Hi, I just moved into a home with glued down engineered wood flooring throughout much of the house. I've been told it's likely cherry wood- and it certainly has a reddish hue to it! I've love to move to a darker color and try and drown out the red color as much as possible. Like a dark walnut or even espresso or combo of those two colors. Anyway, I've measured the vaneer as only 1mm. Of course, everything I've researched thus far says to not even try sanding these babies. And I get it. With that, my question is, would it be possible to "scuff" the floor with a finer paper, like say a 100 grit on a drum sander, then attempt to re-stain over them? Would there be a gel stain that may handle this better? For I'm not as concerned about the surface scratching in the floors so I'm not trying to sand them out- and at that point I'd go right thru the vaneer anyway. Appreciate the help!

There is a fine line between only scuffing and sanding through when using a drum sander. you would get better results with a buffer and sanding screen. The factory finish is really hard to scuff enough to get stain to change the color. Instead of stain you can tint finish with powdered color and apply two coats to make the color more even. I have had good results with a five inch brush by myself and also with a lambs wool applicator and one to cut in as I go, coating about 3 feet wide at a time.
You could try jacobean color on a sample area after you have cleaned and rinsed the floor. You definitely do not want to get an adhesion problem.
Black will cut the red color.
Try 80 grit screen under a white pad to drive it. When one side gets dull, turn the screen over.

Many thanks! You've actually given me hope! I'm not familiar with tint finishing with a "powdered" color. But you mentioned the color Jacobean, so would this be a powder I'd get from a manufacturer like Duraseal? Again, thanks for the guidance!

Lockwood powdered colors are sold.. It doesn’t take much powder to make the color. Instead of screening, you could use Basic Coatings no sanding process.Clean the floor, coat with Tykote, then apply finish within 6 hours with Street Shoe finish.

Great info! I'm gonna consider both options you've presented. Really appreciate the help.