New floors don’t match old

8 years ago

We are doing a renovation project and just had new floors installed directly abutting our existing floors. We had everything sanded down and refinished at the same time (clear oil based poly). We were told that while it wouldn’t match perfectly, it would be pretty close. Well, it’s not as close as we’d hoped.

Based on the attached photos, do you all think the correct species/grade were installed? Did they mess up or do we just chalk it up to darkening with age and live with it?

We were told we have red oak.

Featured Answer

bossyvossy

8 years ago

I think it is really close. It’ll be even less noticeable with rugs, furniture. I like it a lot.

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Comments (15)

Marta
8 years ago
I think it looks pretty good! Having said that, we had new oak floors put right beside 80-year old ones - the two were refinished and stained together, and while there is a slight difference in the size of the planks (old ones are thinner and longer), the two floors look identical as far as color. Literally indistinguishable. So I’m not sure if old floors *have* to be darker...
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Kristin
Original Author
8 years ago
@marta - Maybe it was a mistake choosing not to stain them. We wanted to keep them light and also wanted to save a bit. :-/
Marta
8 years ago
I took a quick picture of the two floor types in our house, it’s not the best color representation (stain looks way too orange) as the sun is very bright. Old and new floors flank the horizontal piece.
cookncarpenter
8 years ago
The species is correct, but it looks like the grade is off.
The lighter looks like select, and the other #1 common.
Kristin
Original Author
8 years ago
@cookncarpenter - I was thinking the grade might be off too since it seems like the old floors have more variation to them. Waiting on a straight answer from the contractor.
strategery
8 years ago
They match.
ci_lantro
8 years ago
Clearly two different grades of wood.
Kristin
Original Author
8 years ago
Yup. Just heard back from contractor that the flooring guy installed select even though we have No 1 common!! What the heck??
SJ McCarthy
8 years ago
Oops. As a wood flooring snob, I would be BESIDE MYSELF! You ORDERED the No.1 Common (because it is what you needed) but the someone messed up from there. Even though I HATE to see wood go to waste, I would not be able to live with the character differences.

I'm sorry but the Contractor needs to learn an expensive lesson (so too the flooring 'guy'). Be firm. This is not your fault. Sometimes learning lessons like this is hard...the first time. Which means they will be more careful "next time".

Sorry to hear this has happened. I hope they remove and replace with the appropriate grade.
cat_ky
8 years ago
Both floors are beautiful. I prefer the darker one. They do not look good together, and the new floor needs to be replaced, so it matches the old. The contractor, or floor man should have known this when the new floor was put down, and known, it was not going to match.
Fori
8 years ago
Having floors redone is such a huge PITA I'd probably try to get a discount instead of a redo and use the difference on a really stellar rug.

Someone got you the wrong wood, but I don't think it's unlivable if you like rugs.
Kristin
Original Author
8 years ago
Thanks for the advice everyone. Our kitchen cabinets are being installed the next couple of days (on the new floor) and we don’t want to delay the project even further. Therefore, I think we’re going to push to have them replace the No 1 common with select so that it all matches.

We were all set to live with it thinking it was the best that could have been done, but now that we know the grades don’t match we feel they need to make this right. Also, the layout is open so there’s really no hiding it!
User
8 years ago
Have them add a couple of character knotty boards and that should be fine. Face mailing in a couple of repairs isn’t s big deal. No need to replace it all.
PRO
Johnson Flooring Co Inc
8 years ago
Matching a grade other than select or clear can be tricky. Why? Because the grade represents the minimum standards a wood needs to meet. IOW, one can buy #1 common that's almost select. Then switching from #1 to #2 could result in a floor that looks way worse than #1. In these situations I often order some of each grade. In the past I've seen contractors complain that their #1 common wasn't up to snuff because they were used to it looking more like select.
I'm usually the person scoffing at others here that comment about how something is horrible or needs to be redone. In your case I'm thinking that the match is unacceptable. To be fair, it's unrealistic to expect a perfect match. That makes the judgement totally subjective. If I did that floor and you requested it be redone, I'd do so without complaint.