Hello All,
I posted a message (with photos) back in February about the flooring in our new home. It's a brand-new home and the builder had installed red oak and then stained it ebony (very very dark) to match the ebony cabinets. We wanted to add additional wood flooring to the main level and staircase, as well as sand and stain the entire floor a much lighter color (we have a dog and a kid and we knew the dark floor would show lots of scratches.) We got five different bids on the job from a variety of local flooring companies. EVERY. SINGLE. PERSON. said the original flooring was "select" red oak so that's what they put in the rest of the house. BUT, when sanded and finished "they" were dead wrong - it was #2 red oak and it looks completely different. Adding to the problem is the fact that the ebony stain did not sand out of the nail holes and knots (we were forewarned that this was going to happen.) The entire floor was kept natural and finished with 3 coats of Bona Traffic. It looks atrocious - it's a completely open floor plan and it's painfully obvious that we've got two different types of wood.

Of course, we've already paid a ton of money for this work and are just sick about it. However, we don't think we can live with the floors the way they currently look. Honestly, we don't want to work with the original contractor again because even though he probably couldn't foresee that it was #2 (since everyone was fooled) we feel as though he should have called us and changed his game plan once it was sanded and discovered.

We’ve called two new flooring specialists to look at the floors and they suggest re-sanding and staining the whole thing with a brown color to blend it better. One of the two suggested lacing in some random pieces of #2 red oak to help the transition areas. The other person said don’t bother with that.
I have three questions:
1. Should we interlace some additional #2 or will this just add a “third” wood to the mix since it won’t be the original #2 that was first stained ebony?
2.What color brown stain would you recommend? Nothing too dark, but dark enough to blend this better?
3.How much of a blend can we reasonably expect?

How can we tell, lets see some close-up pics.

Yes, pictures would help. Please see the link below to view the photos online.

https://picasaweb.google.com/nmcapage/FloorsNewHome?authkey=Gv1sRgCNzolf6Ch6q2Tw&feat=directlink

The photos really don't do the problem justice though; it's significantly more noticeable in person. The last few photos show the original dark stain and also the kitchen cabinets that are still dark.

That is painful. But you should always let the/a contractor fix a screw up. Either that or a really huge expensive woven wool/silk persian area rug.

Thanks for commenting Stephen - I appreciate your advice. But, just to be clear, are you saying we should ask the original contractor to fix it or are you just confirming that we will be using a flooring contractor vs. doing it ourselves?

If it's the first one (let the original contractor do it) then I'd like to hear your reasoning -he's certainly not going to resand and stain the whole floor for free and why should I throw good money after bad by giving him more work? I am not asking the original contractor to refund my money - he did do what we discussed in the bid, but I feel his lack of concern for how it turned out suggest that I should NOT deal with him in the future.

If you just meant "use a professional "- then yes, I would certainly never attempt to fix this as an amateur. But when talking to professionals they have offered several different opinions hence my questions in the original post.

they probably didnt sand the old until after the add on was done thats why they couldnt tell what grade. You could probably get away with provincial or early American anything lighter wont do it. they did a good job lacing it in. I would put a few 2 common boards in the select part to help blend it in wouldnt go crazy with it but the floors looking at a total resand and stain so now would be the time.

unless you rip it and relace it notig is going to fix it..you can only mask it..
brwn color will still sow the difference..unless it is very dark again.

it sounds like a reasonable mistake as the floors were ebony and you couldnt tell what hgrade..im even surpirsed they got the color oak
right....+)

however, in this world tooo many like to hang people based onn 'what a pro should have done" as if if were them, they would have approached it differently.

if the guy installed, then sanded, then how was he to know?
after sanding, should he have mentioned it...probably..

but those are alwasy sticky situations..

i think the advice of working wiht the original contractor is best as you are both bound to reach anamicable solution..

maybe he will charge you cost to re do as to full price...there are alwasy ways to reach a conclusion agreble to both..however, taking the high horse position will never work..we are people too..=)

i suggest a peaceful get together,and possibly suggest that although you know there was an honest mistake made due to the originaml consitions, you would ask for any help he can give in solving your issue..

maybe you buy the wood and pay for dumpster...maybe something towards cost of labor...
he gove his labor for free...you pay for products and materials..as i sad..if he doesnt feel lik you are bashing him, and willing to work together, he may be more apt to fix it for you..

if you are finger pointing...then any and most will probably walk away on you stating i did within my contract..

you catch more flies with honey...
the fact thst there are knot and worm holes present and the fluctuation of colors shouldnt indicated a lesser grade in my opinion.
someone knew the stain would remain in them...however, in these instances, you normally hear about someone gettng the lesser material , not the better materail..=)

I always like to give the person a chance to rectify an issue rather than throwing them under the bus, but letting them off the hook for a mistake like that is kinda of weird to me. Your certainly nicer than the average consumer.

Sorry to hear about how this turned out. I might offer one other solution. If you want the floors to all be #2 common (I wouldn't want to tear out the wood in the kitchen personally) and decide to remove all the new select and better, you may be able to get money for it.There's a couple of companies in Connecticut that will harvest flooring for free and in some cases pay money for it . If there is such a company near you, you can always ask if they are interested in your flooring.

Other than that, there really is no stain color other than something very opaque like Ebony that will hide the differences. The other option is removing the #2 common and that is a bit trickier and more time consuming because it goes under your cabinets and kitchen island.

Ultimately, you're disappointed but take some time to think about if you really hate the two different floors. I mean, I wouldn't recommend spending money on a re sand and finish when a stain color like provincial is nice but wont really blend the differences.

Sand, aniline dye, stain followed by poly.

You will never know you've got 2 different grades of wood.

If your in the Boston area

Www.northeasthardwood.com

provencial is going to look 10 times better than that natural. They realize its not going to cover it, they just want it toned down a bit. They dont wan to tear it out and they dont want it dark thats why it was sanded to begin with. Resanding staining a medium brown color and poping a few common boards in the select part is going to be the least expensive option at this point.

Is the guy a state licensed contractor? You work for a certain amount of years to reach journey level then take a test to be licensed. When he saw the problem surfacing ( and i assure you he did ) he should have stopped immediately and discussed it with you. He is culpable. He is the contractor not the consumer. I'm a tree contractor. If I start cutting a limb and see it is going to fall on a car I'm sure as hell not going to keep cutting the limb. Once again it doesn't matter if 5 contractors couldn't determine the grade. This is supposed to be their expertise, their mistake is not yours. I drop a limb on a house ( break a window, tiles on the roof etc. ) I fix it with no cost ( materials or labor ) once again it was my mistake no one else. Did he say he could blend the floor no problem before starting. If so ( contract not full filled ) I agree you should keep a level head and allow the first guy to make it right. I'll tell you right now he is liable. Ignorance is not bliss in court. Bottom line I'm assuming you wanted a perfect floor. You were warned about the nail holes that's fine, did he warn you that he maybe wrong about the grade? And how did you find out the correct grade?