What Kind of Wood Floor Stains the Darkest?

Kinds of Wood

• Occasionally floors will be made of woods that are naturally dark, like mahogany, teak and rosewood. Most wood flooring, however, tends toward middle wood shades: Oak, ash, hickory and chestnut are frequently used for flooring. These are hardwoods with large pores that absorb stain well and evenly. Birch, beech and poplar are light in color by nature and do not absorb stain well. The best results are obtained with light to medium tones of stain, although poplar can be coaxed to absorb reddish tone stains, yielding its nickname of "poor man's cherry." Maple is a very dense hardwood, handsome on its own but prone to absorb stain in a blotchy manner. Anyone familiar with refinishing furniture has encountered the puzzle of pine, cedar and fir. Soft woods, they can be expected to soak up stain readily. In their case, however, large pores and a soft grain can lead to blotching and overcoloring, especially in areas of knots. Many homeowners agree that all floors darken with time. Knowing whether your particular floor is made of a strongly photosensitive wood may determine how much darkness you try to achieve by staining alone.

Kinds of Stain

• Stains come in oil-based and water-based formulas and in a wide variety of colors. Oil-based stains penetrate well, although they occasionally cause roughness by raising wood grain. Professionals appear to disagree on whether water-based stains also raise grain. For both varieties, frequent users caution against slathering wood with stain in the hopes of a darker or more intense color. Thin coats, wiped down and lightly resanded, are the key to rich color. The closer the stain color is to the natural wood, the more vibrant results are likely to be. Applying very dark stain to very light wood may be possible for some professionals, but results appear to be mixed.

Wood and Stain Interactions

• If you know what kind of floor your room has -- and even if you don't -- it is important to see how a particular stain color behaves on different kinds of wood. Most home-improvement centers have charts or wood samples to browse. The effect of a rosewood stain, for example, might range from vaguely reddish to very dark brown, depending on the wood variety. Take home a small container of the stain you would like to use and try it out in an unobtrusive corner of your room or a leftover piece of flooring.

Flooring Condition

• The third element to factor in when staining a floor is the condition of the wood. For good results, previous surface finishes like varnish or polyurethane must be completely removed. Dark marks can be removed, but any cleaning residue must be removed for stain to take. Professionals caution that even commercial floor cleaner solutions can affect the way stain is absorbed by the wood. Some old floors are too thin for heavy sanding, but every effort should be made to remove any substances from flooring before staining.

The Darkest Floor

• In general, staining dark woods produces the darkest floors. Dark woods include a number of exotics: Bolivian rosewood, Brazilian teak, bubinga, bloodwood, timberana and Chinese wenge. Of these, wenge begins as the darkest wood and is therefore most easily stained even darker. Seek professional advice about how dark your nonexotic floors can be finished.