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Home Repair Flooring Design Dilemma

Help! My flooring is a mix of red and white oak. How do I match that?

2 years ago

We are remodeling our first floor and will be tearing out the floors in the foyer and kitchen and laying 2 1/4” oak to match the existing hardwood in the rest of the house before sanding and refinishing everything.

As we got estimates, some people told us we had red oak, others said white. One of the companies scraped a few boards and tested them. Turns out we likely have a mix of red and white oak. Of the three he tested, two boards were white and one was red.

I’m not sure what to do about the new flooring. The new oak will be toothed in where walls were removed, and the new oak in the foyer and kitchen will be right up against the existing hardwood in the living room and dining room. The company we are using suggested using white oak for the new flooring. I’m worried this will stand out, but also don’t know if mixing red and white will do much to help. I really can’t tell how much is red and how much is white.

I’ve posted some photos. I’d love to hear what it looks like to you. The last photo shows some of the flooring that will be torn out and replaced with new oak.

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Comments (5)

latifolia
2 years ago
We got much the same answer, although we were only refinishing. Pretty sure our builder went with the cheapest he could find!

Many people prefer white oak because it has less of the orange tone than red oak. It's probably impossible to match what you have exactly, so going with all white oak is good advice.
HU-835707804 thanked latifolia
PRO
G & S Floor Service
2 years ago
I do not see any mixed species, only red in your photos. Can you post a wide shot, along of other areas?
HU-835707804 thanked G & S Floor Service
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HU-835707804
Original Author
2 years ago
Thanks for the feedback. I have a hard time seeing a mix, too. Here are some additional pictures.
HU-835707804
Original Author
2 years ago
Here are pics of the boards he scraped and sampled. They were all on the edge, where a wall was removed. I’ve also included a photo of the test samples.
cat_ky
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago
I see there have already been some pieces replaced in at least one area. Its possible, that someone patched those pieces in and used white oak. They appear to have taken the stain a lot darker than the rest of the floor. The rest of the floor looks to be red oak. I see at least 3 shorter boards that have been laced in as a replacement on the wall side. I would use red oak, for the rest of the floors, and since they will all need to be refinished to match, have them remove those 3 boards and put in matching oak there too, so you dont have those strips of very dark wood.

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