I like the flow. Refinish the hardwoods and use a satin top coat. It shows less dings.

Ironwood Builders....thanks so much for your feedback. We like the flow as well, but was becoming disenchanted because of the dings. The wood is Kahrs Jarrah Sydney . A rich variation of hues.

Will the refinish affect the colors? We like the floor because of the wide variation in hues.

Thanks so very much.

Carolyn

Jarrah is naturally deep red brown, though I have not seen it with variations, Our material is usually graded to reduce sapwood and variations of color. I assume that it is Jarrah with just a clear coat over. Staining would reduce the color difference between sap wood and heart wood. Is this a full thickness floor or an engineered floor with a wear layer of hardwood?

Some IPhone images of my floor: kitchen and living area.

Having a very hard time finding the match to this wood for 1 more bedroom and a walk-in closet.

Carolyn...thanks so much. One of my neighbors keeps trying to get me to swap it out (kitchen) for porcelain or slate. I do like the flow of the wood from room to room. Just need to figure out if we need to do something to minimize the appearance of some of the dings. Any recommendations?

Ironwood knows more about that than I do and I liked his suggestion of a satin finish. I do know that Kahrs makes an excellent product so you could talk with your local dealer and ask his recommendation.

OK, so the posted pictures tell me it is, as I suspected this morning, an engineered wood product. We don't do much in the way of engineered floors, but that is changing rapidly as California establishes its green building codes. Kind of nuts really, because you may get one refinishing out of an engineered floor and then need to tear it out...with everything going into the landfill. Whereas with a solid hardwood floor you can refinish 3 -5 times and expect the finish to last for 10-20 years (I've successfully refinished 100 year old floors). You'll note in this response my comment about refinishing engineered wood floors and the origination of your floor? Screening and coating the floor with Bona Traffic will extend its life by as much as a decade. Matching is an issue...is your Kahrs dealer telling you it is no longer manufactured? Most likely yes...and we're back to that green thing. For the floor to flow throughout the house and matching is impossible....if flow and continuity are important they want you to buy a new floor. Planned obsolescence. So now you need to decide...are the scratches and dings in the floor something you can live with if mitigated with another coat of a lower sheen finish with the bedroom and closet being different material but coated with the same finish? Or can your budget stretch to incorporate new flooring throughout?

Ironwood...I found someone who can get the flooring. It ships from Sweden and is about $10.49 per sq. foot. It also takes about 12 weeks to get to the states. I also found the flooring online at efloors.com. I am going to go ahead and order a sample, but I know that will not tell me much in terms of the entire layout of the floor. The description suggests it is an engineered floor. The name is: Kahrs Original World Naturals Collection: Jarrah Sydney 5/8" x 7 7/8" Engineered Hardwood 153N15JH50KW.

Is engineered wood a bad thing?

We enjoy natural flooring, and didn't know this was not natural hardwood. We live in a pretty nice condominum, and this wood did not come with the condo (we are original owners). But, when we had a flood, the restoration guy was able to give us this flooring, which we actually like better than the original. We get lots of compliments from folks, and we like the variation. It does seem to respond to everything hard that is dropped on it. We had carpeting in the bedrooms. When we decided to replace the carpeting in one bedroom, we ran into the same problem. We ended up with a product named Saso. It does not have the degree of variations, but is not so different from the original that it is hard to live with.

We do not intend to replace the entire condominium, as the floors are really in good condition. We keep them in good condition. We just want to get as close as we can.

Thanks for your help. Please continue to send me the feedback.

Nothing is inherently wrong with engineered flooring products. The principle is that they use a plywood base (the engineered part) with a thin hardwood wear layer. So rather than using expensive solid hardwood, it is a glued up man made product. The wear layer on most engineered floors will accept at least one refinishing. Some won't refinish at all. Finding matches can be difficult, as you have discovered. I'm very glad you found some! Let me know how things progress if you can!

Ironwood, how does one tell from the photos that it's an engineered wood floor, as opposed to a hardwood ? What are the tell-tale signs ? Thanks.
degarthy -- your floor looks nice. Please keep us updated of your progress ? :)

Ed, the telltale is the "massed" butt joints. If you look closely, you can see fairly regular intervals of six "boards" that butt together in exactly the same place. The first engineered floors we did had 7" wide by 7' long pieces. The butt joints were fewer and farther between. Now the longest stuff we see is 5' and often shorter. More butt joints....on a solid hardwood floor the installers never mass butt joints. It leads to dimension "creep"(where the floor actually gets a bit bigger) and weakens the installation.

I failed to mention that these floors were installed in 1999. We are on the 1st floor, over a garage, and the base is concrete. I doubt we could have solid hardwood floors, given the location and placement of the condo.

The installer, in my estimation, did a great job. I don't understand all of the specifics and/or the technical jargon, but we have been very pleased with the look and feel of the floors.

The Saso floor is close (in the 2nd bedroom), and we may go ahead and use it. It is another exotic engineered floor, I believe.

I will say one thing: The engineered floors are very expensive to purchase and install. The Saso was $7.00 per sq. foot, and I dare say this bedroom - walk in closet will be expensive as well.

