red oak flooring

shinmin · 03-21-2008, 11:49 AM

What is the best sealer for red oak flooring? We wanted to know if using Tong Oil would be good if that is the only thing we are using on it. We had thought about using polyurethane but it makes the floor so much darker.

What would you suggest?

Don_P · 03-21-2008, 12:50 PM

Tung oil is probably not the best finish for a floor, chances are the average person would not want to pay for a floor's worth of real tung oil nor would they put it on enough to protect the floor very well. There were plenty of bare wood floors back in the day I guess, it would be better than that. Most finishes that mention tung oil are a blend containing at least one molecule of tung oil.

Tung oil does darken the wood, as do most penetrating oils. The closest thing to "water white" is probably a water based poly. Oil based polys are somewhat amber. Myself, I'm kind of partial to Waterlox. I would buy a small can of several types.

walton02 · 05-13-2009, 08:55 PM

Hi,

Oak flooring can be given different looks, depending on the preferences of the people who are buying. Different textures like Hand Scraped Walnut Finish, Hand Scraped Antique, and Brushed & White Oiled are also available.

roklin · 10-13-2009, 06:39 AM

Appearance of Red Oak Hardwood Floors:

Color: Heart and sapwood are similar with sapwood lighter in color; most pieces have a reddish tone. Slightly redder than white

Red Oak Wood Floors Grain: Open, slightly coarser (more porous) than white oak. Plainsawn boards have a plumed or flared grain appearance; riftsawn has a tighter grain pattern, low figuring; quartersawn has a flake pattern, sometimes called tiger oak, tiger rays or butterflies.

Availability: Commodity item available in ALL types, styles and sizes of flooring

Properties: Stiff & dense, resist wear, less durable than white oak.

Workability: Sawing: above average Nailing: good Sanding: satisfactorily, better than white oak Finishing: Strong stain contrast, because of pores

CThomp · 10-14-2009, 05:55 AM

I like linseed oil on red oak. Then two coats of water based poly to seal. Even satin finish poly is a bit to glossy for me though. So I hit with some super fine steel wool. That takes a bit of the gloss out of it.

Don_P · 10-14-2009, 05:43 PM

Great tip CThomp, we just refinished the kitchen and it's way too glossy for me. I was about resigned to throwing a steak on the floor and calling the dogs in. Steel wool is probably more uniform.

The post above yours came out of New Delhi, never would have imagined they were experts on red oak over there

CThomp · 10-15-2009, 06:52 AM

I didn't even look at the dates on those posts either. Geez. Bringin um back from the dead.

Yeah with the steel wool just make sure you get the finishing stuff. It's super fine and wears out easily. But it does work. I've got a couple of custom red oak thresholds I had to buff down for the second coat of poly. That first coat really brings out the grain and you always end up with other imperfections in the finish.

I think I spent about an hour on my knees on each threshold buffing away before I could put on the next coat. And I still need to go back and buff again to get the final shine dulled down a bit. Knee pads are wonderful.

useit2x · 10-30-2009, 10:59 AM

There are pictures of red oak finished with Monocoat on the Solum Reclaimed website - google it....

CThomp · 12-03-2009, 06:48 AM

Marble is nice but expensive and it seems like polished marble would be slippery?

I just put down regular ceramic tile and couldn't be happier. I used 15" tiles. The tile I chose conceals dirt well because of the pattern.

I would stick to some variety of tile though. I just looks cleaner for kitchens.