jrdwyer has given good info. If you look at the white oak pictures in the link, you will notice that some boards have both light and dark streaks in them. That is the first thing I look for when identifying a white oak floor...that marked light and dark wood in the same board. I call the light (tan or blond) 'sapwood' and the dark (dark tan or brown) 'heartwood'...however I may be wrong in using those labels to describe what I see.

I think it must be red oak, but I have both white oak and red oak samples and it looks similar to both. The previous owner put a "butterscotch" stain over it, which I love, but I am having trouble matching!

Here is a link that might be useful:

This is kind of similar, but a tad bit lighter and doesnt have the butterscotch stain. I can buy it from fastflorrs.com for a good price. Will I not be able to match it, and will have to plan on restaining it at a later date?

http://www.fastfloors.com/style_14401,0/LM-Flooring-Kendall-Plank-3.htm

Thanks!

jenny

Here is a link that might be useful:

I'm up too late and my eyes buggy, but my guess is that the upstairs is red oak and the stairs are probably the same. All the samples in the first picture appear to be red oak except the one in the lower right which is more dark/tan and is white oak? The second picture is classic red oak with a water-based finish.

Keep looking, you should be able to match it with pre-finished as there are lots of companies out there making all shades of oak flooring. And finally, look at the rays and their length to get an accurate species ID. If you see lots of 1.5 inch to 2 inch long rays and any white sapwood streaks, as glennsfc correctly mentioned, then it's white oak.

The only way to positively tell, is to look at the endcut of the board

The cut spring wood of red oak, will have bigger vessels/capliaries, then white oak.

Hi, I am planning on putting in hard wood floors in my kitchen to match my existing floors, however one flooring company said white oak while another said red oak. I could use some help figuring out which would be best because even after reading descriptions and seeing pictures I can't decide which. Thank you.

White oak will have less contrast from spring and summer wood when stained. I also can usually see the bright/blond sapwood in white oak. You normally will have a few boards that will have that sap running down the length of the board almost like what you see in hickory. If you look at the edge grain white oak has closed pores where red oak has open pores. I have to get my glasses out to see it but you can see it. last resort woodwise sells a kit to test for the tannins in white oak, you soak some shavings in a an a/b solution and if it turns black its white oak.

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