My Oak Hardwood Floors are not dark enought???


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Old 01-28-10, 09:33 AM
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My Oak Hardwood Floors are not dark enought???

I built a house that was completed about 4 months ago, the entire downstairs is 3" Oak.

To make a long story short - we originally selected Dark Walnut stain, the builder talked us into Special Walnut, he said the Dark Walnut would show every little piece of dust and dog hair. He said in 15 years of building only 1 customer chose Dark Walnut and they regretted it. Now we regret choosing Special Walnut.

Is there any way possible to darken our floors without completely refinishing them? They have 3 coats of Poly.
 
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Old 01-28-10, 09:41 AM
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Welcome to the forums!

The only way I know of darkening the floors without stripping them, would be to apply a tinted poly like minwax's polyshades but tinted poly isn't recommended for use on floors! #1 it's difficult to apply correctly - any lap marks will result in double the color, and #2 and more importantly is the fact that as the poly wears down, the color wears off

As a painter I mostly stain woodwork although I do get called upon to finish floors occasionally. I agree with your builder that special walnut gives a better looking job than dark walnut. The extra pigment in the dark walnut sometimes reacts funny with the oak making some spots in the floor appear blotchy
 
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Old 01-28-10, 11:41 AM
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Oil based poly does have a little tint to it, so another coat or two would darken it somewhat. Whether it would be enough for you is hard to say.
 
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Old 01-28-10, 03:24 PM
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That does bring up a question, the 3 coats of poly that have already been applied, are they waterbased? or oil based. Waterbased poly over special walnut would result in a lighter finish than it would be if oil poly was used. Unfortunately recoating over waterbased poly with oil base poly will only have a minor effect since the wood is already sealed.
 
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Old 01-29-10, 02:02 PM
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Originally Posted by marksr
That does bring up a question, the 3 coats of poly that have already been applied, are they waterbased? or oil based. Waterbased poly over special walnut would result in a lighter finish than it would be if oil poly was used. Unfortunately recoating over waterbased poly with oil base poly will only have a minor effect since the wood is already sealed.
Thanks for the responses.

Unfortunately, I'm not sure the type of poly that was used. Is there an easy way for me to determine this? I can tell you it had a very strong odor when applied.

Either way, I guess I'll probably just stick with what I have. There's no way I'm going to pay to have the floors refinished.
 
 

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