WoodFlooringGuy.com

I’m torn between going dark or staying with a natural color on my parquet floors, 700 sq. ft. 1 bedroom apt. The apartment faces North and West so it gets good afternoon light, but I’m worried dark floors will make the rooms too dark? Dark floors would suit the wall colors. Any advice?

We are building a house and we’re trying to find a dark stain that will compliment our modern interior. We most likely will have a 4″ or 5″ Oak plank or a Walnut. I looked at the Ebony stain, but it seems to have a green tint. We also mixed Jacobean with the Ebony and it still shows a bit green. Can you recommend a deep, rich, dark brown stain color for us?

I must decide on light or dark wood flooring. I love the look of the darker wood, but I have been told that scratches look blaring on darker wood. Is this true, and how do you maintain them?

I’m about to stain a redwood floor I have just prepped. I’d like a dark stain. Is there one you can recommend?

We have a brand new maple hardwood, factory stained a dark brown/reddish colour. Our stairs are also maple and stained by the home builder, chestnut brown. The 2 colours don’t match well and we want to find out how to find a better match and restain the stairs.

I have natural cherry wood floors. Today I got them sanded and polyurethaned, and now the stairs that we’re previously done looks darker. They have never been stained and contractor says they used oil based poly w/ high gloss. Why doesn’t it match, and can it be fixed?

We are considering having our natural (no stain) red oak flooring (3/4″ thick) refinished with a dark stain and 3 coats of premium oil urethane. We have been told that a dark stain will show scratches (from the dog), and marks far more than the current natural floor does, and that we will always be touching up the scratches (if that’s even possible to do.) What is your experience with dark stained floors and wearing capabilities?

I am refinishing my 45 year old oak floors. When I removed the carpet there were 3 dark stains. I figure it is pet urine. Sanding is finished, but the stains are still visible. If I apply a darker (perhaps cherry oak) stain, will it hide the urine stains or will they just get darker? Could I apply less stain to the spots to try to even it all out?

…color of stain should you use on white oak floors to make them dark? Such as an ebony color.

We are looking at purchasing an engineered hardwood floor for our kitchen - maple / graphite dark grey. I was told by a someone that dark grey stains don’t wear as well as they don’t penetrate as deep as other “lighter” stains. Is this true?

I just had my pre-finished red oak floor refinished with what should be the same color (gunstock) and 3 coats of oil-based poly. The wood grain is so much more noticeable than it was in pre-finished form, and I don’t like it as much. Will this difference fade some over time and will the ambering of the poly affect it? My installer says in 2-3 months the grain will not look as dark. Thank you for your response.

Q: After sanding down our 50-yr. old hardwood, we put 3 coats of poly on them and they turned out great. However, we decided we wanted to put the same hardwood in our kitchen. So we bought unfinished white oak, sanded it after installing, and then put 1 coat of poly on. It does not match the colour of the old hardwood which is much more orange. Some people have said to put a 3-6 inch “border” in between the 2 such as staining a strip a darker colour in order to separate the differences. Would you recommend trying to stain the new wood a completely different colour?

I just had my hardwood floors redone professionally and the stain came out too light and too red (we did tests but for some reason the floor came out differently). Is there any way to darken the floors and/or get them to be a darker brown without totally redoing them?

I love hardwood floors, yet I cannot find the color I’m looking for. I want a gray or black floor. Any suggestions on a different material or a manufacturer who distributes this?

We have select hard maple flooring from Canada throughout our new construction home as well as two sets of stairs that are also hard maple. Our flooring and stairs should have been sealed naturally; however, a dark stain was applied. After professional sanding, stain remained in all joints of where the flooring was put together. Fortunately, the bottom floor was not stained; therefore, we had it sealed naturally as desired. We had to replace our upper flooring due to the unauthorized staining in which left dark lines in each joint and when sealed naturally those dark lines were highlighted, it looked awful. Both sets of stairs including railing, balusters, spindles, skirt/running boards and posts have also been stained. Our former contractor sanded some areas of the stairs in an attempt to correct his grave error for ~3 weeks before breaking his contract and leaving. One coat of stain was applied; however, it is a darker stain and it seems impossible to remove all the stain due to disproportional stain absorption. We would greatly appreciate any professional advice or suggestions on what our options are concerning both sets of our hard maple stairs. Also, if you know anyone that has dealt with such a problem in the past and/or would be qualified to complete our stairs, we would appreciate a referral. Someone mentioned wash coating…what exactly is this?

I am an architect and I’ve been having some questions on how to finish a floor with an ebony or black finish. We have a 3/4″ thick, 3 1/4″ wide solid oak floor and would like an ebony finish. What the best way was to achieve a good looking durable finish?

Should I choose light color flooring or rich color flooring? Someone told me if you have dog, a rich color like cherry wood is not a good idea.

I wanted really dark floors. Dark walnut. He said I wouldn’t like it and didn’t want to go that dark. I’ve always had light, natural floors, and wanted a complete change this time….