Staining ...

It is very much a personal preference as to whether or not you stain a floor. Most people prefer the natural colours of the wood and furnish or decorate in accordance with the colour and tone.

Some timbers are quite bland which may suit your taste particularly if you want to display special rugs but if not, think through what colour would be best for that area. Staining is used to either enrich the grain pattern of the wood or to darken the overall tone.

It is much more complicated to lighten the tone as there is often a reaction between the sealants and the bleaching agents and you may not get the result you expected.

Different effects can be achieved dependent on how the floor has been prepared, how long the stain is allowed to remain on the floor and whether or not the excess has been removed.

Sometimes it is difficult to reach a decision but do decide before the floor is sealed as stain must always be applied prior to the finishing seal. More subtle changes in colour can be achieved by adding colour to the sealant.

A final point to consider is that the use of any form of staining will in some way take away the natural look of the floor. Now that matters little if you are making a design statement but in some circumstances could matter a lot.

In other words don’t jump rather think out just what you are expecting from your floor.