I have 5" T&G red oak and hard maple we cut out of our woods, had it sawn, milled and Kiln dried. I'd like to lay it down on a floor in alternating strips. oak maple oak maple. Can I do this? Can you lay two speices of wood together in a floor like that? Oak being an open grain and maple being a more closed grain. Are they going to absorb moisture at different rates and buckle all over the place? Any help or opinion? Is it going to look stupid?
Paulawe

Alternaing strips of flooring were a popular design in wood floors in the Victorian era. It was common to see a dark then light then dark again alternating pattern. It was commonly done the maple and walnut/cherry/mahagony. The color difference between oak and maple isn't as extreme as those others. Besides, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I suggest you loose lay the boards down in the pattern you're thinking about. Put on an oil sealer as well to make the color "pop". You can also sand it off later when you sand the floors. Make sure your flooring is milled and dried to the local conditions, well aclimated and the environment temperature controlled. I see no problem laying the two species together. They are slightly different in stabity and hardness but if one takes all the necessary steps, you should have no problems. BTW, I just recalled a floor I did in SF years ago. It was red oak stained white, very white. Then the decorator masked off every other board and painted every other board a battle ship grey. I came back and applied the finish coats of clear waterbased poly. It wasn't my cup of tea, so to speak but it was interesting.

I put down 2 1/4 oak and 4 1/2 rosewood, Didn't really want to but it was the only way to get the job done. Didn't have enough oak, didn't have enough rosewood. Looks good after 7 months.
Steve