Have you refinished red oak floors?

[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!!

[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/

Maybe, maybe not. I saw ours when they were sanded and they didn’t even look this neutral then so I doubt a clear coat would neutralize them any further. We did walnut stain. In retrospect I’d have gone a little darker maybe 50% walnut and 50% provincial

[Anonymous]

We did a 50/50 mix of Rustic Beige and Classic Gray. It totally took the red out. If I had to do it all over again, I’d probably go with 75% Rustic Beige. But we still really love them.

[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/

Maybe, maybe not. I saw ours when they were sanded and they didn’t even look this neutral then so I doubt a clear coat would neutralize them any further. We did walnut stain. In retrospect I’d have gone a little darker maybe 50% walnut and 50% provincial

I’ve seen blog posts about using Nordic Seal to get a similar feel to the link above and it looks great.

[Anonymous]

https://aloprofile.com/how-to-stain-red-oak-to-look-like-white-oak/

[Anonymous]

Above link shows various stains to make red oak look more like white oak, ie less pink or orange

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Above link shows various stains to make red oak look more like white oak, ie less pink or orange

Thanks, that's helpful!

[Anonymous]

Is polyurethane water based? Not OP, but that's what's in our proposed reno contract. Wondering if we should change it.

[Anonymous]

Kept them natural with a tung oil finish.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is polyurethane water based? Not OP, but that's what's in our proposed reno contract. Wondering if we should change it.

OP here - I've done some additional research and it sounds like the Bona water based sealants are best for this.

[Anonymous]

Look at what she did with hers:

https://chrissymarieblog.com/red-oak-flooring