I have removed and aclimated old red oak for a kitchen and intend to blend it with new red oak (also acclimated). The old red oak had cutback adhesive on it from linoleum tiles that over the years, seaped between the tongue and groove of the boards. I have scraped the adhesive from the boards on the tongue and grooves, but still have some on the top face. My floor finisher was not concerned about the faces not sanding out should I use the old wood and the new wood.

My floor finisher suggested to blend the boards together which would help the final color blend nicely with adjacent rooms. I am questioning some of his logic, and see four options as follows:

Four options:
a. scrap the old RO or use it under cabinets and stain the floor (new RO) to match the old RO in adjacent rooms
b. scrap the old RO and do not stain the new RO - adjacent rooms will have a different tint due to age differences of the woods
c. mix the new and old RO together but do not stain (bunch the old RO near the doors to the adjacent rooms)
d. mix the new and old RO together and do stain

he mentioned that using an "old american" stain or something equivalent helps new RO look like 80 year old RO post the OMU applications, which will be the same as the adjacent rooms since he did the other adjacent rooms with OMU (but no stain).

Do any of the four options above stand out as preferred? Just curious.

Thanks again for your feedback.

It never ceases to amaze me that folks hire a professional, then balk at that pro's advice. Your finisher has seen the wood he is working with. Follow his advice. If it turns out badly, then you can call him on the carpet. But if you take advice off the internet, even well meaning like ours is, it could go badly because we can't SEE what you're dealing with. All we have is a description. And mixing different brands of old and new flooring is always somewhat of a risk. And that risk sits squarely on the shoulders of the person choosing to mix those different woods together. When I add new flooring to an older home, and the old floors are not being refinished, I never promise to match the new with the old. I simply say I'll do my best and however it turns out will have to be good enough.

Gary,

Thanks again for your advice. Prior to submitting my original post, it was already agreed with the pro I hired that he was going to check out what his crew did post sanding (with me present) and then choose to stain or go straight to poly. Sorry for not including that in the original post.

While I do defer to the advice the guy I hired provides, I do like to verify with the great advice and experiences of those on this board, just to make sure there aren't any other watchouts that I would have regretted not asking the pro. before his crew started grinding away.

Update on project:
My first installation, and I have chose to blend the new and old red oak. Had to "mill" the ends of the old to fit the tongues and grooves of the new. Very time consuming on the table saw (days of work), but so far the fit seems to be just as good when compared to the new wood. Racking out mixed old and new wood I assume is much more time consuming than starting with all new wood, but then again, my time and labor is "free." Final results post sanding/poly will determine if my stategy worked. Hoping the 12' + lengths I was able to salvage from the old wood will turn out nice. I can also see why peole may opt for prefinished planks vs. unfinished 2 1/4" flooring options. Lot less nails and much less of a tricept workout.

Thanks again for a great and informative website!