Have you refinished red oak floors?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We refinished them and did a clear, water based finish (no color whatsoever) and they are gorgeous now! Fairly light.

Not OP, but wondering whether anyone has photos of this kind of clear finish on red oak? We have the same floors and want to make them look nicer without going trendy. I was thinking darker but maybe that's not necessary.

Our neighbor did it and it is light, not pink at all. Oil based stains will make it orangey.

This is what it will look like:

https://www.facebook.com/MoiHardwoodFloors/videos/2457413607705422/

[Anonymous]

OP whatever you decide the main thing is to make sure you do proper, big swatches on site. Dont let them rush you. Look during the day and at night.

[Anonymous]

We refinished our red oak floors w minwax Colonial. A nice medium brown. Hides a lot of dust, too! Mahogany stain is lovely but yes, you do really have to vacuum or sweep daily- there is no hiding the dust.

[Anonymous]

We just did cherry stain with the BONA high traffic water based finish. I love it. It’s less yellow, orangey and plastic looking than polyurethane. We embraced the reddish orange and it gives amazing warmth to our white and blue decor, kitchen etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We refinished them and did a clear, water based finish (no color whatsoever) and they are gorgeous now! Fairly light.

Not OP, but wondering whether anyone has photos of this kind of clear finish on red oak? We have the same floors and want to make them look nicer without going trendy. I was thinking darker but maybe that's not necessary.

Our neighbor did it and it is light, not pink at all. Oil based stains will make it orangey.

This is what it will look like:

https://www.facebook.com/MoiHardwoodFloors/videos/2457413607705422/

OP here, that looks really nice! Thanks for sharing!

[Anonymous]

This is 23:19 again. Yes, this link is accurate - it’s very pale. I recommend looking at photos on Houzz. I also prefer the water finish because it’s not as noxious a smell. Oil based finishes are horrible.

[Anonymous]

I love the red oak.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is 23:19 again. Yes, this link is accurate - it’s very pale. I recommend looking at photos on Houzz. I also prefer the water finish because it’s not as noxious a smell. Oil based finishes are horrible.

Thank you! That Facebook post shared the exact products they used. I've read that Minwax is not what professionals use.

[Anonymous]

I just refinished my red oak floors and they used a water based product that took some of the pink out of the wood. The finish is matte and light. I really liked the results.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes we did. At their best, they’re never going to look super up to date. And I doubt the mid 90s orange look with thin strips will ever come back in, despite what the previous poster says.

But water based top coats are much better than the oil ones of thirty years ago, which naturally hued red - and on red oak, really went ugly orange. So with todays water based clear top coats and no stain or I believe a green undertones stain (but double check me on that one - there’s an undertone that helps tone down the red), you can get them into a more neutral brown with slight pink undertones that’s more palatable. They’re never going to look like todays popular wide plant rift sawn white oak, but you can get them to not look so vile and be more neutral - which is a start!!

agree with this. We refinished the red oak strip floors in our 1960 split and used water based on our 2nd floor when we moved in and oil based on the first floor as part of an addition/ kitchen remodel 5 years ago because we extended the floors into the kitchen and I wanted a durable finish there that would repel water. The water based floors are definitely more neutral brown and less orange than the oil based. We added no additional stain, just the clear coat. In hindsight I would have done more research on the water based finishes.

[Anonymous]

We just refinished all of our red oak hardwood floors and in the main areas, we went with a dark finish, not sure of the name, but is gorgeous! We used water-based poly and they are a matte finish. In some other areas, we used a bleaching poly that took out the red and they came out with a very light, beautiful, natural matte finish. We found someone who is very knowledgeable and he did not steer us wrong at all!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We refinished them and did a clear, water based finish (no color whatsoever) and they are gorgeous now! Fairly light.

Not OP, but wondering whether anyone has photos of this kind of clear finish on red oak? We have the same floors and want to make them look nicer without going trendy. I was thinking darker but maybe that's not necessary.

Our neighbor did it and it is light, not pink at all. Oil based stains will make it orangey.

This is what it will look like:

https://www.facebook.com/MoiHardwoodFloors/videos/2457413607705422/

OP here, that looks really nice! Thanks for sharing!

Are you sure those aren't white oak floors? The prior (idiot) owners of our house put on an addition with red oak floors, even though the rest of the house is white oak. The red oak floors were definitely pink without stain. We used Provincial stain in a medium brown to blend the two types of oak. It looks good and doesn't look red/pink at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We just refinished all of our red oak hardwood floors and in the main areas, we went with a dark finish, not sure of the name, but is gorgeous! We used water-based poly and they are a matte finish. In some other areas, we used a bleaching poly that took out the red and they came out with a very light, beautiful, natural matte finish. We found someone who is very knowledgeable and he did not steer us wrong at all!

Me again, the color was Dark Walnut. They are gorgeous! Much more modern than before. We too had those orangey-colored wood floors that looked dull and dated. The matte/satin finish looks timeless and the bleached floors look very modern and fresh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just refinished my red oak floors and they used a water based product that took some of the pink out of the wood. The finish is matte and light. I really liked the results.

Awesome, do you mind sharing who you used or ask what they used?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We just refinished all of our red oak hardwood floors and in the main areas, we went with a dark finish, not sure of the name, but is gorgeous! We used water-based poly and they are a matte finish. In some other areas, we used a bleaching poly that took out the red and they came out with a very light, beautiful, natural matte finish. We found someone who is very knowledgeable and he did not steer us wrong at all!

Me again, the color was Dark Walnut. They are gorgeous! Much more modern than before. We too had those orangey-colored wood floors that looked dull and dated. The matte/satin finish looks timeless and the bleached floors look very modern and fresh.

Thank you, that sounds lovely! We have carpet in half of our first floor, so in an ideal world, we'd put down raw wood floors in the carpeted area, sand down the original floors, and then have all the floors stained the same color. We haven't started getting quotes yet, I'm sure it will be outrageous!!