Hardwood Floors - Stain Color, Finish Suggestions?

[Greg P.]

Hello, up until this point we have been sanding the floors down and then putting 3 coats of high gloss poly and it looks fine, but recently, I spoke with a designer who had suggested doing a dark walnut and satin finish. Anyone have success with the darker stain and/or what do you usually do that had the most success? Thank you! Btw, we are going for the modern look.

[Michael Quarles]

The best color by far is NO stain color. Just use your finish to seal the floor. DONT use neutral. Its an added step and frankly not as good as straight finish. Screen between finishes 2-3-4 not 1 and 2. And use a 120-150 screen.

Oil base is better than water base all though water base drys faster. Oil gives a deeper look. And if using gloss looks a lot better. Although satin is a better choice on uneven floors. Problem with satin is that all finish starts out as gloss and then they add an additive to lessen the gloss so satin could flash on you which makes the floor look crappy.

It will take an extra cost however the HUGE added plus is that if you have a future repair or scratch to remove trying to match stain color is almost impossible without resanding the entire floor. And you only have so many resands before your sanding thru the nails.

If you have black marks from rusted nails, which adds character, youre SOL unless you bleach the floor which doesnt really help.