Staining Maple Wood Floor with a Dark Color

Why would you ever consider torturing a beautiful wood like maple into looking like Indonesian monkeywood? Just leave it alone, or screen it and give it several coats of water-based poly. Or move to Dix Hills or someplace like that.

1STtimenycbuyer,

This is how our clients floors came out when we stained the maple floors.

http://primerenovationsnyc.com/portfolio/#schleimer-residence

Thanks for illustrating what my words couldn't adequately convey!

But to put more words to it, you might as well just use brown deck paint.

You can have the floor guy experiment on small sections of your floor with varying stains until you see one you like.
Start with a store that has samples of wood with varying stains to get your choices down to 3 or 4.

I ended up with an ebony jacobean mix on my red oak that Im very happy with.

Though I will recommend one thing, if your floors are the slightest bit creaky, tear em up and and then install the exact wood you want.
Knowing what I know now I would have liked to soundproof the floors.

I have the same question, but for "Brazilian cherry" wood floors. Floors in question are about 7 years old (origianlly finished with Poly, no stain), but the color has morphed from the more golden and redish hue to a light brown. We are going to have the floors sanded and re-finished with poly, but are also interested in staining to give it a deeper color, but I've heard mixed opinions on whether Brazlian Cherry takes stain well given its high natural oil content and hardness.

Any thoughts or experiences are appreciated.

Alan,

I respect that you like a maple floor. There are many people who do not like that look. The maple floor that we stained dark has had nothing but positive feedback. Before we stained the floors I myself was unsure how they would look but I was pleasantly surprised as they came out great.

And really the only reason to use maple is for its mapley looks. Functionally, it's a very unstable substance, prone to cupping at the mere whisper of the word "moisture".

Truthskr10,
Our floor is in a great condition. No issues with creakiness. It came with the apt when we bought it. Just that we prefer it to be cherry.

Primer05,
Did you take special steps to precondition the floors to get the colors as consistent as possible and to avoid blotches. Do you have close up pics of the maple floors on your website? Btw, the renovation looks great.

1sttimenycbuyer,

Thank you. We did not do anything special to the floors. Your contractor should give you several samples to choose from including water popping the floor.

Similar question, but for "Brazilian Cherry" flooring. Buying an apartment with 7 year old Brazilian Cherry floors, originally finished with just poly (no stain). In addition to being a little beat up, the color has morphed from the original golden/red hue to more of a light brown. At minimum I'm going to have them sanded and finished with poly, but was considering staining to get them a richer color. I've heard varying opinions on ability to stain Brazilian Cherry, with some saying you can, others saying that it doesn't tend to come out well due to the natural hardness and high oil content in the wood.

Appreciate any thoughts or experience about staining this type of wood.

I have a Brazilian Cherry floor in a NY rental apartment I let out. It was there when I bought the condo. As you know it is very red, which is not a hue I like. We put down 8 stains in different small sample stripes on the cherry to analyse. We went with Dura Seal Spice Brown 137. It is a grey type of brown, which in my opinion is best to take the red out. We went with that and now have a slightly darker than medium colour, but red has gone. I much prefer light woods like oak, but you have to do with what you have!

Here is link to that stain.
http://www.chicagohardwoodflooring.com/dura-seal-quick-coat-stain-spice-brown-quart

I have no experience with maple 1sttimenycbuyer.

Hi 1sttimenycbuyer,

We recently had our maple floors (from the 40s) refinished. If your maple floor is old, it takes the stain better and would be less blotchy than new maple floor would. Since we wanted to go really dark, we actually had it water popped, then dyed, then stained. I also think applying an oil-based poly would bring out the warmer tone in the wood (regardless of how dark you want to go) but watch out for the VOC. Using a dye would pretty much get your floor to any color you want, but would definitely add to the costs.

I wish I could recommend my contractor - he did an OK job but is super busy and we ended up having to call him everyday to show up to finish our job.

Good luck and make sure to cover all your walls and belongings since the dust from sanding would get everywhere.

Thanks, sohoman.

Primer05,
Can I have your business contact info?

1sttimenycbuyer:

You can reach me at

primerenovations@mac.com
646-436-3942

www.primerenovationsnyc.com

Jeff

Primer05,
Will give you a call.

Tribby,
Sorry, for some reason I didn't see your response the last time I checked this discussion. Thanks for your response. I also read that water popping and dying are the extra steps some contractors take to minimize color inconsistency in maple wood. The floor of the apt we bought is several months ago. I have not found someone who does water popping and dying together as part of the process. If you could provide your contractor's contact info, that would be great. I would love to at least talk to him. Thank you.

Hi 1sttime,

He'd love to talk to anyone about wood but fair warning he's super busy and usually doesn't show up at the time he said he would. So you gotta call and make sure he shows up :)

With that out of the way, our contractor was Vincent Devaney of Devaney Custom Flooring
97 Hyatt Place
Yonkers, NY 10704 - map
Phone: (914) 803-0239

Good luck! This guy does care a lot about wood in general and would mix up 20 samples to make sure you find the exact color you love.

Much appreciated, Tribby.

Ask c0lumbiac0unty how they "stain" floors in C0lumbia C0unty.