On 20 May 2004 04:44:08 -0700, (Nel) wrote:

Hello All;

We've been renovating our home, and have come across an unforseen and
unexpected problem ( for us ) with the wood floors and stairs. Our
stairs, were built new, and out of red oak, our hardwood floor (chosen
after stairs were ordered and installed) is quarter sawn white oak
(unfinished). The problem is with the stain. We took a sample of the
floor to the paint store where they custom blended a stain to our
liking. It looks great on the flooring, however, it looks horrible on
the stairs. The stain has a tinge of red in it and the red oak really
makes the stain come "alive". We take full reponsability for this
error as we did not mention the different woods when getting the
stain, nor did we think much of it until the painter brought it to our
attention, after staining the stairs...

The problem is that the painter has stained the stairs, and they look,
well, red, too red.. Is there any way to make them look not so red.
Would it all have to be sanded off?. I have called in the floor guy
for advice, on this matter, and was just looking for other opininons
to compare notes when we meet

Thanx in advance


If you have not clear-coated the stairs, then you can stain over them
with a dilute version of the same stain type - but in a greenish hue.

The green will neutralize the red and the result will be more in the
brown range. The danger here is that you may darken the material more
than you wish, so proceed carefully. Do this incrementally, on an
area like the underside of a tread bullnose, or on a scrap piece of
stair wood, treated in the same way as the original, in order to test
the result.

If you have clear-coated the steps, you can buy a dye stain like
TransTint that can be added to your clear-coat, and it will give much
the same result.

As in the above, testing on scrap, or a little viewed area is very
important before doing the whole job.



Regards,
Tom.

Thomas J.Watson - Cabinetmaker (ret.)
tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet (real email)
http://home.comcast.net/~tjwatson1