Im about to refinish a red oak floor and stain it grey. if things go well, I should have some pics by Friday evening or Monday. ill keep you posted when I have some

Please do! Would love to see how it turns out and what you do to achieve it! Thanks!

I haven't picked out the stain yet, so I cant say for sure the recipe im using, but I will def get some pics once I stain it.

This is interesting and I would love to see pics. I was just reading that the risk of grey finishes on wood floors is that wood tends to amber and turn the floor more yellow with time. This is resolved with a special topcoat. It might be something to ask about so when you get that perfect color, it lasts.

There are lots of ways to get a gray result, some involve stain, some ammonia fuming and some a gray paint slurry as an alternative to traditional stain, which I have done with great success. You need to find a flooring artist to give you what you want.

I'm looking forward to seeing this Glenn

I'd be interested in the pics. But the gray floors bit is a flash in the pan fad that people will be wanting to sand off and get rid of asap. Shortens thelife of the floor to go with something so against a natural look For fashion's sake.

Hi Ken! I'm not the only one who has used paint as a colorant in achieving colored wood flooring. Several of the pros that post over at floormasters.com have done this with success. Haven't posted to Bill Price's site in a long time, so I'm not sure it's still active.

@sophie Well I've lived with the 'natural' red oak look for 15 years and think it's time for a change. The grey look I'm hoping to achieve would be a driftwood tone, also found naturally in wood, and am hoping to reduce the dated yellow/orangey tones. Don't know if it will work but I'm sure I can handle the cooler tones of a wood floor longer then a 'flash in the pan'. But thanks for your concern. Good luck to the flooring guys trying to satisfy their customers. Looking forward to seeing the results.

Nice.

Did you bleach that first, or water pop? What finish are you going to coat it with? TIA.

No bleach, Water Pop yes. Arboritec Avenue 2 coats.

Great job! I love how it looks! You've given me a glimmer of hope that this will work:-)

Thank you, it should turn out pretty good. Keep in mind, as Glennsfc had pointed out, theres many ways to achieve a grey colored floor. So if you come across one sample that you don't like, there are other options

Do you find that 2 coats of finish is sufficient over water pop? Do you buff with a pad after the stain to smooth out the grain? I've done that once for a budget minded customer (in a house that sold for $10,300,000.00!?) but I usually do three coats.

Have you tried either Rubio Smoke or Fumed on Red Oak. I seem to remember one of them turning it gray. It would be nice to have the waterpop procedure turn the wood a nice gray before the gray stain. The only problem is the exorbitant cost.

sometimes I can get away with 2. it really depends on how much the wood absorbs the coat after the stain. I do not mess with any buffing after the stain...I know people do it, but im too scared to try it. this floor is over 1700ft, and treads too so if I mess it up, I don't want to re do it. after two if its still rough, then ill add a 3rd.

I went to a NWFA class last year, and the Rubio Rep was out there trying to push their fuming method. I liked it, it was a good look, but as you said, price is an issue, and it seems like something I would want to try on a smaller floor incase I do mess it up and have to resand.

I have great respect for you younger flooring pros who are continuing to pursue your craft/art and are trying to make a dollar doing it! Best of luck!

I appreciate the amount of work it takes to try to make red oak look like white oak. Hard work. Not knocking the skill or the effort. However, the red undertones in the sample shown above would be a deal breaker for me if I were specifying ''gray''. It's gonna be too pink from the beginning, and, then, after ageing..... I still haven't seen any results from red oak that would really work as a true gray without bleaching first. Which is part of my rant against these unnatural color attempts on site finished floors. To get to where the customer wants to go is, in reality, a VERY labor intensive undertaking.

The money and effort that it takes to get an aproximation of an already prefinished product available aren't a good cost to value return for the end product. Yes, it's ''wasteful'', but if someone has red oak, and they want the latest gray fashion statement, it wil be more cost effective to remove the exising floor and replace it with a prefinished that they can fully control the end results.

And the result of either approach IS a short lived fashion driven look that will have little staying power. It's like throwing out all of your classic Ralph Lauren wardrobe for the second go around of MC Hammer harem pants. Congratulations, you're ''in style''. Meanwhile, in the real world...

Yeah, it's a fad. That's what home furnishings has become though. You're just old. :-D The 21st century idea of "datedness" is what feeds a lot of us. If everyone strived for "timelessness" or the Depression era ideal of using something until it was used up, I'd bet a lot of us would have "staycations" instead of vacations. Long live HGTV!

alright got it stained up, although prewarning, my camera, with the lighting doesn't really do it justice. its gray, but looks brown.

uno mas

alright here is one with finish. its only the first coat and was still wet, so its not going to look like a "finished" product, but I think its a better representation of a gray color.

They do look nice and gray. What do you put on top to keep the floors from ambering over time? One of the things I love about wood floors is how they change color with age, but that may not be desirable with a gray stain.

Its a non ambering water bourne urethane that goes over the stain.

I fixed up a few of Gregs pics with some white balance. Guess it's hard to get all the red out. Hey if they're aware of it upfront, why not. Nice job Greg. Light does make a difference with pics

Thanks Ken. Im not super computer savy, especially when it comes to graphics/pictures.

@gregmills_gw Hi Greg. What part of the country are you located in & do you still refinish floors? I love the grey floor you did. Thanks!

I do still refinish, but am located in the midwest.

Chicago?

sorry, out of my range.

Thanks Greg. One more question... What color of Arboritec Avenue did you use? Thank you!

Avenue is a clear coat.

http://www.arboritec.com/ceramic-fortified-finishes/

Sorry to bother you, Greg. What stain did you use? This is the floor I am refinishing.

I dont remember the exact ratio, but it was a mix of Duraseal Country White, and Duraseal Ebony.

I'm going to go with a guess of 1 part ebony: 3 parts white.

Thank you so much! @gregmills_gw & @jfcwood

I actually made my guess before gregmills comment showed up. Start with a 3:1 mix of white:ebony and alter it until you get the desired color. A little stain in the white goes a long way. You could end up at 5, 10 or 20:1. Ebony has a bit if green tone that counteracts the red in Red oak. Apply a coat of water to the samples and floor, then let it dry before staining. This makes the color more uniform and the grain less prominent.

Seriously, you guys are the best! Thank you!

Jfcwood makes a big point here. while i dont remember the exact ratio, i believe he was close, i dont recall it being something large like a 20:1 but thats not to say you might like a ratio closer to that.

Best thing to do is exactly what he suggests. Make a bunch of samples of different ratios and put a coat of finish over them and then just see what appeals to you.

Greg - How is the gray holding up over the last couple of years? I am planning to keep my old red oak stairs and stain them gray to match brand new floors. It won't be perfect but it looks like it might be possible. Does the gray age well?

The floor i did was actually for a customer...good news is i havent heard from them so no news can translate to good news, in my eyes...since then i have done lot of grey or varying degrees of grey, seems to be a trend as of late. Everyone seems happy.

Aging will play a part as to what type of finish you use. Anything that ambers will take on a whole new look