Can you restain hardwood floors a different colour? Usually yes, and it is the reason most floors get sanded at all. Stain has to reach bare wood to take, so a colour change is really a sand-and-restain job: the old clear finish comes off, the wood is sanded clean, the new colour goes on, and a fresh finish seals it. Here is what that involves, which of the stains we stock suit red oak and which suit maple, and how many cans a room needs, priced from our stain and finish collection.
The short answer: a second coat of stain will not change the colour
Minwax makes the rule easy to remember. Stain is designed to be applied to bare wood so the wood can absorb it, and where a clear finish already sits on a floor the stain cannot be absorbed. The colour decision therefore belongs to a sanding job, not to a coat wiped over an intact surface.
What comes off first
To restain hardwood floors a different colour, the sander has to get through everything above the wood itself. On a solid floor that means the clear finish and the old stain under it, down to raw wood. Any wax or polish on top goes with them as well. Engineered floors depend on the wear layer, and our post on refinishing engineered hardwood explains how much wood sits above the core.
What a restain job involves, step by step
Six steps, and most of the time goes into the first three.
- Clear and protect. Furniture out, baseboard or shoe moulding lifted, doorways and vents masked.
- Sand to bare wood. Minwax starts from bare or stripped wood, clean and dry, sanded with 220-grit paper along the grain, then dusted off.
- Repair. Gaps and dents are filled before the colour goes on, not after.
- Test. SamaN advises a test in a discreet place first, since the result depends on the natural colour of the wood.
- Stain. Minwax lists one coat for its Wood Finish. Work in small areas and wipe the excess before it sets.
- Seal. A floor-rated clear finish goes over the colour, with the coat count taken from the maker's data.
Timing between the last two steps decides whether a room is a one-day job: Minwax gives a dry and recoat window of 2 to 3 hours for its Wood Finish.
Where the labour sits
Sanding and staining carry no per-square-foot rate in our price list, because the work is priced after seeing the floor. Passes, board condition and the amount of repair all move the total. Send room sizes and photos, and we quote sanding, staining and finishing as one job. Our refinishing cost comparison covers what a full sand and refinish includes and how it compares with new boards.
Which stain for red oak, and which for maple
Species decides how much colour you get and how evenly it lands.
Oak: the reds, golds and browns
Our Riche Red Oak Cherry solid hardwood is a red oak floor at $5.99 per sq ft, and it shows the warm band a cherry tone sits in. The piece you test is a different one: stain takes on bare wood, so brush the patch onto a raw red oak offcut rather than onto a finished board like that one. Minwax's product guide explains why a test matters: hardwoods tend to stain more evenly than softwoods because their pores are more uniform, and maple, alder and aspen are the exceptions to that rule. For the tone families themselves, our post on stain colours on new red oak and maple floors sorts them out.
Maple: the exception that catches people out
Minwax's guide names maple, alder and aspen as the woods whose pore structures are uneven, and it says its Pre-Stain Wood Conditioner should be used on those woods. A maple floor therefore gets a conditioner pass before any colour, then a test patch on the floor itself rather than a sample of oak. Our Appalachian Mahogany hard maple floor is the maple reference in the store at $5.19 per sq ft.
The stains we stock, and what they cost
These are the colours we hold in 946 mL or one-quart cans, with the price on the shelf today:
| Colour | Brand and base | Can size | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Provincial 211 | Minwax | 946 mL | $14.87 |
| Red Oak 215 | Minwax | 946 mL | $14.87 |
| Red Mahogany 225 | Minwax | 946 mL | $14.87 |
| Golden Pecan 245 | Minwax | 946 mL | $14.87 |
| Canadian Maple 210 | SamaN | 946 mL | $33.00 |
| Coffee | Superior Flooring | 1 qt | $25.00 |
| Black Walnut 125 | ZAR oil-based | 946 mL | $14.15 |
Prices checked October 26, 2026. Can prices and sizes come from our current catalogue, and other colours sit on the shelf beside them.
Two things stand out. The Minwax and ZAR colours in 946 mL cans sit within a dollar of each other, while the SamaN can costs more than twice as much. Coverage is where that gap narrows or widens.
How much stain and finish a 300 sq ft room needs
Take a 300 sq ft room. Stain and finish are bought against coverage, not floor area, and the two are measured differently.
