I have a 50 year old house with original red oak floor, a large section of the living room needed new wood - the existing floor was sanded and the new "unfinished" wood put down - UNFINISHED, the EXISTING and NEW wood looked the same. The first coat of the stain was put down, a simple provincial matt finish - the old wood looks great, the new wood is a great deal lighter and the new section obvious. I have a contractor doing the work - SHOULD HE BE ABLE TO BLEND THE COLOR TO MATCH?!?

Sometimes, it is quite difficult to have the new wood and older wood match exactly. Even if the species and grade are correct, the graining and color can be off. When I add on to an existing floor, I never quarentee an exact match. To do so would be foolish. Ask him if there is anything he can think of to do about it; maybe restain the new part again?

Thanks Gary, this was just the first coat, and yes I can talk to them - I just saw it tonite after the first coat was put down today. So it sounds like from what you are saying it "is" possible to get it pretty close, short of an exact match? When I saw the floor this evening after the crew had left I got a bit worried.

old wood is of yester years will rarely match up due to tightness of grain, and when old growth was popular you had more hartwood to work with. oak these days is on a strict harvest cycle. ive done historical homes with amazing white oak floors all of 14' lengths. i'd be thrilled to do a new install with 14 footers but i've yet to encounter someone intrested in spending the money to make it happen