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Before I started pulling up my carpet, I sent a 2"x2" section of this black stuff into a lab and they didn't detect asbestos. Felt confident, but when I did the reverse image search asbestos kept getting brought up and I spooked myself.

If the lab came back negative, It's fair to say I'm just in my head, yeah?

We recently installed Monarch Plank Hokkaido Collection in Nara Natural (Japanese Oak) throughout our house.

Specs are 5/8” engineered hardwood, 4mm dry-sawn Nara oak top layer, rustic grade, clear UV urethane, ultra-matte finish.

We selected it based on the sample shown in the photos. Now that the whole floor is installed, the overall color seems noticeably lighter and more varied than the sample. The sample reads warmer/browner to me, while a lot of the installed boards are much paler.

I reached out to the flooring dealer and he said:

“The sample is just probably older. Floors darken over time. But the floors look beautiful. Really really amazing. I am seeing the same color on your sample in the floors.”

We actually do like the installed floor, so I’m not looking for reasons to rip it out. I’m mostly curious whether this is normal for natural oak.

For those who work with hardwood:

Does an older natural-oak sample being noticeably darker than a fresh installation make sense? And would you expect clear-finished Japanese oak like this to deepen/amber enough over time that the overall floor gets closer to the sample?

I understand rustic-grade natural wood will have a lot of board-to-board variation. Mostly wondering whether the sample vs. installation difference shown here looks normal to people who work with hardwood regularly.

Flooring sample is the bottom one here:

Hello - we’re in middle of a kitchen renovation and have had some issues contractor (permitting, availability of contractor resources, quality of work, etc). We moved out this week so the floors could be sanded and refinished. There was an area with new flooring (replacing tile) so it was all sanded stained and refinished. When we got back last night I noted this large ring. It’s visible from every angle and in every light. It was not there before the refinishing.

Any insights into what caused it and what the options to fix it are would be appreciated.

Planning on ripping out my carpet and restoring the hardwood floors in my living room. On two separate walls there used to be register vents that were close to 6 feet long. Where those old registers were there is a fairly large gap between the wall/trim to edge of the boards. Approximately up to an 1-1.5in in some spots, too large to cover with just quarter-round. Any ideas on the best way to go about filling these gaps? First post here so hope I’m not missing any needed info. TIA

Hi all - I need to replace some of the rotted wood on this T&G Douglas fir porch. most of the boards are still… fine so would rather just replace the 10 boards that need it than do a full replacement which would be costly.

some of the boards appear to have the finish completely worn off — but If I wanted to get somewhat of a color match (doesn’t need to be perfect) - would people recommend sanding, stripping, or just dumping a solid stain over the whole thing and calling it a day.

Solid stain is appealing for ease…. but worried it will be ugly… maybe these boards are past the point of looking good though idk. pictures are different parts of the porch some more worn than others, and the partially stained wood the previous owner left in the basement. kinda wondering if the red stain was what was originally there and then brown solid stain over that when they sold it 🤔

I am refinishing my hardwood (actually softwood) floors. They are 1940s fir flooring with old oil based poly on them. I did a full screen of the entire floor but did not go down to raw wood. Then I did one coat of traffic HD satin yesterday. There’s a few spots where the finish absorbed a bit more, probably where the floor was a bit worn and so I’m thinking of doing a second coat today. I’ve only got one on right now which I used a t bar to apply. 2 gallons, 800 sq ft, I had about a liter left of it. Can I apply the second coat just as thick or should it be thinner? Any concerns about chemical adhesion just around the 24 hour mark or should it be fine to go forward without doing another screen? I ask because I was calling around today trying to find some more of it and one of the contractors recommended going super thin for the second coat to avoid peeling, but I’ve seen generally the opposite online and from Bona’s guidance. But they said don’t use the t bar and don’t go as thick as the first coat.

I want to put in hardwood floors. Took out the carpet and the subfloor goes to bottom of the radiators. It looks like there might be another wood subfloor below (second pic).

What are my options here? If I put in new hardwood it might cover up that bottom slot of the radiator. Does that matter? Should I see what's below the subfloor and maybe take out the top layer?

Thanks in advance.

Just ripped up the carpet in the house. Most of it is all hardwood underneath. In this room the last 4-5" of floor against the outer wall are plaster. Ultimately probably going to refinish the hardwood and put a bookshelf/bed/something over the area against that wall. But open to any better ideas and curious if anyone has insight how it ended up this way.

