Want to add hardwood floors...

13 years ago

My foyer, office and dining room have custom hardwood oak floors which were installed when the house was built 11 years ago. Original owners put carpet in living room and den which I want to get rid of. Do I rip up all the floors and start fresh with prefinished floors and get what I love (wide planks), or do I install a matching wood and sand all remaining floors and restain to match new??? Trying to do most cost efficient yet also love my floors and have it look great!

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Ironwood Builders

13 years ago

With sanded in place floors there is no need to worry about an exact color match when lacing new into old. The floors are refinished throughout the space, new and old. If you want to match exactly what you have in terms of color, libradesgneye is absolutely correct. Have the installers save you a piece of the original to check against the refinished floor. Given that you already have a floor, stain samples can be made up for your approval prior to starting work. There is no avoiding refinishing what you have if there is no separation between the areas, that is, if the areas meet anywhere...re-sand and refinish. Oh and one more thing...tearing up hardwood flooring to salvage it is more expensive than it would seem...destroying the floor is typical...salvaging means being careful and you would be lucky to get back the investment in careful vs. destroying on Craig's List. I've matched 100 year old floors and no one is the wiser.

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Comments (10)

Ann Claire Bullock
13 years ago
The existing custom oak looks pretty...I would get new to match it...you should be able to match stain and avoid refinishing the ones you have. Wide planks are great but it's a style that comes and goes. My thought is that ic you are factoring cost and thinking long term, work with what you've got. :-)
Ann Claire Bullock
13 years ago
If* you
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Deb
Original Author
13 years ago
Thank you. That is the way I was leaning. But what if they can't match exactly, especially since the exisitng floors have been down for 11 years?
Ann Claire Bullock
13 years ago
Hmm...maybe you could salvage the current flooring and sell it?? Then install uniform wide planks all over? Worth exploring. I'd buy 11 yr old oak flooring. :-)
libradesigneye
13 years ago
They will match them close enough that you won't be able to see the difference - they will mix them to match your existing - just save the scraps from putting them down for them to test until they find the right mix.
Jeni Charles
13 years ago
last modified: 13 years ago
Have you pulled up the carpet to see if there is maybe wood flooring under the carpet?
We, a few years ago, put in a new wood floor in our kitchen and it connects to the older wood dinning room, I purposely got a lighter color in the kitchen and had it installed in the opposite direction. It looks great! So they don't really even have to match.
Deb
Original Author
13 years ago
Thanks everyone! Jeni Charles, I'd love to see a picture of the dining room and kitchen floors. Thanks!
Deb
Original Author
13 years ago
Ironwood Builders -- do I have to worry about being the same color as now, after all the floors are sanded? Can I do something lighter or darker if I choose?? Thank you.
Deb
Original Author
13 years ago
And does the actual wood type that was used originally have to be used on the new floor, and is that easy to figure out? Thx again.