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watercolorist_gw

Staining wide plank pine floors

watercolorist
11 years ago

We are sanding and refinishing our the floors in our whole house. Most of our house is white oak. Our family room is wide plank pine with some knots in it. We love the floor, but it has yellowed from years and layers of polyurethane.
We plan to have the floor professionally sanded, stained and top coated.

Has any one out there successfully used the same stain on oak and pine and been happy with the result?

Is there any special preparation for the pine floor to help it evenly accept the stain?

Thank you for your help!

Comments (6)

  • gregmills_gw
    11 years ago

    Ive stained many pine floors.

    Oak and pine take colors different. The same basic shades will be similar like if you choose a red tone. They both will have the red tone.

    But pine doesnt like stain that much. Some people will try all sorts of things.
    It all depends on your floor guys.

    Make sure they have stained pine before.

    For me i always waterpop pine with any color stain. It works for me.

    When choosing color make sure you see the color applied to your floor to make sure you see what you are getting.

  • watercolorist
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Hi Greg,

    Thanks for sharing your knowledge. I will ask for stain samples prior to final decision.

    Do you use a pre stain product to help the pine accept stain evenly? If so, which product do you like?

    Which stain manufacturer do you like? Do you use oil or water based poly?

    We are thinking about a medium shade of brown with no red.

    Thanks!

  • gregmills_gw
    11 years ago

    I personally dont use a pre stain product. I havent found them useful.
    My last pine floor i did. I did an antique brown. Which did well with no red tones.

    I use dura seal stains. Oil based polyurethanes and a water bourne urethane for final coats.

  • jfcwood
    11 years ago

    We've used the same process Greg uses with success. Pine is a closed grain wood that doesn't soak in stain evenly. Applying a thin coat of water before staining makes the wood "fuzzy" so it absorbs stain better. After water popping we generally do three coats of oil poly.
    I don't recommend mixing oil poly and water-borne poly though and applying one too quickly over the other might be problematic.
    Pre-stains are usually sealers that controls stain penetration. Using it on the Pine floor might make the stain more uniform but I think it would also make it much lighter.

  • gregmills_gw
    11 years ago

    In the last 8 yrs ive never once had an issue with water bourne urethane being applied over an oil based polyurethane.

    Do i suggest the poster do it? I suggest he finds what feels most comfortable to him.

  • jfcwood
    11 years ago

    Hi,

    I haven't had any problem with it either but that's because I haven't put water-borne immediately over oil modified. I've been advised not to do so within 30 days by finish manufacturers. Of course maybe they're just covering their butts but with the potential cost of having to fix something if it goes wrong, I can't blame them.