IMO not doable if you want that natural white oak look the you need white oak. I have always gone dark stain if forced to use red oak. Why are you committed to red oak would be my question. If it was to save money to get it to even begin to be bleached to make it lighter will cost more than the difference between the two for cost.

Our builder included it in our house. It’s already installed so we are committed

Check "PINK BLOCKER 2C" by Ciranova. I know it can be done since we recently received a red oak sample from Mercier that has a white oak look. Good luck!

Achieving this is likely outside the skill level of a spec home contractor. If you are committed to pursuing this, see if you can contract with your own flooring specialist who has a proven method and past jobs that you can inspect. Otherwise, you'll end up with a pink floor.

The best way is probably to mix a custom stain combining one of the darker colors like Jacobean, Coffee and Ebony with Neutral/Natural and applying it over water popped wood. Mixing in a little white stain can be helpful too. Besides the reddish tone, the issue with Red Oak is the deeper grain. Water popping will make the color more uniform and potentially keep the soft grain from being so prominent.

You will not get the light brown or tan color of white oak with red oak. It will either be white with pink and yellow hues or dark. It will be much easier to achieve a silver gray color with red oak.

You can use Ciranova's Pink blocker as suggested by Unique. Then apply Cirnaova's Un1co oil - smoke. Smoke has a light green hue to it. It will give you a light mustard green color, some pink may still bleed through. You can mix a little white to make it a more pale looking. All samples on Ciranova's website is done on European oak. So , your samples will be different.

FWIW here is my old red oak floor sanded and bleached. It was then stained with 100% white Duraseal and sealed with Loba 2k Supra AT. I tried to color correct. It has a warm vanilla appearance.

I keep trying to include a photo but it disappears when I submit. I even compressed it from 2.6mb to 999kb. Please advise, thanks.

thanks turtlexings24

the Loba is satin

link to photo old red oak bleached 100% white duraseal

Darn would love to see a picture ! Thanks for trying and for your comments

Was going to suggest pickling your red oak floors to achieve a lighter color but am reading that process often yields a pinkish color. So, that route is probably a no go.

@TBL try uploading the photo(s) to imgur anonymously then sharing the link here. Seems like a possible workaround.

This is red oak with a bleach treatment and an application of matte polyurethane.

We didn’t trust the use of the pink blocker or stains containing whites/grays. I do think you have to be careful with bleach as it may impact the grain of the wood.

@Lauren what did you decide? I am trying to achieve this same thing.

Haven’t yet…. Unfortunately the more people we talk to the more we are being convinced to go dark. I’m afraid to make a mistake and turn the floor pink

If, you go dark enough, you can hide anything. Dark walnut and Antique brown is a good start.

For light flooring, bleaching will work better than Pink blocker, if you want a white Ash looking floor.

Pink blocker will work well, with your light brown colors such as early American, provincials, twig, nutmeg, etc.

@Lauren I started looking at the aged barrel or aged wheat. It’s has a greenish tone that may eliminate the redness. The problem is that it’s so dark so may need to mix it with something else that is light.

Did you see this video?

https://youtu.be/zTDUzGEg3BM

@kenisha So funny that you sent that!!! I just came across that video yesterday! I might try and do the same thing. I’m testing out stains today and one of them is aged barrel. I’ll keep you posted!

@lauren ok. I just ordered both aged barrel and aged wheat. I may try a mix with pickled or weathered oak with a hint of the aged. Ugh! This struggle is real!! Lol

Any luck @kenisha??? No luck on my end. Feeling very stressed and miserable about it. Thinking of now going with special walnut. Ugh

@Lauren the sanding process has started today. I should have some ideas this weekend after sanding has finished. I am still doing some research. I did see a floor with special walnut mix that had a light look to it. See below.

@lauren this is driftwood with weathered oak

@lauren idk if you are done staining as yet, but I am going with 2 part driftwood and 1 part aged barrel.

Wow that looks great. Haven’t landed on mine yet. Unfortunately I need to stay within Duraseal. I don’t think they have a color similar to driftwood

@Lauren I did a 3:1 and 4:1 (driftwood: aged barrel) yesterday to make it even lighter. Driftwood stain looks green. Can you ask them if they have a stain color that has a green tint?

@kenisha wow that looks fantastic!!!! I will investigate!

@Laren, the floors are done. It didn’t turn out exactly the color I wanted but they are amazing. Best of luck with your floors!

Looks awesome!!! Thanks for the update. I’ll keep you updated. We haven’t decided on a stain yet!!!

Hi ladies!! In the process of doing the same. Do you guys have updated photos of your floors to share and what final colors you went with?!

I ended up going with special walnut. One coat with a satin water based poly (not shiny). We love it. After the floor stainer put samples down of the lighter colors it really did look pink. I feared having my whole house “being ruined” so I went with the “safer” color and I couldn’t be happier. Someone gave me the advice that most of your hardwood floors will be eventually covered by area rugs anyways so no need to stress!

The picture was taken at night with overhead lighting on. Not the best time to take a photo but you get the idea! Good luck!!!

3:1 (driftwood:aged barrel) with satin finish. I honestly wish I would have done 4:1 to make them even lighter. The driftwood stain literally has a green undertone (when you look in the can, it’s green) and I feel like it’s the trick to minimize the red. Aged barrel has a grey undertone.

oh wow both turned out beautiful! I am feeling the same way about going with a "safer" color to avoid pinks. Thanks for sharing ladies! they both look amazing.

@larakaty I'm wondering what the size of your flooring is in this photo. 5in, 4 1/4?

What brand is the Driftwood?

Minwax

Thanks for this discussion. I’m in the medium of a kitchen renovation. I have red oak floors that I have decided to sand and stain in hopes of minimizing the orange and pink hues. I am looking for a stain/brand that can offer that solution and complement white oak cabinets 🙈. Any suggestions is greatly appreciated!

One thing i learned during my research was to use a water base stain and NOT oil base. oil base yellows over time.

Has anyone tried the Bona product, "Red Out"?

Yes. There are some threads about it. https://www.houzz.com/discussions/6390657/bona-red-out-nordic-seal-on-red-oak#n=40

We did and are still try to get our floors cirrected