Well, I went looking for signs of Q. velutina acorns ripening on some trees. Well, I was staring up into a tree a guy came up to me with sawdust all over him and said "hi". He was part of a crew that had from what he said just chopped down a large chestnut tree in the back of one of the homes by the road I was on. He told me that I was a month too early for the Red oak acorns, but, the squirrels were eating up the other nuts (chestnuts?) like crazy. I did see a Q. Alba with little green acorns on it. So I guess that's my answer. As far as the one pic on someone else's post here wanting an ID of their red oak ( I think a Q. Velutina) I don't know how to explain that one. I guess they had a already half formed Red oak family (Q. Velutina was my guess) acorn. The place I was at when the guy came up to my car, has tons of mature trees. Oaks, Chestnuts obviously, Maples. sycamores, Hickory, many others I am unfamiliar with some Walnuts, I don't know a black Walnut from any other Walnut. Pecans look like Walnuts to me as far as leaves. I would need my Field Guide to tell the difference. I didn't go to the place that I will be going to in mid to late September for a Q. Velutina acorn search. If they had been ripe I could've gotten them where I went today. I may look there first, (where I went today) in mid Sept. If I find any I'll offer some to anyone here who wants any. I have 2 Q. Velutinas. I have one that is close to a Q. Robur, and one that has enough room to grow to a nice wide spreading tree. I love the one that is in the open.

Like jfcwood states - the FINAL colour is the true test as to whether the experiment "worked". The other problem contractors have would be the use of oil based or oil modified finishes. It is impossible to get a white floor when the top coats turn ORANGE! I once had a "professional" (15 years in the refinishing business) tell me he worked with "water based" finishes all the time. He then named every SINGLE oil based product on his shelf. It turns out he thought that anything that was liquid - like water - was water based. He couldn't name a water based finish if it jumped up and slapped him with a lawsuit! The "old guard" are having a hard time adjusting to the "new" thinking. The Low VOC stuff, the 'non ambering' stuff, the low-odour products are relatively new (to North America...they are de rigueur in Europe) and are different to use. They require training. Training is no big deal in Europe. You have to do it to keep your license. North America is still the wild-wild west. If you have a sanding machine, you can call yourself a floor refinisher (sad...but true). Add that to the fact that red oak is cheaper than white oak and the trend is white flooring, you get a powerful mixture of fashion together with lack of knowledge and a healthy dose of "cheaper is better". A whole bunch of hearts have and will continue to be broken - on both sides of the professional-client fence. My advice: If you want the look of European Oak, then you should start with European Oak. If you are lucky enough to like the reddish tones of Red Oak, then go ahead and work with Red Oak; count your blessings and the money left in your bank account.

@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

Gregg, my neighbor whose lot is even smaller and narrower than mine just had tree work done. He has 8 spruce trees and a white pine and a sycamore tree in a very tight 100ft line 5ft away from our lot line. They are not gardeners and those trees were there before they moved in. They had bittersweet growing on a chain link fence on the other lot line. Over time they've had PI camped out in their backyard and climbing all the sprunce trees, I think the birds must drop seeds because it keeps coming up in our yard. And under the fence. Virginia Creeper must be native here, becauase it comes up all over my yard. At first I thought it was so pretty, I allowed it, but now I find I have to start pulling it out. I started last year and I'm going to have to keep after it. On top of that a few years ago a wild grape started climbing two spruce trees and into the sycamore. I was shocked at how fast that went from the lower branches to the top of the tree. The foliage that covered so many spruce branches killed some of them off. And if that isn't enough of a mess, we have a Maple that drops a gazillion seeds every year. We keep after them, but the non gardeners, who have other hobbies they enjoy, allowed the seedlings to grow into a forest of saplings competing with the rest. All to say, you are on the right track to try to find something else that will prevent the other vines from getting a foothold because it can become a mess.