Hey guys!

first time poster - long time reader!

We completed a water damage job on a very expensive home - the 5" red oak flows continuously throughout the 4000sqft - we removed and replaced about 1000sqft (alot of weaving) Install was great!

Homeowner had the house built 15 yrs ago and told us its "Special Walnut" stain (oil minwax). When sanding was completed (80/100/150) drum/edge then Usand - we hand applied with rags and wiped. still looked a bit dark so we wiped again with damp mineral spirit rags. dried 24 hrs - Looked great! finished with 3 coats minwax semi/poly.

The problem is the old floor is noticably more ...orange (amber) then our repair, like a real noticable, and maybe a bit like our repair is more brown.

We have to return and resand parts of this (some rooms are ok to fly) - any tips for bringing out the red more? and blending??? laquer thinner??

help!

This was minwax water poly applied with a waterwiz applicator

If the original floor was stained and then finished with oil based poly and you re sanded and finished with water , the two floors would definitely not look the same.

Water based poly is clearer than oil and does not have the amber color that oil does. Even though there are some ways to get water based poly to look more like oil, they don't really apply to your situation.

I should at least ask , is the old floor coated with oil based poly ?

Its a job we are on, so I wouldnt know. But I would be best to try oil poly this time as worst case, itll give me more amber - will the ambering be quick or take months or years?

It's going to take years ...
I agree with advansed w.floors , There is no way to match oil based poly finished floors with new water based finish ...
You should have make samples on the new installed floor , with different stains and different finishes , and have the owner choose one of them ...

can I put oil over poly? and tell the customer it will amber to match over time?

The issue is at the doorways where we blended into the old in order not to have to sand the whole 4000 sqft along with the stairs etc...

oilbase the whole house would be ok though? even over the waterbase poly?

might it get me that slightly more honey rich finish?

mixing different types of finishes (water/oil) is very tricky, things have to be completley cured (sometimes taking months)
At this point I wouldnt advise it, get some similar red oak and make a few test panels. Sand them the same grits as what you have done, stain them, and coat them. when they are stained with x# of coats take them to the house and compare. It may save you from doing it a 3rd time.

Also stain is different from can to can, temperature, and humididty also play a roll in how stains look.

One job I did we stained Dura seal chestnut, one year later customer wanted to add a bedroom on, we installed/sanded exactly the same way same grits everything 60/100 (300 sq ft) stained with new can of DS chestnut, shook can for 15 minutes, then dumped into round can to stain out of, color was close maybe 1 shade darker, but not noticiable by anyone but me.
Returned the following week to install/sand 2 small bedrooms (400 sq ft) used the same belts/screen (I left all of those there purposely to make sure nothing would be different, used the same stain of of the same can, again that we left there, stain came out noticiably darker.... (It was 20 degrees warmer that day, and more humid)

Also other things such as cleaners used on the floor that leave residues, these also help make sheen differences.

Best of luck to you

Get some Basic Coatings amberizer, tint your water base to the desired color using a test board.

http://www.basiccoatings.com/asp/contra ... erizer.asp

Nothing will be perfect, but with time you can come pretty close to mathching the aged oil.

Good luck.

Two questions for you
1.What did you say the last sandpaper grit was?
2. You went over that stained floor with a rag with mineral spirits?

150 grit is way too fine.....
wiping that floor with mineral spirits probably wiped up the red from that stain... (special walnut stain has a lot of pigment including a reddish color...without the red color it would be dark walnut

I thought nowadays insurance companies know about the difficulties in matching floor finishes and were now more inclined to allow for a complete sand job after repairs are made.

Too bad that floor will probably never match now, and if it does it will take years.

I will never promise to "match" an old floor perfectly. I correctly tell the customer brand new will not look like their old floors. Even IF one could nail the color just right, the new area has no "wear". The old area has wear. This alone will distinquish the old from the new areas. Old finishes generally amber over time. Light can bleach color out. Have you ever lifted a rug up that's been sitting for years over a wood floor? Notice the outline? The wood around the rug is usually lighter. The floor UNDER the rug is the original color. Plus the floor that's been exposed to light will have ambered considerably. Even water-based finishes will not prevent this color change. They can lessen it to a degree but cannot stop it. Why? Because the light will change the color of the wood, regardless of the clear finish that has been applied. All wood is photo-reactive to a degree; some quite a bit.

The lesson here is when doing insurance repairs ( or repairs of any kind ), do not make promises you cannot keep. You will end up eating the job. Say what you can do and what you recommend. Be sure to inform the customer if they do NOT take your recommendation, what the probable outcome may be. Put it in writing, just to be sure. Something like, " XYZ Flooring Company does NOT warranty the repaired area will match in color or sheen unless the entire floor is refinished."