Step one: cans of stain
Minwax lists 500 to 600 sq ft per gallon for its Wood Finish, with one coat recommended. A 946 mL can is a quarter of a gallon, so one can covers about 125 to 150 sq ft, and two cans cover 250 to 300 sq ft. A 300 sq ft room sits at the very top of that range, so the safe buy is 3 cans, to allow for a second pass on a thirsty floor.
Three cans of Minwax Provincial 211 at $14.87 put the stain line at $44.61. SamaN's water-based stain covers about 50 sq ft per 236 mL, roughly 200 sq ft per 946 mL can, so the same room needs 2 cans at $33.00, or $66.00.
Step two: gallons of finish
The finish is the larger line because it goes on in coats. Minwax lists two coats for its floor polyurethane and a third on bare wood, which is exactly the state of a sanded floor. Three coats over 300 sq ft is 900 sq ft of coverage, and at 500 to 600 sq ft per gallon that is 2 gallons.
Two 3.78 L cans of Minwax Poly for Floors at $57.87 come to $115.74. DuraSeal's water-based finish is specified at 500 sq ft per gallon, so it also needs 2 gallons, at $55.90 each, or $111.80. On this room the two finishes are $3.94 apart before tax.
The 300 sq ft shopping list
| Line | Quantity | Unit price | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minwax Wood Finish, Provincial 211 | 3 cans | $14.87 | $44.61 |
| Minwax Poly for Floors | 2 cans | $57.87 | $115.74 |
| Subtotal | 5 cans | $160.35 | |
| HST | 13% | $20.85 | |
| Total | $181.20 |
That is $181.20 in materials for 300 sq ft, about $0.60 per sq ft, before any sanding, staining or finishing labour. With DuraSeal's finish standing in for the two Minwax cans, the same list totals $176.74, or about $0.59 per sq ft.
Restain or replace? Material prices at 300 sq ft
Those totals are the number to hold against new boards. Prefinished solid hardwood is sold by the box, and boxes are bought with a waste allowance, so the comparison uses the 5% we build into every quote: 300 sq ft becomes 315 sq ft of boards.
| Floor | Box price / coverage | Per sq ft | Boxes for 315 sq ft | Material |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Riche Red Oak Cherry solid hardwood | $101.83 / 17.00 sq ft | $5.99 | 19 | $1,934.77 |
| Appalachian Mahogany hard maple | $103.80 / 20.00 sq ft | $5.19 | 16 | $1,660.80 |
| Red Mahogany oak, our own line | $102.52 / 24.41 sq ft | $4.20 | 13 | $1,332.76 |
The third row still comes to $1,332.76 in boards for the same room. That is our Red Mahogany oak floor at $4.20 per sq ft, and none of these figures includes installation, removal, trim or delivery. As a materials question alone, restaining is far the cheaper route. The decision is not only money: a restain keeps the floor you have, and how far its colour can travel depends on the species, the old stain and how much wood the sanding leaves.
If the floor turns out to be laminate or vinyl plank rather than wood, our post on painting, sanding or refinishing laminate and vinyl plank is the place to start.
Restaining hardwood questions
How much does it cost to restain wood floors?
For 300 sq ft, the stain and finish on the list above come to $176.74 to $181.20 with 13% HST, depending on which floor finish you pick. Sanding, staining and finishing labour is separate and quoted after the floor is seen, because the work sits in the prep rather than in wiping on colour.
Can you restain a hardwood floor without sanding it?
Not to a different colour. Stain soaks into wood, and a clear finish in the way blocks that, so the old finish comes off first. The same reason rules out a scuff-and-restain shortcut over a factory finish.
How long before the clear finish goes on?
Minwax gives 2 to 3 hours for drying and for recoating its Wood Finish, so the colour and the first clear coat can go on the same day.
Why did my maple floor stain unevenly?
Uneven absorption, and it is species behaviour rather than a mistake. Minwax's guide points to maple's uneven pore structure and calls for Pre-Stain Wood Conditioner on those woods. Test the colour on the floor before you commit the room.
Can I restain one room and match the rest of the house?
Matching comes from testing against the old floor, not from picking the same colour name. Age, the old stain and the species all shift the result, so brush a patch in the doorway between the two rooms and compare it in daylight.
Get a staining and refinishing quote in Toronto and the GTA
Send your room sizes, the species if you know it, and a few photos of the floor as it is now, and we quote the sanding, staining and finishing along with the stain and finish you need. You can request a quote online.
Top Floorings Depot
3781 Victoria Park Avenue, Unit 1, Toronto, ON M1W 3K5
www.topfloorings.com
Call: 416-499-0117
Text: 416-770-8819