I am doing this hardwood search because I have terrible dust allergies. Otherwise, would leave the carpeting in the bedrooms. But, since we only have 1 bedroom left, we are going to proceed.

degarthy, I hear you on dust allergies...knowing that it's the dust mite's ummm..by product I'm allergic to? I'm on all leather upholstery because of it.

I have done engineered floors many times and over concrete is one of the best reasons to do so. I was unaware of your constraints originally and everything you have done is good and proper. Best of luck!

The new flooring probably won't match the old even if it is the same color. The older flooring will be darker.

I have Kahrs Houston Oak, mine has also been discontinued. I was told when I purchased you could refinish floors 5 times . I would to find my wood somewhere.

The Santos mahogany was installed in one of the bedrooms about 4 years ago. It looks very good....not exact, but close enough that we may use it for the bedroom if the Kahrs wood from Sweden is astronomical.

Ironwood Builders, I appreciate your comprehensive thoughts, assessment and feedback. I am open to all possibilities and will still consider whether the floors really need refinishing. I suspect that once the kitchen is refinished, the difference will be so pronounced, will need to include the remaining / adjacent areas. We do not have a lot of traffic in the other areas since it is just the two of us and no pets.

I will keep everyone updated on this journey. Many thanks..

it was and is a pleasure. I hope to see your journey's end posted soon!

Scrolling through these posts, I have a few comments. The first is that engineered flooring can look no different from solid. It has a wood layer on top (called the wear layer) that can look exactly like solid wood because the part that you see IS real wood. The thickness of the wear layer determines how many times the floor can be refinished. This thickness differs from product to product.

There are engineered wood products that have a veneer (wear layer) of wood that is cut in thin sheets from the log as it is rotated, not surprisingly called "rotary veneer." This doesn't look exactly like a piece of solid wood might because of how the grain looks when wood is cut this way, as opposed to cutting a tree vertically.

Prefinished flooring can look different from traditional flooring because it is finished at a factory, so the whole floor is not sanded to make it flat after installation. So, there are often bevels cut into the sides of the boards (at the factory) to camouflage the unevenness of the installed boards. Engineered products are available in both prefinished and unfinished.

Stone and tile will chip if you drop things on them, so wood is a good material for kitchens. Wood is also warmer and more comfortable underfoot.

Thanks "Through the Woods Fine Wood Floors"...this is great feedback. I believe the decision to use engineered wood vs. full hardwood (if that is an appropriate way to describe) was done so because of the restrictions around being over concrete. I like the floors I have and am going to work to see just how close I can get to matching the Master Bedroom that is close to the living room. This whole discussion of "solid vs. engineered" wood has been very insightful in helping me understand the product that I have, as well as the decisions (and options) available to me going forward. I am fortunate to have found this forum that has an abundance of information, and willingness of the participants to share their skills and knowledge.

We will be making a decision in the next few months relative to the floor. As indicated above, if the floor we have is the Kahrs Jarrah Sydney, then that is a 12-week lead time to get it into the country.

For the Master Bedroom, we are doing a cost-benefit analysis to determine if it is cost-effective to do the one room in a wood that is so hard to get, when Santos Mahogany is a very close match. (and, is readily available). Again, does not have the same variations, but we are likely to cover some of the area with a rug to add some softness.

I am attaching an image of Kahrs Brazilian Cherry La Paz and Kahrs Jarrah Sydney. I am beginning to believe that we may have the Brazilian Cherry, rather than the Jarrah Sydney.

@degarthy, do you possibly still have paperwork from when you had the flood? It's likely the receipt would have the exact name of the flooring product used. I like your floor, no matter what it's called!

My last home had a tile kitchen floor. I hated it. It's hard to stand on for very long. Any time you drop something, the something breaks and/or the tile breaks. And the worst thing of all is grout. It's a pain to keep it clean in a kitchen.

Orangecamera....not sure if we have the paperwork. That was 1999. I will check and see. I have had 3 consultants come to my home, and they have not been able to firmly determine the actual wood. I think I have gotten closer by coming on this site. I believe it is either Kahrs Brazilian Cherry La Paz or Kahrs Jarrah Sydney. I am closer that I was. :-)

Got the floors installed....darker than the original, but I understand that exotic wood responds to sunlight (and will lighten up a bit). Just wondering. But, we love it anyway.

Your floors look a lot like mine! I am struggling with the Kahrs Brazilian Cherry La Paz vs Kahrs Jarrah Sydney question as well. Which wood did you eventually install? I am adding a room to my house which had a Kahrs floor installed in 2006 but unfortunately there is no paperwork from the former owner. I have compared samples of both to my existing floor and still am not 100% convinced it is one or the other. The light color of the BC sample is troubling since the new room would not receive a ton of sunlight to darken (so it would blend better with the existing wood). I would love your thoughts! I will upload a photo next...

These are some pix of my existing 10 year old flooring. I would like to match it in the new room I am remodeling. Any thoughts on the Kahrs Brazilian Cherry La Paz vs Kahrs Jarrah Sydney question?