I will be installing laminate in my finished basement. Bought 12 mm laminate a pre attached pad from lumber liquidators. I was going to put down a vapor barrier then the floor. Rep at lumber liquidators said I don't need a vapor barrier I should buy the Bellawood underlayment that has a vapor barrier built in. I ask how thick is the vapor barrier and he says 6 mil. (Perfect). I asked why do I need an underlayment if it has one attched? So I bought the Bellawood underlayment. I get home and it's only a 3mil barrier on it. So I am planning on putting down a separate 6 mil VB but do I need to use the Bellawood underlayment if the laminate has a preattached pad?

Hi guys, I have oak wood floor, probably red oak. And the stain is Sherwin Willams Wood Classic oil stain, mixed by the store manager to my liking. (not ideal yet, but acceptable in color) Color is pretty dark brown, although the stain itself looks grayish. I recently hired a guy to sand and stain my floor, He finished sanding it down, with 80/120 and maybe 200 i believe. He mentioned he was going to use damped cloth to pop the grain, but I didn't see that myself. He probably did it while I was away. He then started applying the stain. He used two different methods to see which one I like more: 1. the traditional way, use a cloth to wipe the stain on, sit for 10-15min, wipe all the excess off. Waited a full day, applied 2nd coat just because first one was too light. (See pic#1) 2. used a sponge, evenly wipe the stain on, does NOT wipe off. (See pic #2) the problem I see with #1 is that after he wipes the stain off, the dark color sort of comes off. (See picture 1). What I don't understand is, do all stain do the same thing? Not sticking to wood very well after wiped off? I really don't like to see the natural wood color in my floor, that's why I want to stain it. With this stain, It almost feels like it pops the grain, but leaves only a little bit of black/brown on the rest of the wood. Is there a way to uniformly darkens the whole piece of wood instead of just popping the grain? Problem with #2 is of course the unevenness (blotches?) And feels like he'd easily mess it up. It's not the traditional way anyways.... But if that's my only solution, will wood conditioner help? Thanks in advance for helping!!