Who's doing the work? And what is the name of the FINISH?????

What do you mean who?? I am the owner of the house, I have my contractor doing the work. He said I should get Bona Traffic HD , I Ann it sure if I want to go Matt so I got the semi gloss . He is doing some samples fir me today. I asked him to try 50/50 classic grey and country white, country white by itself, classic grey by itself, and 50/50+ a little Jacobean if it comes out too grey. Not sure if these are right choices, may be I just need to put the finish over raw wood and it will give me what I am looking for.

Yea that’s what he told me, he will so few samples today with a coat if finish hopefully we will be able to achieve the color but I am not sure if I even made the right selections to mix. Thanks for your help!

Classicseal will put you right in the middle. It is a sealer not stain. Then apply Traffic HD on top. If, you want a little more color use Intenseal. Less color use Naturaseal. If, you want grey, use grey.

So be we did some samples (no top coat yet) , it’s really hard to visualize how it will come out, these are some mixes of the classic grey and country white. I am leaning towards lightest but I think I want it more grey. Isn’t these stains look too brownish?may be it’s the lighting. What does everyone think?

You must look at it through ALL 5 lighting situations. And this works best if you have a BIGGER patch of sanded area (like 10ft x 10ft). Your current floors are 'casting' colour on the samples. It takes a bigger patch of raw wood around the samples to get a better read.

If you want taupe (in this lighting) #3 is a winner so far. But you must look at it over the next 24 hours.

I will out the finish top on tomorrow, will be able to see better how it’s going to look final. I agree the pieces are small but don’t ha e much time to think, need to make a decision tomorrow:) one thing I am lucky with, we are starting with the bedrooms and if I don’t like color hopefully by the time I get to the living room the color is right even if I have to change it between bedrooms and hallway:), I am not so worried about the bedroom since it’s justly covered with the furniture:)

Colors are nowhere near your inspirational pictures. Samples should have been made ahead of time, not at the last minute. Bad decisions are usually made when under pressure.

Be more flexible with the schedule, allow more time, so you can see more samples. You can choose the right color and finish and avoid buyers remorse. If, it cost more money, compensate for it.

It’s but the cost that matters, I agree with you that samples should have been made ahead if time however considering my situation it’s impossible. Trying to do as much as I can as B d h he yet asking for suggestions and advise not judgement.

It’s not*

Question to professional. Floors were sanded, the wood is not the best quality but it’s ok. The stain was applied and first coat if finish was applied. Is it still possible to do patching (or filler whatever it’s called) to close the little seams between planks. I know it should have been done before stain but I just noticed the issues, does it have to be resented?

Putty/patch is usually done prior to staining. It can be done afterwards but it isn't as nice.

Do you have photos?

Here...

The floors look good. I wouldn't mess with them.

Remember: the "cure" is often WORSE than the "disease"

If you add in a patch at this point, you could get a bunch of UGLY. And if it is YOU who asks for it, and the refinisher tries to talk you out of it and you insist, the COST of correcting the 'ugly' is 100% on your shoulders.

You have a stunning looking floor. Do NOT mess with a GOOD THING. It will MOST LIKELY look worse than it does right now.

Thank you! Fir some reason they said they are still planning to do patch. They only put one coat of traffic hd and planning to do 2 more. I guess I will know tomorrow. Thanks for your input!

Ask them more questions about what that MEANS to the floor. If you do NOT think it needs it, then tell them don't worry about it.

Do you have a photo of the areas they are planning on patching?

I hope you go with your instincts and choose the lightest one, number 3 and I wouldn't worry about adding more grey as the lighter more brown tone will holds it's value down the road as the grey toned flooring fad will fade eventually whereas a natural tone wood floor will always be classic.

The floors came out pretty good! It will take me a while to get used to it being light:) but I love the color and considering it’s not the best hardwood quality (btw just realized today it has short pieces of wood I guess builders put whatever cost cheaper and I didn’t have a choice to select when I bought a condo 8 y ago), so considering the wood yang the best I think it looks good. Finished it with Bona Traffic HD and used gloss since semi gloss looked like the wood is unfinished. Thanks to all for advises.

