Cherry Floors Darken From Sun Light
Written by Todd Fratzel.
Sun Darkens Hardwood Floors
Our new home has Brazilian Cherry floors throughout the first floor. When we chose the Brazilian Cherry flooring a friend of ours warned us that cherry flooring will darken from sun light. If you use area rugs then you will notice the flooring under the carpet remains it’s original color while the area of flooring exposed to sun light will darken over time.
As you can see in the photo the Brazilian Cherry flooring under our area rug in the breakfast nook is much lighter than the floor that’s exposed to direct sun light (I’ve pulled back the carpet in the photo so you can see the difference). This significant difference in the flooring color has happened in just under two years time.
Ultraviolet Light Causes Wood Flooring To Darken
Ultraviolet light from the sun causes the tannins in the Brazilian Cherry floors to darken over time. Most Cherry floors, American, Black, and Brazilian will darken when exposed to ultraviolet light. This problem is most often seen when area or throw rugs are put down to cover the flooring for extended periods of time.
I can only think of a couple of solutions to help with this situation. You could install a ultraviolet film to your windows to reduce the amount of UV rays that are exposed to the floor. You could also use curtains and blinds to shield the amount of direct sun light that hits the floor. I suppose if this has already happened then you can pull up the rugs for a few months at a time and try to expose those areas to UV light so they can darken as well.
If you are looking to buy a home with cherry floors then take a look under any area rugs. You may well find this issue and want to consider it before making your purchase decision.
Have you seen this before? Any suggestions on how to prevent it or fix it?
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I have been in the building industry for 22 years and have seen this many times. You will notice this difference in color not only under rugs, but also the furniture.
Removing the rugs and moving the furniture around from time to time is the only thing I can recommend.
I don’t think we would have picked a different wood but it’s something I’d like more people to be aware of. It was quite a shock when I lifted the carpet the other day. I had no idea it would happen that fast!
Yes, cherry is famous for it’s darkening over time. After 5-10 years it will reach its darkest color though. My in-laws have cherry cabinets and there is a huge difference in color inside and outside the cabinet. We just bought a cherry bed frame but won’t be buying the dressers or nightstands until later so we are a little worried about the difference in color they will have. To reduce the noticeable color differences you can use a darker stain but the best way is to use a UV protective stain.
I think periodic shifting of rugs would be a better idea. That allows the sunlight to fall over the entire area & flooring, whether dark or light, looks uniform.
Kit homes
Todd, (or anybody else), What about walnut floor? does that also change color? anyone know how quickly?
That is crazy that the floors darken! Isn’t that weird? Usually the sun fades things~
We have Brazilian Cherry in our dining room — now a 10 year old floor… And we recently installed Brazilian Cherry throughout our upstairs cause we just love it.
The dining room had a large area rug under the dining table for just over seven years – and yes when it was taken up the floor was lighter beneath the rug.. However – the light coming into the room is not all that direct – filtered by the front porch – so the darkening of the rest of the floor was not all that dramatic.
The room then remained empty – no rug.. no furniture.. for about six months after Katrina during which time the floor darkened uniformly. I suppose this is what threeacres is referring to — the floors finally darkened as much as they were going to.
Since we aren’t sure.. We’re purposely leaving our B. Cherry library floors exposed as long as we possibly can considering the intense light from the skylights… In less than one year those floors have darkened considerably. However, we can’t do this for 10 years… So I suppose we better make sure we REALLY like whatever area rug I choose for that room. :)
[...] Cherry Floors Darken From Sun Light Home Construction Improvement Posted by root 5 hours ago (http://www.homeconstructionimprovement.com) Picture of brazilian cherry floors darkening from sun light upright vacuum cleaner middot how to replace light fixture with ceiling fan that allows the sunlight to fall over the entire area amp flooring whether dark or light looks uniform kit homes add yo Discuss | Bury | News | Cherry Floors Darken From Sun Light Home Construction Improvement [...]
I have the same thing happening on my Brazilian cherry floors and am selling my house. I have about 6-8 weeks before we move out so we are pulling up our rugs, and letting the sun shine in (We have very large windows in those rooms). I’m doing this to try and lessen the potential concern the buyers might have, though we know it will most likely take longer for it to blend. And yes, this will balance out over time. No need for alarm, its natural for the cherry to darken with UV light hence wood under the carpet stays the original color.
