1950's vintage old (and in bad shape) red oak has been sanded and "it is what it is". Where there had been a fire and other damage like buckling (probably from water) we had to buy and install new red oak. The contrast between them post-sanding is very visible, especially in front room which is the entry point of the house. We're thinking of staining all the hardwood flooring with a dark color, like MiniWax's "Early American". We have lots of windows so a dark color won't be that terrible...but of course we'd choose to go lighter if we didn't still have some dark splotchy spots here and there. So...my question is: Should I use an oil-based stain or can I go with water-based? Which has best penetration and is most long-lasting and least likely to fade with sunlight from all those windows? Then...if I use oil-based stain, do I have to necessarily go with oil-based polyurethane? Or can water-based poly go over an oil-based stain? Btw I researched Bona products but they're not carried here, and they cost so much...plus they'd have to be shipped here. I hate the smell of oil-based anything, and I also have a mild case of COPD so prefer to protect my lungs. So that's why I prefer to use water-based products...but I don't want to have to do this over and over...I want hdwd floor coatings that will have the best longevity. Thanks for your advice!

You won't need much (if any) matching "patina" on the new floors if you're determined to sand the old floors. Sanding removes most of it, along with most decorative stains. You may still have some stains like ink or old standing water marks on the old floor, and of course deep gouges, etc., will still be there. But you shouldn't have too much trouble matching the floors if they are sanded and sealed at the same time. If you feel there is still need of some additonal softening of the boundaries, a threshold works for a door way. If it's in the middle of the room (like when you take out a wall) an area rug over the meeting line - even if it doesn't cover it clear across the room - will pretty much fool the eye if the two floors have similar color and not too different widths and patterns. Molly~

Your dining room floor is classic. Oak flooring has been around for over a hundred years and it is the easiest to match and patch in because it is always available - not discontinued like many other floorings. Yes - it takes a good flooring person to work the transition, but they do it all the time on This Old House. A hardwood floor will last you decades, while a vinyl floor will need to be replaced sooner or later (10 to 20 years) depending on the type. If your contractor does not want to do it, or know how to do it, get your own flooring people to come in and do it. I would prefer to get a flooring person in there and not just all around carpenter / handy man that may be working for your contractor.

We lived in Florida. Wood moves with the seasons, so glue would not allow the movement. Since we laid the floors ourselves in 1997, am working from memory here. We had plywood subfloor down then stacked the flooring in the air conditioned house for several weeks. We face nailed only. I really wanted an antique look and we used cut nails. All those are hammered in by hand. After all the flooring was installed, I mixed two colors of MinWax stains, Puritan Pine and one other ( memory fails me) in a one gallon paint can (new empty cans are sold by paint stores and Lowe’s) so my color would be consistent. No one else can be in the house for over a week while the staining and oiling are being done. Authentic Pine Floors gave me a formula for the finish I mixed in another unused gallon paint can, but I think I would use straight tung oil now. Tung oil must have five or six applications with sufficient drying time between coats. This cannot be rushed. We used tung oil on the cherry floors we laid two years ago in the kitchen of our current house and love it. Our Florida house had carpet upstairs for noise control, so I estimate we had over 2000 square feet of pine floors. My sister used the same material for her house in the Midwest 16 years ago and the floors are still beautiful. My daughter has about 3000 square feet of the same flooring, finished the same way. We all have dogs and active lives. Some people age their floors by dropping chains onto the surface, spreading sharp gravel on the floor and walking around with work boots to scratch the floors, or you can (with extreme caution) roll burning logs onto the hearth area to put a few scorch marks. Then stain and oil the floors. We did none of that at any of our three houses, preferring to let the floors show our history. All wood moves with humidity. It is not much, though. It certainly is not huge gaps.