Can't give any advice about the process but as I said here
//www.apartmenttherapy.com/main/archives/002700.html
(do CTRL F or AppleKey F to search for Sukenik) the end result looks amazing. If you can find the right way to do it I would certainly go for it.

I did this myself, using the method prescribed by the mgr. My big mistake was not sanding down enough in certain places -- thus I have some patchy areas that are lighter in color.

As to the stain -- I used the darkest color I could find at the hardware store. It looks fine. The only thing I'd do differently (besides making sure I sanded down every square inch of the floor properly) is putting more coats of polyurethane on the floor. I used two--they say seven is best.

FYI--True ebonized floors require a certain formula of colors (the Debbie Travis Web site might have it--I saw it on her show).

ALM -- Go for it!! You'll be surprised at how simple it is and how happy you'll be with the results.

Sand, stain the deepest, darkest brown you can find, then apply an ebony stain. There are floor companies in the city where you can buy the right supplies. Is that floor equipment rental place up at 96th St. and West End Ave. still there? I used to buy rolls of steel wool from them cheap, as well as rent sanders from them, and I seem to recall they are extremely knowledgable. Forgive me, I can't remember the name of the shop, and I'm in North Carolina......

Dear ALM,

I just got done doing the floors in my new place which had been badly damaged by the former tenants 12 cats. Yikes, is right. We hired some experts because we thought were out of our element. After watching the process, I'm not so sure we couldn't have down it ourselves.

After a thurough sanding, we used MinWax stain & mixed the Ebony & Jacobean. The Ebony is almost black & not so attractive & the Jacobean is a really dead brown, but when mixed they are gorgeous. Due to the uneven color & stains from all the cat pee, we had to do 2 coats of stain. One trick you might try is putting the stain on thick & not rubbing it off as is the standard technique. It takes twice as long to dry, but will remove the uneven shades in the parquet. It worked like a charm on our floors! Magic no cat stains.

Good luck,
Jen

Just curious - what are "click" boards?

Richard--
I think "click boards" refer to those engineered floors like Pergo or other laminates that "click" into each other, and are laid without adhesive. A vapor barrier (usually a slightly cushiony plastic sheeting) goes down first, also without adhesive.

We thought long and hard about doing this and I took some digital photos and did some Photoshop manipulation to get a sense of how it might look. In the end bit th ebullet and decided to replace the floor. Realized it would cost about $35k all-in for 2000sf and that many of the floor guys seemed like rogues. Ended up using the guy NY Mag had named their best luxury floor guy despite his clear statement "Are you sure you want me to do it? I am probably 30% more than many of my competitors" I trusted the guy and we have an amazing Santos Mahogany floor, all 8' long planks, more than $45k, I don't regret it. Of course staining would have been under $8k but it would have looked lkike dark parquet and I hate parquet.

Be sure to take off _all_ of the old polyurethane, I can't emphasize that enough. Make doubly sure, if you are going to stain the floor a dark color. Patches of old polyurethane will prevent the stain from penetrating the wood, and you will get light blotches on your floor. I learned this the hard way, and had to re-sand my floor again.

Check out the floormasters.com web site.I've been sanding floors and finishing them in New Zealand and have learned a lot from the guys who post on this site. At the end of the day what you pay is generally what you get.

We stained the floors in our new apt (not parquet). We had New York Woord Flooring do the work. The guys are amazing. They used Dura-Seal Black. They did a sample of MinWax Ebony, which looked too brown on our Red Oak floors. Also, they recommend "Water Popping" the floors. Basically, this process saturates the wood so the stain takes better and the color is richer.

The biggest challenge is sanding the floors. If the sanding is not done well, the stain won't go on smoothly. It is worth the cost to hire a pro to do this (it isn't that much money) and the results are well worth it. It took 3 days to sand, stain, and poly. And our floors are AMAZING!!!!

Read advice in a shelter mag on obtaining ebony floors was to add additional pigment, (the kind avail at the paint store in a tube) to the polyurethane.

DIY if you can accept a more roughly hewn finished product. I made similar mistakes that others had (sanding and such) but on a 100 year old farmhouse one gets used to the irregulaties of a well loved abode. Oh wait, this "Apartment" therapy. Oops. Oh well lets pretend.
Have fun with it

Thank you all for your notes - this is exactly the help I needed. It is amazing to have direct access to the AT group's experience and encouragement!

Before you sand it helps to scrub with an industrial cleaner, which practically takes up old polyurethene . . . I used stuff in a dull red foil box called Mex at the recommendation of a contractor friend. It worked great.

A charming color of anitfreeze in the bucket, you buy it at the hardware store. Wear rubber gloves!!

It's also good if you are getting ready for another coat of poly...

Help!! We are in the middle of redoing our wood floors, and we have one coat of poly down. Can you use a poly with stain in it for a second coat (I would like to have a darker floor and would like very much not to sand again!)? If anyone has advice, it would be greatly appreciated! Thanks

Can anyone offer advice on staining Pergo? I have an apartment with ebonized oak flooring, but the kitchen has Pergo in a pale shade that needs to be stained to match, or to be replaced.

Any ideas?

