How to colour match floorboards?

Bradley95

We recently purchased a 1960s build brick house with timber flooring, After removing all of the carpet we have found that 1 rooms floor has not been finished like the rest of the house and was left as raw timber. I have sanded the floor down now and i'm looking for some experience with picking what type of timber this will be?

We are going to try match it into the rest of the flooring colour but havent had luck with nailing the colour off the tester pots that i have laying around in the shed (Walnut and a light oak) so any pointers towards colour will be awesome.

Appreciate the help alot.

Cheers,

Bradley

MitchellMc

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @Bradley95. It's wonderful to have you join us, and many thanks for your question about flooring coatings.

It’s likely that your timber flooring is cypress pine, especially if it’s original to a 1960s house. If the rest of the house has its original coating, it’s probably an oil-based polyurethane that has yellowed extensively over time. Matching old coatings can be tricky, as not only might the original product no longer be available, but the colour has likely changed significantly with age. Oil-based coatings from that era were notorious for yellowing, although modern versions are much less prone to this.

I’d recommend starting with the oil-based version of Cabot's CFP (Clear Floor Polyurethane) and testing a small, inconspicuous section of the floor. You might also need to use a stain underneath it to achieve a closer match to the rest of the house. Keep in mind, though, that perfectly matching the colour can be very difficult due to the ageing process of the existing finish. This might turn out to be a situation where you need to sand the entire floor back and then apply a consistent coating throughout the house.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mitchell