Matching Pre-finished Hardwoods

6 years ago

Hello,

I am looking to add hardwood to our family room which abuts our Kitchen with 15 year old hardwood. The Kitchen wood is in decent shape and not ready for refinish or replacement. It also connects to our entry hall and dining room, both with the same hardwood.

We have been looking at prefinished flooring which are the same original color of our existing floor, but age has yellowed/oranges our existing. In addition, the older floors had a higher gloss.

My question is whether it is still better to have a slight variation and continue with hardwood or just go with carpet.

My thought is everything could be sanded down in the next 5-7 years.

Thanks!

Featured Answer

PRO

Patricia Colwell Consulting

6 years ago

I would do the hardwood in unfinished and have it stained to match a good flooring person can do that no problem.

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Comments (8)

PRO
Oak & Broad
6 years ago
Agreed. They may need to mix a stain to get the color.
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User
6 years ago
15 year old wood is within a good time frame to sand and refinish. Especially if it makes the new job easier and cheaper.
cpny
Original Author
6 years ago
Thanks, we were trying to take the easy route, but that doesn’t always work. The prefinished have a groove. I assume the finished on site would not have that. But probably color match is the key.
SJ McCarthy
6 years ago
There are 4 requirements for a 'match':

1. Species and - If you have 'oak' you need to know if it is Red, White, European, English, etc.

2. Saw Cut - rift, quarter, live, etc. This one is SUPER important

3. Grade - If you already have Select on the floor but try to work with #2 Common you are going to be SUPER upset! It won't look anything like the floor you already have.

4. Width - If you are going to 'miss' it on anything, this is the one where you can 'loosen up' your requirements.

I'm going to make a prediction that your 'found' hardwood is a different grade. The grade is going to make it look like you did NOT do a very good match...even though everything else was a great match the mismatched GRADE is going to look awful.

If you plan on refinishing in 5 years, you might as do it all at once. The most expensive part is getting the refinisher on site. If you put both jobs together your refinisher will give you a 'bundled' discount. And if you do it all at once, do NOT purchase factory finished. It takes EXTRA EFFORT to remove factory finishes. And extra effort means EXTRA money. You will loose the cost benefit.
cpny
Original Author
6 years ago
Thanks everyone. We are getting quotes on refinishing all floors so that additional rooms will match.
cpny
Original Author
6 years ago
Just an update. Got a quote from a reputable local installer/refinisher and it will actually won’t cost much more in the end to have them add flooring to family room and refinished all floors (kitchen, dining, entry hall and family room) as opposed to just doing the new pre-finished hardwood In family room that we were trying to match up. They will be doing upstairs hall and master also, but it seemed to end up comparable in total.
SJ McCarthy
6 years ago
Way to go! See? Didn't hurt to ask a professional to give a quote. I'm so glad you investigated the "add and refinish" option. You will be SUPER happy that you did.