Cherry Floors Darken From Sun Light
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?
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?
I have Brazilian walnut, and the sun lightens it… I am sick about it, after spending $7000+, it looks terrible after just 5 years.
Woods with tannins are very susceptible to this. I wish flooring companies advertised this more. I certainly feel your pain.
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. :)
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.
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.
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.
Not sure when you posted this comment, but wondering if after the 4 months they were blended or not? We had a floor guy tell us 6 months but people on here seem to be saying over a year..
It definitely can take quite some time, a year isn’t out of the question.
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.
We have the opposite problem. Our cherry floors have faded where the light comes in from French doors and window and the big area rug under the dining room table has stayed the original color. It is now like night and day difference. Can the lightened parts be blended in to match the darker color that is under the rug.
Very strange considering sun-light causes the tanins in cherry to darken. I’m going to guess the wood is not Cherry and the sun light has faded a stain. If that’s the case…restaining may help.
Cheryl,
I too, have the same issue where the small area right in from of the french door is lighter than the area over which the rug covered. I think maybe it’s a result of the light not being direct, but it does seem like the area is bleached. My house is the same wood throughout the main level, with some areas under rugs being lighter. I did move things around so for the most part not too wast a difference.
Question – we’re putting our house on the market in ~6 weeks and have large rugs in our dining and great rooms. Can the process of darkening be accelerated by using artificial UV light?
Great question…..one I have no idea about! Certainly worth a try, I’d love to know how that works. Good luck!
Wondering how fast American Cherry will discolor? We are selling our house and wanted to protect the floors after just refinishing them by putting down paper in the traffic areas. Installer said if you put paper down it has to be over the whole floor or there will be noticeable darkening of the uncovered area. It will only be down for 2 weeks but the room gets a lot of light. I also heard if you do this do not use red rosin paper (which is what the refinisher ended up putting down).
It happens pretty fast. I’ve never heard that rosin paper is bad. To be safe I’d cover it all.
I recently replaced an area of my dining room that has cherry floors. I want it to change color to match the rest, but I also want to protect it. The room has A LOT of sunlight so I think it will happen pretty quickly, and I was going to put down the clear multi-surface plastic temporarily (kind of like carpet protector). Do you think that would cause a problem with the color change?
It will likely slow it down. What are you protecting it from?
We’ve put Brazilian Cherry in all our houses. Yes it does change color in the sunlight, but if you have issue with that then you can correct it easily by letting the lighter areas get light. Once it fully darkens it doesn’t lighten again.
Also, the dark color is the nicer color in my opinion. I don’t like the initial somewhat garish red.
Basically it isn’t a problem, you can even it out any time you want by leaving it exposed.
We are considering to install either Brazilian Cherry or Santos Mahogany in our living room. There is quite a bit of comments on color changes in Brazilian cherry floor. Does anyone have experience with Santa Mahogany floor? Does its color darken or get lighter after installation?
I have Brazilian cherry hardwood about 3,000 square feet of it all my bedrooms kitchen living room and dining room. I love this wood it’s durable and beautiful we have had it for 11 years now. Everything I’m reading their floors darkened. I have lots of windows and mine lightened. I have area rugs and have moved them periodically or rolled them up if we go away. However I didn’t do my dining room and wow what a difference. Under the area rug it is very dark the rest of my floor is light. I sure hope it evens out. Nobody’s fault but my own. I’m just wondering why is mine dark under the rug that hasn’t been exposed to sunlight and most of the people on this thread say their floors darkened with exposure to sunlight.
Makes me think it’s not really Brazilian Cherry but another wood stained to look like it.
Can you stain a newly light patched in light Brazilian cherry to match the darker original floor for those with no patience
is it possible? sure….i wouldn’t even know where to begin though…lots of trial and error…and over time they likely won’t match.
Todd, we bought a house 2.5 years ago with 11-year old Brazilian Cherry wood floors in part of the home. The original owner had a smallish rug in the living room that had (apparently) been put in place when the cherry wood floors were installed (based on the lighter color of the wood below the rug). We perpetuated the problem by covering up the lighter color with our own rug. The uncovered/darkened cherry wood has a glossy sheen to it, compared to the area that has been covered by rugs. A couple of questions:
1. When Brazilian Cherry wood darkens, does it become more glossy on its own?
2. If the glossy finish is due to a polish, will applying a polish now to the lighter area formerly under a rug slow down the natural darkening rate?
When we bought our house four years ago I was horrified to see the large dark squares the previous owner’s area rugs left behind. We had a floor company resand and refinish all the floors. They looked perfect. I then left the floors uncovered for 6 months before putting down my own area rugs. When I recently changed my area rug and polished the floors in one room, I noticed the darkening effect, but it really wasn’t that bad. Leaving the floors exposed for as long as you can does help. Also be sure to get the right size area rug that you can keep or replace in the future.
Brazilian Cherry can lighten with sunlight. We have a floor that is 10 years old and where the sun has had more direct rays on the floor it has lightened up considerably. So Brazilian Cherry does not always darken.
Todd, our floor was changed to Brazilian Cherry wood floor. I want to use humidifier in the room. Will the water vapor cause damage and/or color changes on the floor? Thanks!
i know this is an old post. but i want to comment that i have the opposite effect. !
my brazilian cherry floors are bleached with the sun and dark where the rugs are.
how can i have a different experience than the original poster?
definitely 100% brazilian cherry
I’ve had Brazilian cherry floors for over 10 years now. They were purchased from Lumber Liquidators and installed by one of their contractors. LOVE THEM. Always have. However, I’ve also experienced the wood staying ‘light’ where it’s been covered by area rugS – I noticed this early on. For smaller areas, I just removed the rugs and the lighter area caught up fairly quickly but the 8×10 rug in the living room has been there much longer. It was pulled up today and I hope the floor darkens to match the rest over the summer. It’s an 8×10 square right now. Gonna have to live with it I guess!! LL discouraged the idea of sanding/refinishing because it won’t change the color of the wood that is lighter and suggested simply leaving the floor bare and waiting. How long is the question. I’ll keep the front door and the blinds in that room open all day and keep my fingers crossed. :)