Tony Sivori wrote:
Ron wrote:

Tony Sivori wrote:

A few project photos here, and one finished photo, for anyone that
wants to see it.

https://picasaweb.google.com/TonySiv...KOsrqe-5vWEfg#


Thanks for the photos. The floors came out great.

For the new floor that you did in the living room, what type of wood
did you buy,

I replaced the living room floor with wood of the same species and
dimension as the original, Red Oak 2" x 5/16" strips. I bought 210 SF
of Select and Better from the Lebanon Oak Flooring factory in Lebanon
KY. Cost was $510, picked up at the factory.

Tongue and groove doesn't come that thin, and changing the floor
height would have meant changing thresholds and door heights.

I also considered all the wood floors through the house having a
similar appearance to be a plus, but that is just my own preference.

and what did you use for the finish?
I assume that you did not stain
the new wood that you put down before finishing it, but if I am wrong
about that. let me know.

The floor is stained, it is Bona DriFast, the color is Cherry. Only
one coat of stain. It is a very light red, so light I was worried
about the floor looking pink.

The color looks good on Red Oak, and to my relief it did not turn out
the least bit pink.

PDF of Bona Stain color chart he

http://www.restorationhardwood.ca/pdf/Stain_Samples.pdf

The finish is Bona Traffic, in satin. I bought it (and the stain, and
the wood filler) from these guys:

http://www.floormechanics.com/index.php

I am interested in putting down a new hardwood floor in an apartment
and I would like the color to come out like what you did in your
living room. I did one before in the apartment below and I think I
used Red Oak Select #2 from Lumber Liquidators, but I am not sure.
Then I had a hard time finding any kind of finish that resulted in a
color that is similar to what you produced in your living room. I
don't like to admit it, but I finally ended up using something
called PolyShades (Pecan) which is a stain an polyurethane in one,
but which really isn't supposed to be used on floors.

That probably came out looking fine, but I think it might not be a
sturdy and long lasting floor finish.

I used it anyway because it was the best result that I could find (I
did lots of test samples with the left over hardwood pieces). It
ended up coming out pretty good, but I think that if I had made a
better pick of wood and finish, it could have come out better. So,
any details that you can provide of what you used in your living
room would be appreciated.

Just my opinion here, but when I do a DIY project, I tend to splurge
on quality materials. I figure I am already saving a ton of money on
labor, so I like to buy upper end materials.

Thanks Tony. That helps a lot. I should have realized that you used Bona
Traffic for the finish since you wrote about that in detail elsewhere. Even
though said it is extremely durable and long lasting, I won't be using that
since I don't need super durability. The hardwood that I am going to put
down will be in an apartment that I will be renting out, and regular
polyurethane will work for me for that and is much less expensive. I don't
mind spending more for good quality materials in general, but in this case
the price difference would be way too much for me to want to go with the
Bona Traffic.

Knowing that you used Red Oak Select and Better also helped since I can get
Red Oak locally.

What really helped is knowing that you did use stain first and knowing what
you used. The Bona Dri-Fast cherry stain that you picked looks like it
would produce exactly the look that I would like to achieve. Unfortunately,
I can't seem to find any local places where they sell that product (I am in
New Jersey, near Philadelphia, PA). But maybe I can test out some other
brand of stain and try choosing cherry as the color.