I am not a professional, but I believe old wood and new wood don't take stain the same way. I think this is your problem.

I read somewhere that when matching New wood with old that darker colours give a more cohesive look. So perhaps a darker stain color would improve the look.

It appears to me that you have two varying finishes or wood types. One being stained with a clear over top and the other being natural wood with a clear over top. The other and more likely cause is that it is two different woods. One being a white oak and the other being a red oak. Looks like its all oak but there some 65+ and counting species of oak and counting so without knowing what type was original and what was newly laid is tough to give an accurate answer. But what I do know is this, every tree is different so unless your floor is cut from the same tree it will vary slightly just for that reason alone even if the same clear coating and/or stain was applied. So to answer your question accurately one would need more variables to be known. So, I guess the question is what to do now? Ask questions? What type of oak did they install? Find out what type of oak was originally in your place. The new oak looks like it could be red oak or vice-versa depending on what was replaced. That may be the problem but again without seeing it in person one is only giving an educated guess. I would have a couple flooring companies come out and give their opinion have a look at it. Seeing it on site they should be able to tell you exactly what it is.

Ask Cancork

She may stop by but if not:

http://www.houzz.com/pro/cancork/cancork-floor-inc

Thanks all. The contractor is going to come back out today and look at it. We've told them we are not happy I'm just not sure what, if any, solutions they will have for us. Some mentioned going with a darker stain- I don't think this will work for us as it wouldn't go with our cabinets plus then we would have to contend with staining our railings, landing, and two sets of stairs- hence why we decided to stick with a match to the original stain. The new wood definitely has a red tint to it so I'm thinking perhaps the red vs. white oak is the issue. Unfortunately our house is also quite modern and not a country style, so this sticks out like a sore thumb to me and I'm devastated. Honestly I think it looks worse than before and this is after $8k (which we thankfully haven't paid yet). They never once mentioned to us that the wood wouldn't match and knew that was the reason we were getting the floors entirely redone. Do we have grounds to not pay them and force them to fix it or if they say they can't- hire another contractor and force them to foot the bill for it? REALLY don't want to have to deal with taking these guys to court...

Looks like a oil system, they used a sealer , then applied polyurethane over it. The mistake here is using the sealer. The sealer tends to keep new boards very light. They can spot fix by resanding new boards and just applying oil poly.

Also, the floor still looks thirsty, needs more poly. Is this complete already?

To clarify, the new boards they put in are the darker looking ones around the doors- this is where the water damage was. Our older floors are a bit lighter with a distinct yellow tint, and also appear to have less/smaller knots so I'm thinking the grade was off too.

G&S- yes this is the so called "finished product" after 3 coats.

It appears your water damage was confined to one room and the flooring runs parallel to the doorway. He can remove the shoe molding, replace the wrong boards, resand the floor up to the last board in the doorway as a point of demarcation (doesn't look like you have a threshold) and refinish. You should be able to match the finish that is in the rest of the house since it was just done. Then replace and paint the shoe molding.

Natural color of wood varies not only between species of oak but within the same species. Often times there is a stamp or mark on the back of each piece of oak that indicates white or red, but a professional should be able to distinguish between them. However, there are always boards that will be lighter and darker but I'm sure you already notice that in your existing floor.

There is the possibility that the same oak species was used but the cut or grade of oak created the difference due to density, mineral streaks and grain pattern. To eliminate that possibility, be sure you have the right cut (probably flat cut) and install Clear/Select grade oak in order to get the best oak flooring with tighter graining, consistent color tones over a large area and no large knots similar to your existing flooring.

What was the 3 coat that the flooring company applied? 1 sealer and 2 poly or 3 poly? Looks like 1 sealer and 2 poly system. They should be using the 3 poly system. Their polyurethane has poor film build up. It doesn't look like a full 3mm (.003) build up.

Scott Design- thanks for your advice- it's very helpful as the contractor will be here in a matter of hours and I want to be prepared ahead of time on whether his solutions (if he has any) will really work as I don't trust his word so much anymore. unfortunately it's not just one room, it's in one bedroom but also our large open floor plan "great room"- I've attached some pictures for a reference point, new boards are around the doors

. If they pull up the bad boards and just refinish the new ones, will there be an obvious line I the middle of my floor somewhere? Really don't want to go through a full refinishing again, but worried about having an obvious line somewhere which was the point.of refinishing all floors in the first place!!

G&S- unsure on the coats- will definitely ask. But three coats of poly wouldn't make the floors match anymore than they do now, would it?

Skipping the sealer will allow the new boards to amber more. Giving you the gold, yellow and honey tones

They can do a spot fix.

Oh boy, I feel for you! I renovate and design..so my philosophy is there is always a solution! Try to take a breath and know that! And sometimes mistakes lead to better outcomes in the end...Yes, you were right to expect a better result and communications with you should have conveyed the issues we see here...in looking at your space my leaning would be at this juncture to explore a deep rich stain to minimize the aiiearance if what has happened..perhaps even with a fair degree of opacity...is there a top notch painter in your area you can consult? I think deep dark could be exquisite with your walls...I like the pigments in the Mohawk line...

I'm pretty sure is not the same wood.

Red oak versus white oak. They are both called oak and look really similar until you sand and finish them. If you can dig in the dumpster for a piece of each they look entirely different in cross section.

So the contractor is at the house now. He is swearing they are both red oak and that they used "the highest grade available", which I find hard to believe given all the large knots compared to our old boards. He is right now putting some sort of yellow tinting solution on it he thinks should hopefully make them match more. I'll post pictures later when it dries more as I'm going to need some opinions on whether we go this route or make them pull up the boards and re-do.

thanks everyone- your feedback provided us with lots of ammo to fight with- I think they are taking us more seriously now and I think they know we aren't going to settle!!

