I am a contractor working on a home that is approx. 11 years old and has 3/4" x 3" t&g cherry flooring. Flooring guys had to lace in some new cherry where we moved walls and kitchen island etc. They finished sanding and put a coat of tung oil on and the customer is freaking out that they can see where all the new flooring has been laced in as it is quite noticably a different color.

My question is: Is there anything that can be done at this point to to try and blend the difference in color?

If not, can the new boards be expected to darken in time to match the old, and how long might that take?

Thanks
Figaro

That should have all been discussed before the walls and island were moved!!!

No one brought up the boards were not going to match perfectly, and tinting to blend as much as possible would be an extra cost??

It is going to be a much bigger cost now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hey, we live and learn.

Their comment was that the salesman said that they wouldn't even be able to see where they laced it in. But I think what he was refering to was the boards themselves fitting them together, not the color. Knowing cherry, I didn't expect the color to be perfect, but I did expect it to be closer than it is.

But would tinting now even be a good idea? Or would it better to leave things alone and hope that the newer cherry eventually will darken to match the old??

Figaro

Leave it alone for at least 6 months to a year. Sometime cherry can even take longer to establish a fairly stable color. Let in as much sunlight as possible. If it doesnt match after it has stabalized in color then try tinting with a toner. Nobody can tell you any more without seeing it and even then it would only be an educated guess. Even different boards will darken different. I think thats all anyone can tell you. More sunlight equal faster darkening . Maybe uv sunlamps might help but Ive never tried that , I have put cherry in the sun for a quick darken down. Good luck

NEW DEVELOPMENT

The guys tried to stain just the new boards to match the old I thought it didn't look to bad but the homeowner didn't like it.

The flooring contractor now says that he believes the cherry originally installed is what is called "fumed cherry" therefore darker then the new unfumed stuff they put in. Solution would be to tear out unfumed and put in fumed. Ever hear of that?

Figaro