How to match existing hardwood floors….
Nothing captures a viewer’s eye quite like the rich luster of hardwood flooring. If you want to capture the beautiful look of hardwood floors throughout your home then that decision can dramatically increase the value of your home. While there is a chance that the homeowner will find beautiful hardwood floors hidden beneath the 1970s and 1980 penchant for wall-to wall carpeting, if not then they will have to attempt to match existing hardwood flooring to that which is being newly installed. If you find yourself in a position where you need to match new hardwood flooring to existing floors already in the house, then it is imperative that they keep the following four hints in mind for the best possible outcome.
Matching Profiles…When matching new hardwood floors to existing hardwood flooring in your home, it is important that you purchase planks that are of a corresponding thickness to the wood floors that are already installed. This thickness, known as a wood’s “profile,” should match that of the flooring in other rooms to ensure a seamless look for the viewer. Towards that end, while you don’t want to purchase planks that are thinner than those installed in other rooms, you should buy thicker planks because after the new sections are installed they will be sanded down to match the existing flooring.
Transition strips…The human eye is conditioned to notice abrupt visual changes, so to minimize this conditioning special efforts should be made in those places where the new flooring meets the old flooring to ensure a seamless look. Transition strips, oftentimes called T-moldings, bridge the divide between the two flooring systems to help ensure that you achieve that finished look that belies the notion that any new work has been completed. Reducers would be utilized in any area where one floor is higher than the other. Usually reducing from a hardwood flooring down to a vinyl or VCT floor.
Seamless Connection…
While transition strips work well in an average sized doorway, larger openings will prove too wide for a transition strip to be effective and more heroic measures may be in order. In this scenario the already existing flooring will need to be altered to accomplish an effect known as “lacing in the new boards.” When lacing, you want to cut out the seams between the older flooring to enable you to remove planks that will be replaced with the new wood that will extend into the next room. This system allows for a seamless continuation of the new hardwood flooring into the next room, and the method makes for a pleasing visual display.
Finish and Refinish…
Due to the fact that wood colors naturally as it ages, it is unlikely that you will get an exact match between your old wood flooring and your new wood flooring. Even if the same wood species is selected for installation, achieving that seamless match in hues will require staining the wood and some good old fashioned elbow grease. For best results, it’s imperative that you strip and stain the both the old flooring system and the newly installed planks at the same time to ensure a seamless visual effect.
Hardwood floors can definitely give your home an upgraded look! This is an excellent post with great info.
Agree with you. Also, hardwood floors are eco friendly and also they can give you the feel like real concrete floors. 🙂
Great tip, I hired a contractor and they didn’t any of that and the hardwood floors they put looks horrible.
I think that the usual issue with hardwood flooring, I mean all else will worn out in due time. I guess at one point we all need to change our floors in time. Kalia Floors
I agree that it is a great idea to strip both the old and the new wood and restain them both so they look closer because as you said new and old wood will look different even if they are the same species of wood because of time and wear.
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ouut where u got this from. thanks a lot
Just want to make sure I understand correctly, I’ve had to patch wood floor, towards the center of my room. The woods matching is perfect, but in order to make the stain work, I have to sand old floor and stain all together because of aging of exiting floor. Is that correct?