Old Pine vs. New Oak
One way our GC goofed back before he abandoned the job (over two years ago) is that he let the stair guys put in a new white oak edge against old wide plank pine, then he let the floor guys finish the new oak natural, with a poly coat, the same finish as the pine,…
One way our GC goofed back before he abandoned the job (over two years ago) is that he let the stair guys put in a new white oak edge against old wide plank pine, then he let the floor guys finish the new oak natural, with a poly coat, the same finish as the pine, but with predictably incongruous results. We didn’t have the stomach for the fight over this one, partly because we didn’t know what we would do instead. Anyone have an idea as to a simple solution that would look reasonably nice or at least less obviously like a mistake? We aren’t going to rip out the oak. Should we paint it? Any ideas for matching stain? Minwax colonial maple didn’t work; too light and peachy on the oak.
There are people (artists) who faux finish wood to match existing. Its a paint/glaze process done by hand. Not cheap but definitely less than ripping out the oak. A friend did this in their living room and I can barely tell where. This ain’t gonna work with stain.
The guys who did a lot of stripping for me a while back recommended Minwax Ipswich Pine stain to match new wood to my floors which are the same as yours. I never used it so I can’t personally vouch for it but I agree that you should stain it.
I’m sure it can be matched!
Sounds like you had a better go at it with your contractor than we did years ago. We were “plain” ripped off when it comes right down to it. Our contractor was siphoning off money from us basically to pay off his debts on other jobs. Then, he used our house as a staging area for a ton of waste from other jobs where he may not have had permits…so, huge contractor bags, pierced and spilling out sawdust, all manner of junk and dangerous, sharp things would sit around clogging halls and, at one time seemingly the entire ground floor, for weeks until he had it hauled off in bins he was essentially trying to bill us for! Oooo…I’m getting mad just reliving it mentally for a brief moment…
Well, at least you got through it with your skins it appears…even though there are the odd wood tones abutting each other here and there.
Best of luck…and send us a photo of the finished result!
I’m sure it can be matched!
Sounds like you had a better go at it with your contractor than we did years ago. We were “plain” ripped off when it comes right down to it. Our contractor was siphoning off money from us basically to pay off his debts on other jobs. Then, he used our house as a staging area for a ton of waste from other jobs where he may not have had permits…so, huge contractor bags, pierced and spilling out sawdust, all manner of junk and dangerous, sharp things would sit around clogging halls and, at one time seemingly the entire ground floor, for weeks until he had it hauled off in bins he was essentially trying to bill us for! Oooo…I’m getting mad just reliving it mentally for a brief moment…
Well, at least you got through it with your skins it appears…even though there are the odd wood tones abutting each other here and there.
Best of luck…and send us a photo of the finished result!
BG,
Read the archives here. You are far from alone. Ours made it pretty close to the end, but the enthusiasm for the first 70% of the job was not there for the last 25% (yes, it adds up to 95). Fortuantely, he tackled the job with vigor when the issues were structural. Unfortuantely, his attention wandered when it got to some of the stuff you can actually see. And we lost him when we/he realized he’d made a billing error and the balance on the job was substantially less than he previously thought.
Sounds like there is a clear verdict for experimenting with stain. Most agree the aesthetics are better in this situation. Can always paint later, but much harder to go the other way.
I’m sure you can test different colours and mixes…use test wood and have fun. I’m sorry to hear you had the old “abandoned job” happen to you too. I can’t tell you, though, how heart-warming it is to hear that we are not the only ones who have had problems in the past. These contractors are quite a breed.
gotcha 🙂
THL,
I think what happened was that the stair subcontractor used new oak on the stairs, which we signed off on, and just went ahead and put the oak everywhere without checking with us. They removed and replaced the railings, spindles etc, and replaced the mildly damaged old pine section for floor in which the spindles had been attached with new oak. The sub did a great job on the stairs and the spindles, but these little odds and ends are just the kind of thing that happens when the owner (me) and GC don’t watch and consult carefully enough. Subs don’t always know which choices need to be real decisions before making them. But I’m mostly over that. I just want to finish it up as nicely as I can.
Just a thought, maybe the contractor used oak b/c it’s a harder wood than pine and better for the construction of the stairs? We have a pine staircase and all the edges are worn down, the treads are splitting and pulling out of the riser. We’ve been told by several contractors that pine is simply too soft a wood to be used on stairs. I’m not defending the contractor and not helping to solve your problem but since we’re now looking at having to completely replace our staircase it’s been a topic of discussion in our home.