Seeking Solution for working with Old Red Oak vs New Red Oak please!
gratitude24
last year
Hi there!
We just experience our THIRD slab leak in our home and have finally decided to have all of our hot and cold water pipes rerouted - THANK GOODNESS!
The insurance company is reimbursing the cost of replacing the water damaged wood flooring in 3 rooms. We have a hallway and 3 remaining rooms that were not effected by the water damage so they aren't being replaced but the insurance company will cover the cost of them being sanded, hand scraped and restained so that the finish and color matches.
Here is my dilemma...I have red oak floors. Now that all of the stain from the older red oak floors is visible, it's clearly changed color due to the stain, polyurethane, chemicals, etc. have penetrated into the wood. I had them use a custom color to counteract the pink undertones in the red oak. The wood has now lost a lot of it's original pink hue while the NEW wood that was just installed is straight up PINK.
It's not so much a big deal in rooms that are on the opposite end of the house but I have two rooms...the den and the breakfast room that are RIGHT next to each other in an open concept layout. I can't cover the area where they old and new wood 'meet' to cover the two different tones...
I'd love to see if anyone has any suggestions that I am overlooking?
Any stain that's applied won't match the floors up since the floors have varying undertones.
As I see it, my options are: Remove the old wood from the den and replace it with the newer, pink wood. (issues are that this is more money - insurance won't cover this and it will take longer and after the water pipes being rerouted, sheetrock work, painters, floor demo, etc.
frankly, we're weary.)
Hire a stain specialist if I can even find one...maybe someone with extensive experience with a remediation company?
Live with it, which doesn't thrill me because I'm color sensitive and can pick up varying hues in paint colors, etc
For those of you who have handled wood flooring remediation, or have had added new wood next to old wood, once we stain it, will it matter that much? Is there another solution that we can approach? Thank you!!
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Comments (7)
Connie Stackhouse
last yearRelated Discussions
red oak vs. swamp white oak
Comments (32)I planted a swamp white oak 18 months ago. Was just under 5' tall container, mail order from Forest Farm. I had read that swamp whites are slow growers, but mine has been very vigorous. I think buying small is a good strategy because the 10' B&B's at the garden centers will stare at your for a couple years before taking off and require a lot more watering. This guy will catch up with the bigger ones. I just watered mine weekly during the first summer, but did not water at all the second year. Generously mulched w/ leaf compost. Grew like crazy. I had to re-establish the central leader due to heavy deer browsing. After protecting, it easily put on 2-3 feet in height and a ton of density in the second summer. The trunk really bulked up quickly too. Looks like a winner. Fall color is better than expected, kind of a pale orange. In an area like NE Ohio, which is often pretty wet but also goes through some dry spells, swamp whites seem to thrive. Unlike a lot of oaks, they can supposedly handle wet or dry. Northern reds seem to prefer somewhat drier sites. Of course, Northern Reds are still very good trees. If you are dealing with wetness and/or clay soils, an alternative is the Nuttalli. They have the best form of the reds from what I have seen around here and are starting to gain traction. Guy Sternberg developed a nice cultivar (New Madrid) that you can buy mail-order. Just got one of those too....See MoreMost natural looking satin finish on old red oak?
Comments (7)The colour variation between the old and the new could be for several reasons. First it could be the wrong species. Your first posts indicated that you *might have white oak. Now you know you have red oak. If the installer laid white oak (because that was an assumption at the time) it could be a species mis-match. The second reason could be the wrong 'cut' or selection of grade for the wood. Without seeing more of the old floor up against the new, it is hard to say. The third option, which is MOST likely is the AGE of the wood. The old floor could be from older, denser trees (older at time of harvest) which could account for higher amounts of tannins in the wood. The only other thought I have is the old floor has NOT be sanded down yet. I'm assuming it has been....but again this is an assumption. The only other thing I can think of (to get away from this mis-match) would be to harvest old flooring from a second bedroom/den, etc and lay it in the area where it is going to be most visible. Then lay the new material in the out-of-the-way room and hope for the best. Personally I love the look and feel of the Loba 2K Supra AT. If you lay down three coats of the satin you are going to have one of the toughest floor finishes available on the market. I'm not sure why you would use 2 coats of Invisible AT and then switch over to 2K Supra AT for the final coat. Traditionally you start with 2 coats of GLOSS (2K Supra AT Gloss) and then FINISH with one coat of Satin if you wish to have a satin finish. The additives in the finish (that create the matte finish) can cause the floors to look hazy. This is something you will want to avoid. Unless the Loba rep. can GUARANTEE that the matte additives in the Invisible WILL NOT be a problem (ie. s/he guarantees you will NOT get a hazy looking floor) then I would stick with three coats of the Loba 2K Supra AT (2 gloss + 1 satin). If the two coats of gloss scare you, then go ahead and work with the semi-gloss. The Loba 2K Supra AT comes in three finishes: satin, semi-gloss and gloss. You want to avoid the "haze" of matte finishes as much as possible....See MoreOil vs Water Poly Finish for Red Oak -- and what color should I choose
