Hardwood Floor Staining

Possible but risk-heavy: stain on sanded wood is unforgiving. One over-saturated brush stroke leaves a permanent mark — fixing it means re-sanding the whole floor and starting over (1 mm of wood gone out of the 6 mm available). Wood absorbs unevenly across the grain; a pre-stain conditioner is required and most DIYers skip it. And the colour you see in the can is not the final colour — every species (oak, maple, birch) reacts differently. JA Planchers applies two free test patches on-site before staining the floor.

Off-the-shelf stains (Minwax, Varathane) are standard colours designed for raw new wood. On aged red oak they pull pink; on maple they can turn muddy grey. A custom blend adjusts the base formula with corrective pigments (often 2-3% black pigment to neutralize pink) — the result matches the room's design palette exactly. JA Planchers mixes Bona and Rubio on site, adjusted to each room's lighting.

A colour change requires a full sand to bare wood — not a screen-and-recoat. The wood is then conditioned, stained, and finished with a compatible topcoat (oil-based poly over oil stain, water-based over water; mixing the two causes peel-up within 12 months). JA Planchers regularly refinishes Montréal floors moving from natural red oak to medium walnut or driftwood grey.

Because the same Bona Driftwood stain looks warm-golden in a south-facing living room, grey-green in a north-facing condo, and pink-toned under 2700K LEDs. We apply two 1 ft × 1 ft test patches in opposite corners and leave 48 hours to decide — you see the colour at three times of day before committing to the whole floor.