Question: After a two month long vacation we came back to our home in Atlanta to find out the washing machine leaked and ruined about half of our laundry room that has Brazilian cherry installed. My question is this, can we just stain new wood to match the color it's changed to? If so what kind of stain?

Reply: For a temporary fix staining new could work. But the question remains; will the colors blend say in two or five years? If it's a small area I would opt for replacing the entire area and place a transition header board separating the new and existing floors in the doorway.

Subject: Brazilian Cherry Lite? What Is It?

Question: I've been shopping for Brazian Cherry floors here in San Diego the last few months and came across the Lumber Liquidators brand Brazilian Cherry lite. Is this really Brazian Cherry or something else?

Reply: Boy, you've asked a good question. Marketing people are to blame on this one and the consensus is this light product is Tauari or often called Brazilian Oak. It has more pinkish tones in it opposed to the tan salmon color when new and doesn't change color as radically. As far as the durability or hardness it doesn't rank up there with the actual Brazilian Cherry, coming in at the level of Maple.

Subject: White Spots on Brazilian Cherry Floors

Question: I've been noticing these micro smallish white spots all over my new Braz Cherry floor. It's like they appear in Brazilian Cherry Silica Spots the grain of the wood. Is this a defect or something to do with the type of finish that was used?

Reply: What you are seeing are silica spots that are common with lower grades of Brazilian Cherry. This is a natural occurrence in the material itself and should not be considered defective.

Subject: Black and Light Colored Boards

Question: We contracted a company in the Seattle area to install and finish nearly 1,000 square feet of Jatoba, but what I what I didn't expect to see was so many light and dark boards. It's only half done but it sure doesn't look like the big sample they custom made for us.

Reply: There are different grades of all hardwood flooring. Once you get into the lower grades (graded by appearance) the more color variation will be seen. I would suggest taking this up with the contractor. It could be an honest mistake.

About Grading

Grades of hardwood flooring will vary within each specie. Common guidelines to follow would be described as follows; Clear has a more uniform appearance, free of character and comes mostly from the heart of the tree. Hence, heartwood. Select will also be uniform in appearance but will contain characteristics that are natural to all hardwoods such as wider color variations and knots. Select and Better will be a notch between select and common grades. Common grades are ordinarily classed at #1 and #2. Both will have significant color variations and more character. #2 will have more than #1.