Comments (1)OK...oil based poly STINKS for WEEKS afterwards. And it turns the 'orange yellow' you are describing. And it will turn ANY COLOUR you choose to an orange tone. If you like the idea of the finish off-gassing for 30+ days while you try to find a place for yourself and kids and dog to live, you are welcome to go with it. I'm not a fan of oil based. The VOC contents are ASTRONOMICAL (880 g/L in one of them...compare that to the CARB requirement of LESS THAN 175 g/L in California). Many of these finishes are illegal in California and the 11 states that have adopted the CARB II indoor air quality requirements. It is a myth that oil based finishes are TOUGHER than water based. Polyurethane is polyurethane is polyurethane. The issue is when you go for the same PRICE TAG as the oil based finishes. A low-priced oil based finish (that has been on the market since the 60s without so much as a PRINTING up date on the can let alone a recipe change) is DIRT CHEAP. Why? Because those companies made their money DECADES AGO. Now they are just enjoying the HORDES of money from the investment they made in the 1950s (nope...not kidding). If you get a 'dirt cheap' (aka DIY level product from Home Depot!!!) water borne poly you will get what you paid for = a DIY level finish that is not as tough as the toxic stuff from the 60's. The TRICK is to work with HIGH PRICED water based finishes. The stuff that comes in 2 part products (call the finish and the hardener/catalyst). They carry big names like Bona or Loba. They carry high price tags (like double or triple the cost of the toxic stuff). They also carry VERY IMPRESSIVE wearability. The big boys from the big boys (Bona Traffic HD or Loba 2K Supra AT) are the toughest finishes outside of a factory. They are MAGNIFICENT. The PROFESSIONALS that work these finishes are the best of the best as well (or should be...some hammer swinging 'guys' give it a go once in a while and it shows...). And those people are not CHEAP. Why? Because they took the time out of the schedules and money out of their own pockets to attend the 3-5 day training courses for these finishes. Only the DEDICATED do that. Everyone else just looks it up on Youtube. My quest to you is: How happy would you be to find the house unlivable for as many as 30 days because of the stench? Are you a migraine sufferer? Do you get nose bleeds? How about your kids? Does anyone in your family have 'sensitivities', allergies, asthma, COPD, etc? If anyone has any of these things I've listed, then oil based is out. I've seen people get nose bleeds from sleeping in a home with freshly finished floors with oil based poly. Some vomit. Most have BLINDING headaches. Migraine sufferers can't go further than the front steps...the smell stopping them from entering the house. Just because it says 'can be walked on' in 1 day and furniture back in 5 days...doesn't mean the SMELL is gone....See MoreAre These Red oak or white oak floors? Stain Ideas
Comments (26)@jjam Your floors look beautiful. @Angela Wacker I hope your floors turn out beautiful. @mdln these are such a good ideas/solutions next time I am doing a renovation I will make sure to get this kit. I went by the house in the morning and took a closeup photo (prior to getting confirmation from the contractor and subcontractor) It does look like white oak. @SJ McCarthy thank you for all the information, it gave me ideas on what to ask the contractor and how to have a conversation about the floors. I even came up with a few more stains to try in case the original choices did not work out. The contractor e-mailed me early this afternoon agreeing to test a few more colors. We asked him, again, regarding the type of floors we have and the new ones they installed, initially he said the floors were red oak, but then he texted us an hour later letting us know that the sub had informed him that it was white oak!?! What!! @Beth Thank you!!!! @SashaDog Thank you!!!! @G & S Floor Service @Timothy Winzell it appears you guys were right - it is white oak -probably. Quality/grade? who knows! I cant believe the contractor did not know this! It appears my worries about the floors looking red after a light stain were unnecessary. We stopped by the home to see the samples on our "white oak" and the white stain looked nice with the top coat on it, not pink. The birch was nice, but we decided to go with the white as it looks more like the natural color of the wood we love. I am still anxious about the overall outcome, but crossing fingers that it turns out nice. I am going by the house tomorrow and working from my car so I can take a look and stop the workers in their tracks if it looks bad lol. I am just kidding...but maybe I am not :) Here are the two samples we tried Bona Birch and Duraseal White with bona HD on our "white oak" floors (this is not 100% for sure lol). Leaving the picture here in case someone is looking for a picture of these two stains. You are all such a wonderful group of people! Thank you for helping me through my anxiety. This morning I felt so stupid to have been worrying about a floor stain when so much more important things are going on in the world. Anyways, thank you and much love to you all. Stay healthy!! -Mari...See More
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