Floors

Reply to: Red Oak can be a more "reddish" colour than gold. The more red you have in a floor the FARTHER AWAY you are to a "gray" finish. Red Oak is going in the opposite direction to "gray". To get gray from red (we know this first hand in the cork business) is to add green...that means you need to ADD colour...which can make things darker. To get the lighter silver/gray "barn wood" colour, this would be easier if you started with white oak. White Oak does have tannin bleed as an issue, but a proper primer over the oak can take care of that....adds more expense but it can take care of it. I think a factory finished solid hardwood in this colour would be a nice thing to look at if you can't find someone comfortable doing this. As much as I prefer site finished hardwood, this is a really difficult colour to achieve.

Q

Reply to: After some flooring nightmares because of bad flooring sub work, we have taken our quarter sawn red oak floors down to wood for the second time in a year while doing a remodeling project. Because of this we were, unfortunately, able to see many Bona Finishes on our floor at one time or another. Here are some of our findings. 1) 1 coat sealer and three coats of Regular Bona traffic Satin is an excellent sheen if you have a lot of light coming into your rooms and you prefer a Matte-ish finish without the problems/ too matte look of a pure Bona Matte. Three coats regular bona satin is an excellent look and provides the floor a very natural and wood appearance without too much glare as a result of the three satin coats I suppose. Really diffused the light coming in on angle off the floors so you weren't squinting. 2) Bona Satin HD as topcoat- Good durable finish but it is about 10% higher gloss than the regular traffic Satin. We did not like this finish as we have a lot of light and it showed all our floors imperfections. Too Shiny for us ( we prefer less shine). 3) 1 coat Sealer, 2 coats regular traffic Semigloss with last coat regular traffic Satin. Good look. not quite as matte looking or "calm" as the three coats of Satin ( because of the first two coats being a bit clearer I suppose) but it is argued to be a bit more durable. This is what we ended up with after our redo and are happy. The Net Net for us is we like the Regular Traffic Satin as the last coat or all three coats. Hope that helps.

Q

Reply to: This is #2 Red Oak Flooring , We left it natural in color and applied a water based polyurethane so that the color will not turn orange over time.

Q