Pls get another opinion. Have them bring a sample from their source.

Ask your man where he got the wood. From my monitor, there is no way you can put a yellow tinting solution on this dark, mineral streaked, knotty wood to blend with the natural oak color unless I'm really missing something here.

How is he putting the tint on? I would assume he's sanding the area, tinting and applying poly. Since he's going thru all that, he should find a supplier that provides premium flooring and replace the new common grade boards. If he's not sanding down to raw wood, but putting tint in poly and applying it then this is a quick fix in order to get out of dodge. It will not last on a floor and as it goes bad it looks terrible.

Red oak vs white oak?

Thanks Scott Design - going to take your advice and call around and get a second opinion before we commit to any potential fix. I saw him on the floor with a hand sander before applying the coat, I don't think he actually sanded down to raw wood. He only did one small section so that we could see what it looks like and make a decision. Part of me was hoping for a quick fix given personal circumstances (with a baby on the way that could come any day now, and a toddler to contend with), but at the same time I want to make sure we don't just settle for a less than par work product because we're in a hurry.

And just to be clear, there are LABORATORIES that will check the species of your original wood floor. Yes. You send a sample of your original floor, you pay them to do their tests and you get the results - in writing.

At this point, I suggest looking into testing your original floor. This stops the finger pointing and puts the answer in the hands of science, not a contractor. Once that has been clearly documented, the new planks are removed and laid with a species match to the original.

I'm sorry but this is a remove/replace/resand/finish. Unless you go SUPER dark, this isn't going to match. And this is why, when repairing/lacing in new into old, we must have a SPECIES match, a CUT match and finally a board width match. The first two are SUPER important.

I think they have the wrong species and the wrong cut. The only thing they got right was the plank width. And as you can see, that just doesn't make for a match.

Good luck. You have the right to get them to do a full re-do. I would personally find one of the labs and get my samples to them - on my own dime. Stop the madness before the contractor finds anymore creative ways of messing this up.

Jamie Trull:

This is a slam-dunk wood species mismatch. He's not going to tint his way out of it. It's a do-over.

You're really doing him a favor. He needs to learn that the marketplace won't pay for his mistakes. Hopefully you owe him money.

If he keeps up his hackery, he is going to owe you all new floors for the whole house. You might want to mention that to him since he seems convinced that he can kludge his way through the issue.

Don't pay until you are satisfied....that is your power to get corrections made.

Don't pay for this work. Sometimes I wonder about people who try to push customers into accepting such work with comments about being the best product available. There are plenty of suppliers who can provide much more appropriate wood and he shouldn't have stopped looking until he found something much closer to the original wood.

I sympathize with your plight but unfortunately, I don't know of any improvements he can do that would be worth the additional disruption to your life. It's going to need to be redone. Contractors who take advantage of your personal situation to pressure you into accepting subpar work give a bad name to all the hardworking men and women out there who take pride in their work.

Dining room original floor (1953) - kitchen new floor (2012). Seam is not visible, no color difference

He has had his one chance to try to fix his glaring error in choosing the wrong wood. Instead of owning up, and replacing, he attempted a badly thought out "fix". You owe him nothing but a termination of his services in writing, with the documenting pictures and narrative attached.

Then hire a real wood floor Pro.

Respectfully, don't take GreenDesigns advice. In most areas, you owe him a chance to make it right. Tell him he will replace and refinish the floor with the proper species within two weeks or you'll terminate the contract and keep his money. You want the judge to see you were not only reasonable, you went the extra mile.

Two chances? If he won't man up and admit his error on one, he won't in the second either. It's livable as is. But if he goes at it again with a sander and a witches brew concoction, it may not be. I'd only agree to give him a second chance to correct if he agreed, in writing, to return the deposit on the work completely if he can't fix it. Even then, he may be one of those guys that robs Peter to pay Paul and lacks the solvency to continue to deal with the issue.

Now if he agrees to replace as his next step, that's another story. But if he buys you red oak then, what are you going to do?

Thanks all. As expected and predicted by you guys, the "quick fix" isn't going to work. I'd say it's very mildly better but still incredibly noticeable. We are going to talk with him Monday AM and let him know we want the boards removed and replaced with matching wood, assuming he promises us he can find better wood. If not, we'll be letting him know we are terminating and will hire someone else to do the job, and they won't get paid (thankfully haven't paid a dime yet). We will allow him a last chance to make it right if and only if he agrees to a full redo.

main question- can he replace the floors and just sand and stain that portion, and will it match enough (assuming the right wood is used this time?), especially since it was so recently stained? Or will I need to do a full redo on the whole room again? I've heard from our neighbors that our floors are really only re-finish able once or MAYBE twice, so would prefer to do just spot fixes (plus then we won't have to move out again). But want to make sure I don't end up with an obvious line on my floor...

Full redo is the only way to get it to blend. Are your floors engineered or solid wood?

Definitely white used instead of red oak. Also omu will really highlite this. Please vet better floor pros. Most gc's use glorified labourers who know nothing about wood properties and can only use poly. That's an easy job for a pro. Can't believe they screwed it up excuses and all. Smh

Glad you are getting an on site opinion from a reputable flooring contractor(s). What you need now are indisputable facts and remedies, not assumptions, not neighborly advice and not comments from a cornered flooring man. Then you can make an informed decision that will meet YOUR needs and everything will fall into place.