So, everything was going perfect, with the color and all, after the second coat of poly was applied I noticed the smudge ... before putting the last coat the installer tried to clean it and didn’t re-apply the stain , so after the last coat of finish the spot was left yellow. Installers came again, this time they sanded few pieces around, restained and finished. The last coat of finish was not applied yet but I don’t think I like how it looks. The spot is darker. I think my only option is to redo the whole room. Your suggestions please. I attached the pictures of the orange spot that was there after first fix and the pictures how it is now.

The installer is trying to convince me that if he cleans, buffs and put final coat on the piece it will not be noticeable but I feel more we fix worse it gets. And all this after we achieved a perfect color :((. I don’t think there is anything to be done other than resend and reapply the stain.

Where in the room is it? Do you think it will be underneath furniture or area rugs? This patch isn't perfect but it is MUCH better than the previous loss of stain.

If you believe this will be under furniture or an area rug for most of it's life, you might just tell then to OFFER a DISCOUNT and let them finish and leave.

The reason I say this? Because wood changes as it ages. If that patch is under a rug, then the floor around it will brighten/lighten with age. Once the rug is moved/changed, you will find the area under the rug is GENERALLY darker (will look like a shadow). At THAT POINT you won't even REMEMBER the patch. I'm serious....think this through.

It's not perfect but it isn't horrible. It is worth a discount...if it is in the middle of a room that will be filled with furniture.

Unfortunately it’s not under furniture or under rug, it’s a living room connected to the dining room and the door is right in the walkway between. I am just hoping if they send it again all the way down to where it was before we started the stain (really hoping it’s possible), I love the color everywhere just hood it silk be the same after redoing it.

Also the door is not only darker than the rest, it’s not possible to see on the pictures but when you look under the light it’s different in glossiness, looks like they put the patch and didn’t finish. I am really upset... sounds stupid I know especially that even if I leave it this way I will forget about it in a time... but right now it really bothering me just don’t want to get it worse than it is with resending and refinishing.

The spot I meant abovr*

Colour variation and gloss level differences are an expected issue with patches. You said the FINAL coat has not been applied. It is entirely possible the sheen will get better once the entire floor is given it's final coat.

Just remember: if they had issues making a 2ft x 2ft patch, imagine how much trouble they can get themselves into if you get them to redo an entire ROOM....imagine that room have a different colour AND different sheen than the rest of the home.

Which is easier for you to live with? A 2ft x 2ft patch that can be ignored by most humans who do not know the issue is THERE (visitors and house members who were NOT part of the flooring drama). A different coloured room floor sitting right beside another room that is 'perfect' is going to be a BIG indicator that things went wrong.

You are the homeowner. Only you can decide what you can handle. The question you need to answer is WHICH ERROR is easier for you to live with: 2ft x 2ft patch versus a 250sf ROOM?

So they psyched the piece again and color came out really good blended in. He is applying 2 mire vista of poli to the piece than planning buff the entire area and apply the final coat all over. Do you think it would still show the patch?

Patched*

If you have a hard time seeing it with the two build up coats, you won't see it after the final coat of poly at the end.

Like I said there is no color variation that’s good, but will see how it is after 2 more costs of poly

So after mss as y attempts to patch we decided to redo the floor completely. It was resented, stain was applied. It looks a hair lighter than what it was before (or nit), either way there is still 3 coats of Bona Traffic HD (gloss) to be applied. Do you think the poli silk maje the color darker or mire pronounced?

This one only stain, no finish applied.

This was with finish. Wondering if it will be the same after finish products applied.

The more layers you add to the finish, the better a floor looks. Is there a reason why you are worried about what it looks like with one coat vs. all the coats? Is there something bugging you?

The only thing is it looks just a little bit lighter than original (I think), other than that looks good. We didn’t have a stain left from the original but I compared the new mix to the left over, it looked the same when applying as well, dried a little lighter. That’s why I though may be after I put more coats of finish it will get mire pronounced grains and will get a little darker. May be not. Right now only one coat applied over stain, will apply 2 more.