Red Oak Hardwood Floors With Bona NaturalSeal

I’m nonetheless not fairly completed with the flooring in our bed room suite, however I’m one step nearer to having them completed. And I’m so excited with how they’re turning out! Since I agonized over my determination about what to make use of on my pink oak hardwood flooring and methods to end them to get a pure look, I needed to point out y’all what the flooring seem like as of this morning after utilizing the Bona Pure Seal on them final night time earlier than I went to mattress.

First, let me again up a bit and clarify the entire course of. In case you’ll keep in mind, proper after these flooring have been put in about 2.5 months in the past, I made a decision to match them to the remainder of the home. So I proceeded to stain them a darkish colour (a 50/50 combination of Minwax darkish walnut and particular walnut stain), after which polyurethane them. They turned out like this…

Then I modified my thoughts and determined that I needed mild, pure wooden floors. So final Thursday, I rented a drum sander and an edge sander from Residence Depot, and I spent the subsequent two days sanding the flooring. I began with 36-grit sandpaper to get all of that darkish end off of the flooring, after which I used 60-grit, 80-grit, and completed with 100-grit, and that’s the place I finished primarily based on the instructions that I found on the Bona website.

Once I completed the sanding, the flooring appeared like this…

It took quite a lot of work and quite a lot of sanding to get the entire darkish stain out of the grain of the wooden, however I didn’t need any of that stain left behind. Crimson oak hardwood flooring doesn’t have actually darkish grain, so for those who can nonetheless see darkish grain after sanding, that’s stain that has been left behind, and it must be sanded extra.

After taking off on Saturday and Sunday (as a result of I used to be so extremely sore from that edge sander, and since I pulled a muscle in my hip and again once I very stupidly tried to carry and transfer the heavy drum sander on my own), I completed up with the element sanding yesterday. I didn’t really feel the necessity to fill in the entire cracks and gaps within the ground as a result of wooden contracts and expands all through the completely different seasons of the 12 months, however I did have some fairly massive gaps, just a few knots, and some areas the place the perimeters of some boards appeared splintered, so I used some pink oak wooden filler (this is the one I used – affiliate hyperlink) to fill in these areas, after which I used my 5-inch rotary sander with 100-grit sandpaper to sand these down. I additionally used a scraper to scrape the remaining stain off the flooring within the corners and across the door jambs the place the ground sanders couldn’t attain.

After vacuuming the flooring rather well with my shopvac to take away any mud, I used to be lastly prepared to use the Bona NaturalSeal to the ground. I watched so many movies about making use of this product to find out one of the simplest ways for me, a whole novice, to do it. I thought of utilizing a T-bar as a result of that’s how most people within the movies I watched utilized it, however all of them have been additionally execs who do that usually. Having by no means used a T-bar earlier than, I used to be fairly positive they made it look really easy due to their huge expertise with it. So after finding this video showing the Bona sealer being applied with a roller, I made a decision that was extra my pace. I’m a novice relating to utilizing Bona merchandise on flooring, however relating to DIY normally, I’m a professional at utilizing a curler after 30+ years of DIYing.

I used a Wooster 14-inch curler with a 14-inch microfiber curler cowl (each of which I discovered at Residence Depot) to use the Bona NaturalSeal. And identical to in that video, I shook the product completely earlier than opening it, poured it straight onto the ground, after which rolled it on going the route of the grain. I all the time made positive that the brand new space that I utilized feathered into the earlier part easily with no puddles or ridges of built-up product on the ground.

After I made my approach from the far wall of the bed room, into the brief hallway, into the walk-in closet, after which into the lobby and out the music room doorways, I circled and took this image whereas the sealer was nonetheless moist. I used to be assured that it will dry lighter, however even when it didn’t, I might have been completely proud of that colour as a result of I cherished that heat that it gave the wooden when it was nonetheless moist.

So this morning, I used to be anxious to get off the bed and take a look at the flooring to see how they sorted the NaturalSeal had dried. Are you prepared for the amazingness that’s Bona Pure Seal on pink oak flooring? Right here it’s!

It did loosen up a bit because it dried, and the colour additionally evened out. The boards that appeared actually darkish once they have been moist appeared to lighten a bit after they dried, and every thing appears a little bit lighter than it was when it was moist.

The lobby has completely different lighting (and never very a lot of it), so it seems to be a little bit bit darker within the lobby. However all all through the bed room suite, the flooring are mild however have only a contact of heat to them. Because the Bona NaturalSeal has a little bit little bit of white pigment in it (half the quantity of white because the Bona NordicSeal), I believed the ultimate colour is perhaps a little bit bit lighter than the uncooked, freshly sanded pink oak colour. But it surely’s truly only a bit darker and hotter. And I’m thrilled with the colour.

Right here’s what it seems to be like within the walk-in closet the place I’ve plenty of very vibrant 5000K (daylight) LED lights.

I imply, I feel the colour is totally excellent. I nonetheless want to use the clear topcoat, and I don’t know if that may have an effect on the colour any. I don’t suppose it ought to. I’ll be utilizing Bona TrafficHD within the further matte end, and it’s presupposed to be clear with no colour in it. I’m hoping it seems to be precisely like this as soon as the clear coat goes on.

And right here’s the way it seems to be within the bed room, which additionally has 5000K (daylight) LED lighting. So if in case you have hotter lighting (and most of the people do), the colour would look even hotter than it does in my rooms.

My important concern was having these flooring flip too pink or orange since they’re pink oak. I had initially meant to make use of the Bona Crimson Out earlier than utilizing the Pure Seal, however I couldn’t discover a place that had it in inventory, and I didn’t need to delay refinishing the flooring. So I took my possibilities and went forward with out the Bona Crimson Out.

I’m truly actually glad that it labored out that approach. I feel the slight pink/orange undertone offers the ground an attractive heat, and I observed that pink oak flooring, after Bona Crimson Out has been utilized, have extra of a yellow undertone to them.

Now that the sealer is dry, I can apply the 2 coats of the clear coat at the moment. And I’m hoping that by the point I am going to mattress tonight, these flooring shall be fully completed. After the final coat of Bona TrafficHD goes on, it’ll take three days for the ground to completely treatment, however I’ll have the ability to stroll on them after simply a few hours.

I’m so glad I took the time to redo these flooring. It was a ache to redo one thing that I had solely completed 2.5 months in the past, however the payoff is so price it. I imply, simply take a look at this big distinction!

I preferred the darkish ground, however the mild ground makes the rooms look a lot greater and really feel a lot lighter, and I don’t simply imply lighter in colour. I imply lighter in the way in which that it makes the rooms really feel once I’m standing in them. The darkish flooring simply had such a heaviness to them, each in colour and in the way in which it made the room really feel.

And I’m tremendous enthusiastic about having flooring with an additional matte end on them. Y’all know I’ve points with shiny finishes. Until a chunk of furnishings is particularly painted to have an excellent excessive gloss lacquer end (which I do love so long as it’s performed to perfection), I have a tendency in the direction of very satin and matte finishes. In order that shiny end on the darkish ground was actually irritating to me. That was the bottom sheen accessible in that polyurethane. However an additional matte end on the ground is certainly extra to my liking, and I can’t wait to get it completed!

Addicted 2 Adorning is the place I share my DIY and adorning journey as I rework and adorn the 1948 fixer higher that my husband, Matt, and I purchased in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do bodily work, so I do nearly all of the work on the home on my own. You can learn more about me here.