[...] save a substantial amount of money on. My father-in-law and I installed over 2,000 sq. ft. of Brazilian Cherry engineered flooring in our new home and it saved me over $6,000. Even if you can’t install the flooring yourself [...]
I know a guy that used cherry for his trim work throughout his house. He intentionally didn’t fill the nail holes for quite some time because he wanted the wood to darken and then match the wood filler to the darkened cherry.
@ J. – That’s a great tip!! Cherry darkens significantly over time when exposed to ultra-violate light.
[...] to block UV light. This is important as sun light can fade carpet, furniture and more. Check out Todd’s post about sunlight darkening his wood floor. Coated windows can block around 75% of UV [...]
[...] Glazing – Today’s window manufacturers offer more glazing options than I care to cover in this article. You can choose from single pane, double pane and triple pane windows. You can also choose from Low-E/Argon filled glass to Low-E/Krypton filled glass. You can also order glass with UV protection to protect your furnishings from the suns damaging rays (I wish we had this in our home as our Brazilian Cherry Floors Darkened from UV light). [...]
We used an exotic wood from Australia….in less than a year we had a colour difference twice as bad as the one in this photo….it is shocking, we had no idea….had we known we would have made a different choice. We want to roll the carpet up but it is winter and we need it down for warmth in the house. Bummer.
We’ve had some recent repairs to our new floors and they replaced and resealed several planks. The color difference is stark; it looks like a checkerboard! My favorite floor guy (sarcasm intended), tells me that the UV will darken the new planks and they will (eventually) match. Really? How long should I wait?
@ John – He is correct…but it will take time…possibly a year or more…but it will work!
Todd,
Thank you for the response. Yeah, that’s unfortunate. If I had known, I may not have gotten the repairs. (silicone spotting… looked like bleach-type stains) These planks look bad, that’s a long time for my wife to be angry. ;) Warranty doesn’t cover that.
@ John – Sorry to deliver that news…the good thing is it will get better….all part of the beauty of natural wood floors! Good luck.
Hi Todd,
You seem experienced with this problem. I have pulled up several area rugs in my house trying to get the suns UV rays to darken my Brazilian cherry wood floors but it seems to be taking forever. At this pace I’m looking at a year or more time. Do you have any Ultraviolet lighting ideas that might speed up the process? I’m currently trying a UV flood light in one area but it’s too early to tell of the darkening effect it may or may not be having to the wood flooring below. Any advice that you have would be helpful.
Marlin – Sorry to say the only thing that I know of is time. Frankly that’s not very reliable because the surrounding areas can continue to darken. I feel your pain!! I try to tell folks ahead of time to skip the area rugs the first few years, let the floors darken first. Let me know if that light works!
I’m considering Brazilian Cherry for new house and appreciate all these comments. Would an Aluminum Oxide with UV prevent such problems?
Daria – The floors in that photo also have that type of finish. I think a better approach are windows with really good UV protection. At any rate I think leaving throw rugs out for the first year would also help. Good luck.
I just found that my oak floors are doing the darkening thing today!!! I think I’m going to get a UV light and cover the darken areas and expose the lighter area where I had the rugs. I called Bruce flooring and talked to them, it was like they never heard of this before. The floors are only 2 years old, lots of light tho
Did it work? I am putting our home on the market and found a huge discoloration under the dining room rug. Beautiful B. Cherry floors but it looks really odd. Concerned it will scare a buyer. Did the UV light work?
I haven’t heard from anyone if that approach works or not. I’d say buy a large rug and cover it :)
We did two rooms last year and are now doing the rest of the first floor. There’s a huge difference in color, and it looks like two completely different woods. Our floor guy said it will take about 4 months for the new wood to darken.
I’m well used to this problem and it always turns out ok after a few months in my experience.The darkening happens very rapidly at first then tapers off.
One think I’m doing with my new cherry floors this time is to leave the ceiling florescent lights on 24 hours/day for a few weeks. Florescent lighting also has UV rays and my installer told me that this will indeed speed up the process, though sunlight is still the main UV source.