say to lay down roofing felt or tar paper for noise reduction and moisture control and for cleanliness. So, hubby is off to HD to buy another roll of tar paper, and I guess we'll leave it for the installers to lay down tomorrow morning. Almost 8:00pm, and we've just finished laying down subfloor for hallway and haven't had dinner yet. Thanks for the input. P.S. What you call roofing felt- is that the same thing as tar paper?

Is the kitchen floor continuous with the next room? If so, that's another reason to keep them the same color -- no awkward transition. Besides, I don't think it is possible for oak not to be warm, even unstained. :) If you have unfinished wood now, it'll darken up a bit with the finish and with time. Is the floor in the back of your kitchen near the wall the old wood or the new? I am no style guru and you will be the one having to look at the floor so this is just my opinion -- but I am thinking that two different floor colors might look better with two different woods, instead of having natural oak in one place and stained oak in another.