Hardwood floors again...this time walnut....idea though...

[Neognosis]

Ok, so a few years ago I installed maple hardwoods in our living/dining room. They came out great, except for a few spots where I see glaring flaws, but nobody else notices.

For our aniversary, we decided to do the upstaris hallway in walnut. It is, or course, a bit darker than the maple we did the living/dining area in.

What do you think about the idea of putting a piece of maple in with the walnut randomly once in a while? Dark floor with a few pieces of light wood mixed in every once in a while...maybe 3 pieces in a 60 square foot hallway?

[edrex]

Bad idea. Will just look like you were short a few pieces of walnut and didn't want to go pick more up.

[Lauri H]

It might be ok if you put the maple in a pattern. Maybe a diamond in the center of the hallway. Randomly placed, I have to agree with edrex.

[Neognosis]

Shoot. Yea, I'm not about to be putting in any patterns or anything like that. Wait! What about a border or a line offset?

Probably still look like I was short?

Wait, why would it look like I was short if the pieces are random and surrounded by walnut?

Eh, I guess you are right. I thought I would spice it up a little, though.

[Okie Boarder]

Hmmmm, my thought is you may want to mix in more than just a few pieces. You might want to consider something like a 1:5 or 1:8 ratio, and either make it a distinct pattern or go completely random.

[Neognosis]

I'll lay it out and see what it looks like. But now, considering what your opinions are, I'm leaning toward not doing it.

[Okie Boarder]

The border, a picture frame, or some sort of diamond or square pattern placed very purposely would look good if done right. Look around online...I found a few interesting ideas just doing a few minute google search.

[Lauri H]

The border in maple would look kind of cool. I think it needs to be somewhat symmetrical to look "finished".
Just play with the layout. It's just a big jigsaw puzzle!

[pyrocasto]

I agree a few random would look ghetto, but a lot or a design could look decent. Examples:

[fish6942]

Are all of you using prefinished hardwood or are you sanding/finishing after installation? I'm going to be installing some in our new house in a couple of months and I've heard pros and cons for both methods.

[Neognosis]

Prefinished. Aside from price, I'm not aware of any benefits to unfinished.

[Okie Boarder]

One benefit of unfinished is the ability to find a very large selection of stains. Sometimes the prefinished can be hard to match, so when it is time to refinish, you may have to sand it down below the stain so that you can restain it with something more readily available. I've had a couple friends deal with that.

You are talking solid hardwood, too, right? Not the engineered stuff that just has a veneer on top?

[Neognosis]

Prefinished wood is almost never stained. Are you talking about the finish?

Of couse I'm talking solid hardwood. Real men install 3/4 inch solid hardwood.

[Okie Boarder]

Nope, I was talking about stain. Maybe the stain isn't common in your area or just not common overall, but I know that's what my friends were talking about as a big factor. If you are going to go with just finished, not stained, the benefits would lean more towards prefinished IMO.

Just out of curiosity, do you have a cement slab foundation raised type foundation?

[fish6942]

Yep, I'm also talking about 3/4" REAL hardwood. We're planning to go with natural cherry (no stain).

I'd think one advantage to putting the finish coat on after install is that the seams all get sealed up. This will be in the family room/fireplace room and I'd hate to see what some spilled red wine would do if it seeped in between some pieces.

[Neognosis]

The hallway is on the second floor. But the house is built over a basement foundation.

Yea, if you are going to buy a real wood floor, it seems, to me, to make more sense to buy the wood that is the color you are looking for, like fish says.

We approached it with wanting a certain hardness and color, and then we looked at wood that fit that bill. Turns out it was walnut.

What do you think spilled liquid would do? Swell the wood a bit?

[Okie Boarder]

You not being on concrete helps a lot. I had a tough decision when it came to doing my floors because we are on a concrete foundation. I would have loved to do real wood, but to do it right I should have put down an underlayment of ~3/4" plus the wood floor of ~3/4". All the wood I wanted to do would have butted up against tile except one entry to a bedroom. That big of a differential between the tile and wood just doesn't look right to me. I ended up doing a high end laminate. Here's a link to what I had put in...

Look at the Rustic Hickory on this page...

http://us.quick-step.com/index.cfm?dir=products&page=viewSeries&series=3

Each to their own on the color. Some people like oak stained an ebony color. Other's like pine stained an oak color. I happen to prefer the wood in it's natural color, like you. I think there are enough different colors just in the natural wood to find what looks good.

[Neognosis]

That's weird, man. Why get pine stained an oak color? Why not just get oak? Unles it's an economic decision. Obviously, some wood is more expensive. I was close to pulling the trigger on some teak, but at nearl 14 dollars a sf, I went with walnut for significantly less.

[Zach M]

I think all of those inlay examples are hideous.

Think of the resale value of doing that. I don't know how long you are planning on staying at your house, but if you ever need to sell, "custom" (read weird) installs can hinder your ability to sell it. Even paint color has an effect, and that is much easier to replace than hardwoods.

[Neognosis]

Zach, I agree.

[Okie Boarder]

Yep, CB, does seem a little weird to me, but I've seen it done. Could be economic or could be that they like the grain structure of pine but the color of a medium oak. I dunno.

There are some really cool exotic woods out there that are really expensive. My wife's stepdad does cabinets and lots of cool wood projects and he tries to use some bits of exotics as much as he can. Cocobola, zebrawood, purple heart are all absolutely beautiful woods. But many of those run $40-50 per sf That's why her stepdad usually uses them to add accent inlay or some other detail to the piece instead of using large amounts of them.

[Neognosis]

Yea. I'm not too hot on the idea of using woods that come from tropical areas..........but at least wood grows back, though it may take time.

Looked at bamboo for the hallway...but I didn't think it would stand up to a child and two dogs for very long...the way it's pressed together, I just saw chips coming out and delamination over time with the abuse I expect.

[Okie Boarder]

We're thinking about bamboo in our next house. I like the idea of using that for flooring since it grows so fast. Not sure if I can find a color / style I like though. We really like the rustic style of floor we have now. It goes very well with our furniture and our decor.

[fish6942]

[Neognosis]

Hm, I don't know. We have prefinished maple in the living room, and grape juice has been spilled on it, and nothing stained. But I don't know if that would always be the case..... although I think that the finish keeps the liquid from penetrating. If some slips between the seems, it's still finished a bit into the surface of the wood, so any staining would be, essentially, on the side of the wood beneath the surface, I'm guessing. all I know for sure is that it didn't stain our maple.