Varathane

Have you considered just going no stain? I recently did that in a new install in my kitchen. The 85 year old red oak hardwoods in the rest of the house were refinished in 1995. They've never been stained. They were finished with a water based Street Shoe by Basic Coatings.

Fast forward to the new kitchen install, I wanted them to match the rest of the house which are quite varied being a mix to straight cut, rift cut and quartersawn red oak. Here's the new adjacent to the old BEFORE the new had any coating.

Here's the new with the first coat of finish going down . . .

They blend really well and are a match to what was originally installed and finished in 1935.

ping.

I agree. No stain (but a clear finish) can make the floors look warm and lovely. Every stain you showed has a brown undertone. Is that what you want? A small home should have the lightest floor color possible to make it look larger.

I didn’t know that “no stain” was possible. They just kept asking for a stain color. I wanted the wood to remain the same! Thanks everyone!

We also had red oak installed to match existing, and all refinished without stain. The floors are great, I really like the natural unstained warmth and the overall lightness; I'm a bit baffled as to why so much hate for red oak floors.

my only disappointment was that the new floors have probably 70% more plain sawn boards than the old, which I don't really care as much for the busy patterning.

OK...here's what you WANT to know about 'no stain'. The ORANGE tones in the old floor came from an 'oil based polyurethane'. That ORANGE is the FINISH not the wood. Do NOT let them use an 'oil based polyurethane' NOR an 'oil modified' finish.

If you want RAW or unfinished looking floors, you want WATER BASED 2 part polyurethane FINISH. It will NOT turn orange.

To be clear, many wood flooring professionals LIKE the orange. They try their best to make EVERY FLOOR turn ORANGE. That's why MANY like the oil based finishes (or oil modified). It turns the wood ORANGE. That's what they like. That's what they have been taught is the way 'wood should look'.

Don't let a floor finisher dictate his/her 'ideal' on your floor colour choice. A water based polyurethane (a high end 2 part product like StreetShoe by Basic) is going to be SUPER tough. And they do NOT stink. The OIL BASED products STINK. They are NASTY.

For those of us who suffer from migraines or nose bleeds, the OIL BASED stink can be so bad that we have to stay out of the house for 6-8 weeks because of the smell.

A water based finish has VERY little smell. Even for chemically sensitive people they can move back into their home inside of 14 days. That is a MAJOR bonus. Yes they are more expensive, but so is 2 weeks of a hotel stay. Either way you are going to pay for it.

@SJ McCarthy - I'm curious, do you have an opinion on the durability and overall finish quality of StreetShoe by Basic versus Pallman's Pall-X Power finish?

StreetShoe is used on Basket ball courts in the USA. I have no hands-on-knowledge of Pall-X.

Personally I prefer Loba 2K Supra AT or Bona Traffic HD for their SUPERIOR wear characteristics. These are the best of the best. Even StreetShoe doesn't have the same properties.

Stick to your guns and have the right floor contractor. They should do what YOU want. SJ gave you excellent information. Unstained, but finished, red oak can be gorgeous!

So update I had to do a stain because of bad stains. So I did provincial with a water based seal.

The floor ended up being streaky because it was wrong. So now they have to resand.

(Pictures show streaks in it and what had been considered finished.
What should I do?!?

The floor ended up being streaky because it was wrong. So now they have to resand.

what do you mean 'it was wrong' ? obviously this floor company did something wrong. what was it and what do they plan on doing to assure it comes out right?

and how was this considered finished? looks like there is not top coat or finish on it

We have red oak floors that we installed DIY over 25 years ago, and we love them. We are adding prefinished red oak to 2 of the the bedrooms right now, and the finish matches beautifully. It is a natural stain and several coats of water based polyurethane. Lighting makes the floors look different, but they have held up beautifully for 25 years and have withstood numerous decorating changes as well. . Good luck!

@Beth, from the pictures I posted you responded to, those floors were sealed and considered complete. They were very splotchy and not correct so they will have to restrain them. I’m worried my floors will get sanded too much and ruin them.

@Joy Mims Yes, unacceptable for sure. Did they refinish? Also that doesn't even look like Provincial (Minwax Duraseal?)