What does your floor finisher suggest? Not sure on the others but oil finishes tend to turn amber which I think would hurt your efforts to get rid or the pink.

I don't see pink in the photo? I do see orange.

Ciranova's Pink blocker works best with oil stains and hard wax oils. When applied under Nordicseal, even a heavy flood coat. The Nordicseal will dilute the pink blocker making it less effective. It is still better than a stand alone Nordicseal over red oak. You just don't get the bang for your money.

If, you want to use Ciranova's pink blocker. Use Pink blocker and two coats of Ciranova's Un1coat and top coat with Fortico or Traffic HD. You can also, use pink blocker and magic oil or any hard wax oil type products instead of Un1coat. The benefit of Un1coat is that it can be top coated with a two component water base polyurethane.

Bona just came out with a similar product like Ciranova's pink blocker. It's called Bona Red Out. It's more compatible with their water base finishing system. Will let you know how it is once i get my hands on some.

Thanks! To clarify- are you saying to do one coat of pink blocker, two coats of the un1coat, and one coat of topcoat? Meaning skip the nordic all together as its not needed to achieve the lighter, white natural look?

Yes, you can do one or two coats of the Un1coat, depending on the look you want. A second coat will make it more intense. You can top coat with 1 or 2 coats of top coats. The Un1coat will protect, it is a hard wax oil. That's why the second coat is optional.

^ I agree - love the current floors

The floors throughout the house are a mismatch. The stairs are slightly different than the floor, the back hall is a different color. Regardless of color, I'd like them to be uniform. Hence why I'm looking to do something.

IMO go dark you will never make that white oak no matter how many coats of whatever you put there . I think right now what you show is not at all bad. Have you also thought that maybe not all the floors are the same wood. Your flooring refinisher is who needs to show you what is possible and what is not. I love really darlk floors and have often done ebony on red oak for clients a lot less hassle and they look awesome.

Funny thing is I've had a few groups opt to not even bid the job. It is seemingly a task flooring companies don't really want to touch. The house is very dark inside. I'd like to go with a brown that is less red, of course, versus the cherry and possibly a smidge lighter. If anyone has any good recommendations let me know.

Look at Provincial. It's got green tones that neutralize the red. We had our red oak stained with a 3 parts natural/1 part Provincial blend. It lets some red through, but it's less red than your floors. Also somewhat lighter than your floors.

@Brad Wayne - did you ever make a decision re: your floors? Refinishing mine soon - so, very interetsed. I purchased some Ciranova Pink blocker to test out on some red oak boards. Definitely changed the look of the red oak. Nervous to use on my entire floor though. . .

Also, just learned about Bona Red Out. Sounds interesting but I don’t know anyone who has used it.

Yes, I tried it. Pinkblocker plus nordicseal. Hated it. My floors turned out super candy pink- leaning towards the pink starburst candy look. I resanded and went back to a more traditional, lighter brown in the end.

Now, if you sand your floors down and your wood is relatively "whitish" looking, or likely red oak "select" then the appearance with Blocker/Nordic will look better and possibly worthwhile. Conversely, if you sand your floors down and you see a bunch of deep, red veining in your floorboards (red tannin) then your floors will undoubtedly look pink. Not hyperbole. Salmon Pink.

I spoke with about 5 top flooring groups after my debacle. They all- literally all 5- said they don't do Nordicseal and try to steer their customers away from it. They dislike the product and said it will only look decent, at best, for a few years before the red will seep back through.

On the topic of Pinkblocker versus Bona RedOut. They all seemed to say Bona was superior in their limited usage of it. Primarily using it to bleach out and lighten stair treads for clients who don't want the high cost of ripping out a staircase.

PinkBlocker is a filmy, more milky look. It had that exact look on my floors. It had more of a very thin whitish coating to it. The Bona RedOut, I was told (I haven't used it myself) has more of a true, light bleaching agent affect.

I think, having seen it first hand... I'd go with a straight up Loba Invisible finish instead of Nordicseal. Mayyyybee with Bona RedOut before that. Heavy emphasis on maybe. I'd leave the floors natural so the look of raw wood looks just that- raw and natural.

Furthermore, if you do go with Nordic and the floors aren't overly pinkish. You may need to "cool" down all the whites in your house. The trim, the cabinetry, etc. I went with a cooler white on the walls before ultimately deciding to go back to brown flooring and it did look better. Creamier whites, baseboards, cabinets, etc just made the entire room look pepto bismol sickly.

All the photos you see online with NordicSeal are success stories so it is possible. But there are many of us who tried it, including top, high end contractors where I live, that will tell you it can go in the other direction as well.

Goodluck!

@Brad Wayne - Thank you so much for your detailed answer - I truly appreciate it. Not really into pepto bismal or starburst candy pink - so, sounds like a bad idea!

The board that I used the Pink Blocker on was older - a raw 1 x 10 or 1 x 12 that had been leaning against a wall in a corner of unfinished part of basement (along with several other boards - leftover from when house was built 26 years ago).

I used the Pink Blocker one time on both sides - left the very middle alone. But I wasn’t sure what exactly it was doing = just adding some color to the surface of the board? The videos made it look much more dramatic. I also didn’t water pop the board or really soak it with the Pink Blocker, so I assumed that had something to do with my less ”dramatic” change (although it definitely changed the two sides vs. the original pinker tone like you can see in the very middle of the board).

I’m not sure what grade my red oak is - my guess is a good grade - but not select.

Probably should just shoot for a nice medium brown - what stain did you use? Also, what top coat did you decide to use? Appreciate any photos you care to share.

Thanks again,

Dani

@dani-m08 what did you end up doing? i’m considering options for my red oak floors that being refished.

I just happened to pull up this post today - I didn't receive a notification that you had tagged me.

I am getting ready to finally refinish my floors. My two bathroom renovations turned into HUGE pains - and caused me to get behind on everything else.

I haven't found someone who has worked with the Ciranova Pink Blocker on red oak floors.

I've used it on a few other red oak projects (a couple for my sister - one was a red oak fireplace she wanted to change in her house). We used the Un1coat as suggested by G&S Flooring.

I also played with some other reactive stains by Ciranova.

I've asked G&S Flooring quite a few questions over the past couple years - clearly an expert re: floor refinishing.

I am currently doing some research on Bona Red Out - there are floor refinishers who work with Bona products in my area.

I did confirm that my red oak floors are select grade - which Brad felt would work better with the Ciranova Pink Blocker. Once I receive some samples done with the Bona Red Out, I'll let you know!