Sun Damage on Engineered Hardwood: Can I Undo the Fading?

LESLIE: We are heading out west to California where Trudy has a question about flooring. What can we do for you today?

TRUDY: We built our house about 13 years ago, hardwood floors in the kitchen. Then about 5 years ago, we put in hardwood floors in the family room which adjoined. It matched almost perfectly. You had to know that there were two different dates of installation to realize it. And now they’re totally different. The one in the kitchen is a lot lighter.

TOM: It’s probably because of how sunlight is falling on those floors, because they’re going to react to the UV.

TRUDY: Is there something that can be done about it? Because it really irritates me.

LESLIE: Well, there’s a window tint, a film, that you can put on window panes to cut down the sunlight that comes through.  So, you could do something like that but you would have to either refinish the floors to get them back to matching and then put the film on.

TRUDY: And what about if they’re not solid wood? I know that they’re probably just – I think they just have that thin layer of wood on the top.

TOM: Yeah. Then you really – you’re pretty much stuck with it. You can undo sun damage to hardwood floors, but you can’t really – they’re not refinishable if they’re an engineered floor.

TRUDY: OK.

TOM: I say that you should probably just get used to it.

TRUDY: OK. Meditate.

TOM: Maybe you can – listen, from a decorating perspective, maybe you can break it up with an area rug or something like that so it’s not quite so obvious.

TRUDY: That’s a really good idea. Yeah. Very good. OK. Excellent. Well, thanks for your help. I appreciate it.

TOM: Alright. Well, let’s quit while we’re ahead.

TRUDY: Right.

TOM: Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.