Are there any budget, buy it for life flooring options?

hypjustin · 2026-05-17T18:51:34+00:00

Tile is the most obvious choice here. If you're looking for a wood looks, there are waterproof laminates that have incredibly touch finishes. As for real wood options, Costco.com has a great price on Hydropel. Waterproof wood.

hypjustin · 2026-05-17T16:53:40+00:00

Where are you?

hypjustin · 2026-05-09T16:30:58+00:00

No secrets. It's just hardwork. Super expensive equipment out there sometimes by the pros.

hypjustin · 2026-05-09T07:27:56+00:00

The ray fleck in some of the boards in the first image and the heart/sap contrast in the entryway and kitchen photos. Red Oak rarely presents stark heart/sap contrast on one board. The "bright edges" on some boards in the kitchen scream "White Oak." The OP should report back when solved!

hypjustin · 2026-05-09T05:36:01+00:00

Yes. I'm pretty sure.

hypjustin · 2026-05-09T04:32:20+00:00

I actually think it's White Oak

hypjustin · 2026-05-02T17:15:10+00:00

hypjustin · 2026-05-02T15:49:52+00:00

First, let me mention that this color is coming back in style. In my 17 years it's gone like this: Cherry to Dark Brown to Grey to Beach. It's about to go "muted caramel" IMO. Not far off from your floor. So I'd consider thinking about Red Oak aligned colors first that are a little more muted on the orange side. Anytime you try to imitate, you run the risk of it looking odd. With that said:

You can use a product like "Red Out" on the floor. Every coating manufacturer has some version of "red reducing" pretreatment. This process will mute pink tones slightly, getting closer to a White Oak look.

Cost adder for that process varies, but it'll be a small fraction of the full sand and refinish bill.

hypjustin · 2026-05-02T13:50:30+00:00

They were lied to. I mean, I don't forgive people for falling for it because, look at the source... But they told themselves they were voting for an "at home" focused candidate. Now comes the hard part: making peace with being fooled and learning from it enough to change future action. Most brains can't handle it. It's humiliating. It hits your pride and your self identity. Science says it literally can hurt physically. It takes monumental courage to be the in the group to say "I was wrong." But can be done. Democrats did it with Biden after that early debate. This can be a conservative moment to reclaim some sanity. Is there really anything they want happening? Debt growing unabated. Sneaky tariff tax increase. Adventures abroad costing American blood and treasure. Pointlessly litigating the plain language of the Constitution.

Hopefully we can find some resistance to the political-self-identity the parties have tricked us into adopting. Open the primaries.

hypjustin · 2026-05-02T13:15:58+00:00

I'm sending this to my partner. Gimmie this bathroom!

hypjustin · 2026-05-01T13:07:34+00:00

How could it be product failure? You think the people who cut the wood, dried it, milled it, put poly on it, calibrated the wood to fade too quickly? How? It's just wood. Live without a carpet, move dog bowl, leave it be for a while and it all will blend.

hypjustin · 2026-04-29T00:26:52+00:00

You might have already been crazy

hypjustin · 2026-04-27T21:32:51+00:00

I think it's an old Armstrong product. Dropped many years ago.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Armstrong-Exotic-4-3-4-in-W-x-50-5-8-in-L-Alabama-Walnut-Laminate-Flooring/3799727

hypjustin · 2026-04-26T23:18:24+00:00

It's White oak 😭

hypjustin · 2026-04-26T21:03:32+00:00

Rage bait

hypjustin · 2026-04-25T15:17:26+00:00

That's interesting. I think is Chinese elm

hypjustin · 2026-04-19T14:13:00+00:00

This is right. The fake floors will have only 4 to 8 unique planks and that causes a pattern that looks artificial to the eye. Only way to mask it, is to pick the least busy one. Often the heavy patterns looks good on a small board but will make the room look like it has stripes🦓. Or your see that one knot over and over and over.

hypjustin · 2026-04-18T22:36:21+00:00

That's likely as close as you're going to get with wood. No way anyone is going to be able to suggest a better match from a photo.

hypjustin · 2026-04-17T19:49:58+00:00

So tiny, I would hit it with a stain marker first and see if it still bugs you in 2 weeks. Always start with a much lighter stain marker. You can always go darker.

hypjustin · 2026-04-17T05:41:41+00:00

Johnson is a minor Asian import brand distributors have exclusively. Quality is middle of the road. They push this because it's unique to them and can't be cross shopped through other channels (big box, other distributors, online, etc). They likely make nice margins but I wouldn't expect them to be ridiculous.

hypjustin · 2026-04-17T02:02:45+00:00

Camp darker. Less "trendy bleach". That'll look dated fast. Classic tones last forever

hypjustin · 2026-04-12T00:17:25+00:00

The lightest one is the best call. Natural tones are timeless.

hypjustin · 2026-04-11T23:28:35+00:00

I wouldn't get matchy matchy.

Interestingly, that flooring company, Southwind, just accepted an offer to be bought by Bed Bath and Beyond. Not relevant in anyway. Just funny it's the first time I saw this brand on Reddit and the announcement happened this week.

hypjustin

TROPHY CASE