Posted by patti on January 23, 19102 at 19:51:10:
I moved into an 8 year old house and need to have the hardwood floors completely sanded and refinished as the previous owners did not take care of them. They originally had a Minwax "natural" color stain on them plus polyurethane. I love the color, it is quite yellow or amber. The refinisher says he would be hard to duplicate the color as the amber comes from the polyurethane yellowing with age. He says if I just leave the floors plain and put on polyurethane, in about a year, I will notice yellowing. He put a sample of Minwax Golden Oak on a board, but told me that it would darken with time and be a full shade darker later on. I'm afraid that would be too dark. I am unfamiliar with oak floors and would like to know the opinions of the "oak floor experts" on this forum.
Also, he says he could sand the floors without removing the shoe mold from the edges of the baseboard. This would save me about $500. The shoe mold is the darkened amber color. I'm wondering if I leave the floors natural, will this shoe mold look terrible because it is a darker, amber color. The sample he showed me of the board with just polyurethane looked light and kind of pink. What do you think of refinishing while leaving on the shoe mold? Do you think the floor color would eventually match the shoe mold?
I would also like to have a wood floor installed in the hallway upstairs between all the bedrooms. The subfloor is OSB. He says he doesn't like installing on that, but it meets code, and would be OK. The hardwood floor covering most of the downstairs is OSB and it isn't buckling or cupping or anything. Since there is no problem downstairs, do you think the upstairs would turn out OK?
Do you have to be careful when installing a floor in the winter when things are kind of shrinking up? Is there more chance for cupping when summer comes and the boards spread out?
Long post, I know, but I'm hoping some knowledgeable people can answer all my questions. Thanks.