Q. We are renovating our house, and our contractor is getting oak doors and baseboards which we are going to varnish. We were going to use oak engineered floors as well, but we just found a nicer looking engineered maple wood floor today for much cheaper. We were not planning to match the colors of the floor and the doors/baseboards to start with (doors and baseboards just varnished to keep its natural light color; floor, brownish with a tinge of red), but they were all oak before we found this maple flooring. Is it not a good idea that various woods used in the house do not match? Thank you.

A. You floors and doors can be different..but...I would not put in oak trim with maple flooring..I would strongly suggest you put in painted trim...you put in too much wood, and you will get wood overload...it will be very heavy looking..don't get me wrong, I love wood, (have hand honed oak hardwood planking for flooring, and antiques), but realistically too much wood is not a good thing. The oak trim will not match the maple flooring. I still like painted trim throughout homes. The off white colour of the trim will pop the wood.

Q. Got a very cheap quote from a flooring company for a maple floor. So cheap that Laminate was more expensive. The company said they are having a huge sale. Is maple a good wood? we have dogs, cats, kids. What can go wrong with maple that would make other woods better

A. I'm not so sure about maple being a hard wood, just try staining it and you will see how soft it really is, do this test.. take a piece of maple and a piece of oak and cut them with a hand saw and you will see how hard oak really is, it is one of the hardest, I have seen many blades broken on oak. Oak would be my #1 choice for wood flooring and it stains & finishes great. Maple is lighter in color but does not accept stain very well because it is soft.

Q. I would like to refinish my oak floors and I seen on tv before someone that used a propane torch and burnt the wood after they sanded. It brings out the grain. I thought it looked really nice. Trouble is I can't find anything on the net about it. I would like to know proper techniques, perhaps some company or website that does it, and i would like to see more pictures of it done. Also I don't know if it has to be a certain wood, i have solid oak. Would I also have to do my oak trim to make it look all good. Please I need more info.

A. This is a difficult and time consuming process. Even pros screw this up but if you want some info on the process go down to Home Depot and ask in their flooring department. They will have the info that you need and some alternative ideas that will probably save you time and money.

Q. We own a rent house which has oak hardwood flooring throughout most of the house. About a year ago, we hired a local hardwood floor company to sand, stain and seal the floors. The floors looked great when we rented out the house. Our renters moved out last week and when we walked in, we were horrified to see black streaks in every room. The black marks all seemed to bleed outward of anywhere wood filler was used on the floors (the house is almost a hundred years old, so there were a lot of cracks to fill). We are bringing the floor company back out to look at the damage, but in the meantime, I'd like to get an objective opinion. The only areas that this did not happen were where there were large pieces of furniture, causing us to believe it was a cleaning agent that may have done this. Also the tennent had 2 dogs, but we don't think any dog could urinate over that much area. Does anyone know what could have caused this and if it can be repaired?

A. Could the wood possibly be oak? Got this from The Wood Box: "Oak is full of tannic acid and in fact the tannic acid in the bark was used for tanning animal hides for centuries. When the tannic acid mixes with the iron in our water it creates a chemical blue dye. This is why red oak stains black when water is allowed to penetrate the surface.....and why you must be careful not to get water on your red oak flooring." The places where filler was put in could have allowed water to seep into the wood and cause the staining -- or, it may even have drawn water out of the filler itself. Hope you find a solution!

Q. Professional Installation and the flooring combined. A mix of carpet, laminate, and possibly hardwood. Does the price per sq ft (i.e. $1.87 per ft) include installation fees or just the flooring? Thanks!

A. I'm a gen. contractor, on new construction of a med. allowance home this is a norm: installed, material and labor: carpet $ 24.00 sq yd laminate $ 16.00 sq yd hardwood $ 8.00 sq ft. ( 3/4 oak )

Q. Out home is 2yrs old, and recently we had water damage.We need to replace our hardwood flooring in lower level. We have oak floors now that cost $8 sq ft to replace w/same quality. We are getting multiple estimates - Guy 1 says: "We can sand down, and stain the wood thats not damaged then stain/match unfinished hardwoods throughout." Guy 2 (with no knowledge of 1) says "I wouldn't let my company sand/refinish these woods because getting through the top veneer could end up damaging the wood, and then need replacement anyway"... We want to know if we should even consider refinishing the floors? Thanks. Here is a link to the floors we have now: http://www.shawfloors.com/hardwood-floorsDetails/Species_Oak/Providence-Heritage Insurance covered entire replacement, we are just looking at options.

A. Good point, is the flooring solid hardwood, or a hardwood veneer ? Did you fix the potential for more water damage first ? Is this covered by your insurance ? If the flooring is solid hardwood, sanding and refinishing is fine. If the flooring is a veneer, depending on the thickness and if the substrate has been compromised by the moisture, sanding might not be an option. It sounds like you need another couple of opinions. EDIT Ok, I looked at the ad, and it appears (especially considering the cost) that it is a solid oak product. It also mentioned that it has "micro bevelled edges". I would be sure the moisture content is fine for refinishing, and that there is no hidden moisture, and have the new installation and the old completely sanded, stained and coated. You will end up with a solid, absolutely flat and beautiful floor without the GROOVES of the micro bevelling.

Q. We are a national hardwood floor retail company based in Minnesota. We're interested in seeing what species of wood flooring is most popular amongst our consumers.

A. Oak Light stain . Been installing allot . Dark shows to much dust people say .

Q. Need oak "T" molding to transition from wood to tile. Contractors first said he could have it custom made. Now telling me the length I need is not available. The molding will be in an entrance way and I really don't want to use two peices if I can help it.

A. Www.onlinefloorstore.com look under flooring and then trim Any decent flooring contractor should know where to get them I can get them up to 12 feet so it shouldn't be a problem.