Red Oak Without the Pink: Bona Red Out vs NordicSeal
Red oak has a pink tint. Most people don’t notice it until they want a pale, Scandinavian-looking floor and the sample comes out salmon.
There are two ways we fix that. We did both this month, both on new select-and-better red oak.
Fishkill — Bona Red Out
Red Out is a treatment that goes on the bare wood before the finish. It cancels the red. The floor goes gray for a minute, looks wrong, then dries out clean. We finished it with Bona Traffic HD, the same water-based finish we put in commercial spaces. Result: red oak that reads as neutral oak. Natural color, no pink, no stain.
Pound Ridge — Bona NordicSeal
NordicSeal is a white-tinted sealer. It doesn’t just cancel the red, it pushes the floor toward that pale white-oak look. Two coats of Traffic HD matte on top. If you’ve been pricing white oak and wincing, this is the conversation to have.
Which one
- Want it to look like natural oak, not pink → Red Out
- Want it to look like white oak, pale and even → NordicSeal
- Either way, red oak costs less than white oak. And the floor you already have might be red oak. Ask before you tear it out.
Every floor takes it a little differently, so we put samples on your floor before we finish it. Call 914-826-9009.
