Looking for some advice here:
I'm a finish carpenter with a decent amount of wood finishing experience, only a modest amount of floor finishing experience.
I laid a new red oak floor down next to (what I know now is) an original white oak floor in my house. I did a lot of samples and settled on a golden oak Dura Seal stain for a close enough match. I finished with Bona HD Traffic, matte (water based 2 part epoxy).
After a year I am really regretting the color. By itself it's perfectly nice. Where it meets the white oak you can really notice a difference. Very pronounced orange and red tones in the red oak.
Stripping down to bare wood again is not an option for reasons I will not go into.
I would like to tint the existing tone with either a violet/gray or a green/gray to neutralize the oranges. At this point I know I will never match the original white oak. I just want something that's not so offensive. If it's can end up a gray/brown that would be ideal.
Here is my idea and I would like some input on whether or not you think it will work:
1. Screen the Bona matte topcoat
2. Put one or two very thin coats of water-based tint, once I work out what color balance will do the trick. For this I figured I would use minwax water-based wood stain, though I guess it could even be paint for this purpose.
3. Top coat that tint with another two coats of Bona Traffic.
My thinking is that I just need the tint to stick to the abraded original topcoat, and for the new topcoat to stick to that.
I know that water based stain on a large area will be difficult to avoid lap marks, but I'm hoping if I keep it very dilute I can make it pretty even over the course of a few coats.
i know that it's possible to tint the topcoat itself, though I don't know if it's doable with the 2-part stuff I'm using. Also I feel like I might have more control over the tinting if that's done separately from the topcoat.
Is there a potential problem in having a solid wood floor with what would ultimately be 4-5 coats of an epoxy coating? Is this too thick? Would this crack as boards move?
Would I have serious adhesion problems?
Could the final result end up murky?
I'm curious to hear your thoughts or suggestions. I know this is not the proper way to go about finishing a floor. I would like to know if I can salvage what I have. What I'm concerned about most is durability because worn areas will be super noticeable with two different color layers.
Thanks very much.