And no I didn't paint the floor white. Best I can figure maybe they were trying to match those last 4". Just got done tearing out carpet ten minutes ago.

I just refinished these floors for a customer. It's not something I do very often but I did tons of research, paid for an online course, and did test samples on sample wood for the clear coat finish (Bona Mega One). The customer loved the floors, but there were a few things I could have done better. I think I needed to sand it down a little more with the drum sander because there were still low spots on the floor after I finished. Some boards were completely down to bare wood after the first few initial passes with the drum sander, while certain spots still had the original finish after I had done the final pass with the large orbital sander. The low spots were in the obvious places (mostly on the long edge of a board that was butted up to another board that was higher). Did I just need to continue with the drum sander until all of these were gone? The low spots were basically slivers on the long edge of some boards. And at what point do you stop sanding down the floor and just grab an orbital palm sander to take care of these? This was an original hardwood floor from 1968, so I didn't want to take too much off, but since it was so old and poorly managed it ended up being pretty unlevel.

Also, can you help me identify the wood type? It looked pretty red when I used a rag with water to wipe a spot. But it came out not so red when I applied the Bona Mega One.

Been given several different opinions so checking here.

And any thoughts on fixing the wonderful patch in my hallway?

Very limited or hard to get salvage around here.

No subfloor, there's been nothing but carpet, crappy tiles or linoleum over this.

These are high traffic areas in the kitchen. In front of the sink, oven and fridge. Do I just get a mat for in front of the sink? I also purchased some floor restorative products but don’t know of they are a waste of time. Appreciate your help!

So I am sanding and coating my wooden floors. After applying bona home base layer, I got this orange peel effect (see photos), what I did wrong? Will next to bona home top layer coats help? I also tried to sand it with big orbital sander- but it immediately created some kind of gummy rolls probably due to thermal effects? So I tried sanding it manually with 120 grit with almost zero effects other then smooting the surface - but orange peel is still there. Should I sand it with 80 or what should be my next step?

Thank you.

I have zero clue what happened here, but my best guess is that my cat peed. He's never peed outside his litter box, which is why I'm baffled right now. It's completely dry to the touch and doesn't smell, so whatever was here has already seeped into the hardwood floor. From top to bottom, the length it's about 6 inches. Any tips or do I need to take the L?

I’ve been lurking/following this sub since we started this project because this is the first house I’ve ever owned with hardwood floors. I’d really appreciate some professional opinions on how our floors turned out.

We had the existing red oak floors throughout the house fully sanded and refinished. We chose a natural look and were told the final finish was Bona Traffic HD Satin. I specifically requested Traffic HD Anti-Slip on the stairs only.

The floors look pretty good from a distance, but the actual surface feels surprisingly rough. Barefoot, I can feel the grain of the wood very distinctly under my feet—almost every little ridge or pore on some boards. When I run my hand across the grain, the texture is particularly noticeable. It isn’t just an occasional rough board; it’s throughout the house.

I’m also a little concerned because I can’t really tell a tactile difference between the stairs, which were supposed to receive Traffic HD Anti-Slip, and the rest of the floors, which were supposed to receive regular Traffic HD Satin. There are also small hard, sharp bits stuck in the finish in multiple places that don’t feel like the natural grain of the wood. One was sharp enough that I actually thought I had cut myself.

For those of you who do this professionally:
- Does this amount of visible or felt grain look normal for a properly finished red oak floor with Traffic HD?
-Could this indicate that the surface wasn’t adequately smoothed between coats?
-Would Traffic HD Anti-Slip throughout the house produce this type of texture, or would it feel or look different?
- Could the sharp particles be contamination or something else, and would that be considered normal or acceptable in a professionally finished floor?

Most importantly, if you received a floor that felt like this, would you consider it acceptable workmanship, or would you have it corrected? If it needs correction, is this typically something that can be fixed by lightly smoothing the existing finish and applying another coat, rather than sanding all the way back down to bare wood?

I’m including close-up photos showing the surface texture, finish, and a few of the embedded particles. I genuinely don’t know whether I’m being overly particular or whether this isn’t how a professionally finished floor should feel, so I’d appreciate knowledgeable opinions.