Question for Jenny -- did you use equal amounts of Jacobean and Ebony on your floors? Thanks

Jen,
I have the same problem with my floors. I have dark spots. We sanded the floors & stained them the original light color & they look horrible. My thought is to get really dark chocolate floors. I bought the Jacobean stain and am trying a patch on my floor. I put it on a few coats & let it dry. It looks fabulous but when I wipe it, it looks dirty. You can see the light wood through the stain. You said in your post that you didn't wipe it. Do you mean it wasn't wiped at all???? My husband swears you have to wipe it some.

jen-krista-liz,

i'm glad this dialogue is taking place. i just bought an apt with the traditional honey-colored parquet floors. my first reaction was to sand 'em and stain 'em.

any info that you can share with me would be very much appreciated. as i tried refinishing the floor in an apt a few years ago - i will not be doing that again. can anyone recommend a floor guy?

thanks for your help.

Yes,
Please recommend a floor guy. I'd like to use the Jacobean and Ebony mix so would also be keen to find out the measure of each used.
Also, I'm in need of a great contractor for a small 550sq ft apt. I'm finding it increasely difficult to find a great person with reasonable prices. I need a complete demo of kitchen, install new kitchen (7'x5'), floors sanded and stained, fresh paint (possibly skim coat), some cabinetry work in bathroom, close off kitchen wall. Is it so hard to find that magic person?
any advice anyone?
many thanks.

CAN ANYONE EMAIL ME PICS OF A RED OAK FLOOR STAINED EBONY? OR JACOBEAN AND EBONY.
THANKS
JULIE
NY

Hello,
I just bought a small condo (570 sq. ft.) with typical honey colored floors. I am thinking of having them painted white to really open up the space. Any advice on this? Any suggestions on who is great with this type of work?

Please help!
How much does sanding of a wodden floor cost?
I am going to have to sand approx. 700sq.f. of parquet. Please, help me, I don't know what to expect as a price. I live in Brooklyn, NY.
Thank you very cery much!

Hi,

just got quoted $2000- to stain and refinish my honey colored parquet floors. i want to do the ebony and the floor guy is trying to talk me out of it...any dark wood floor pics???

please help:)

Help,

We live on a boat in Key West, FL. Our parquet floors received water damage from hurrican Wilma. I have stripped and sanded the floor down to bare wood. The wood is very thick. The floor is (I think) a light oak. Should I just put poly urethane on it or should I stain it with a oak polyurethane?

I just stained a blonde parquet floor - it looked OK but when th evarnish went down it was really uneven and blotchy - any ideas why this happened or how to remedy it - shouild we sand the whole thing back to wood and start again?

Phoebe

I just took the finish down on a parquet table with acetone. I evened it out about 90 percent, left a few of the small blotches as I want to now stain the table top and give it an aged look. Do I still ned to sand? Because of the parquet going every direction, how do I best apply the stain and seal I'll be using. I can put more than one coat on to keep getting it darker. My problem is I can't go in one direction with the grain as the grain is parquet! Help!

I have light maple hardwood floors and want to turn them a dark chocolate. I understand that to avoid blotching, the floor needs to be dyed before it is stained. Is that true? How else can blotching be avoided. I want my floors to look somewhere between a dark and milk chocolate hershey bar and I don't want them shiny. Can anybody recommend a contractor who can do the work in Brooklyn? If you are going to make a recommendation, can you send a before and after picture that supports the recommendation you are making? Please help! I'm desparate and know nothing about this type of stuff.

Hi,
I have parquet wood floors and am staining them ebony.

Should i put on a gloss? semi gloss? hi gloss? or leave them satin?

I prefer satin finishes...

If you do a high gloss finish it will reflect more light, so they say it's better for smaller spaces.

I just purchased an older home with parguet in all the bedrooms. They are very abused and I need info on all: cleaning solutions, removing black stains and waxing? What brings the life back?

I sanded & stained my floors myself.It wasnt as hard as I expected.The sander I rented from Home Depot was a square one (as opposed to the circular one which is really hard to control).The only negative to this sander is that its a lot slower than the circular,but I wasnt worried about that,I just didnt want to mess up the wood.I used the Minwax Ebony.The 1st coat I brushed on,wiped off but when dry it looked terrible,splotchy and uneven.2nd coat I generously brushed on making sure it wasnt dripping or pooling but DIDNT wipe off.It took 2 days to dry but well worth it.The color was nice and even.The floors looked a little ashy(greyish & dry looking) so I used the Gloss poly and they look great.

Can anyone forward pictures of the stained floors? Thanks!

I just purchased a condo apartment 1000sq ft. There are many windows with lots of light and sun all day and beautiful sunsets. I am having the (common red oak) parquet floor refinished. I have selected a rich dark maple/brown stain. The contractor uses minwax products. I love the look of a shiny wood floor and so I am leaning towards a high gloss oil-based finish. The contractor however strongly argued against going with high gloss, recommending instead semigloss. He says hardly anyone chooses high gloss. And that because there is so much light coming in, that it wouldn;t look right. I have one cat. Please any comments on my going with high gloss. He is starting the job on Monday. Thank you.

I am redoing my 3 bedrooms about 380 sq feet. Having a hard time deciding to get someone to do them for 800.00 dollars, or doing them ourselves. Is it worth the headache in doing them your selves? I am just going with a clear stain. Any comments would help me out.

Thanks