Desperately need help: Woodstain over old Varnish won't dry!

[Edwin Pawlowski]

From what I read on their web page, the product is made for bare wood and you put it over varnish or some type of finish. OK, you followd the instructions, but used the wrong product.

The mineral spirits may pose a hazzard. It will give off vapors as it dries and the vapor can ignite. Not as bad as gasoline, but still a potential hazzard.

Renewing the top coat of varnish is easy. Staining the already varnished wood is a whole different story. That is what caused your problem from the start. Perhaps a different product would work. Perhaps a urethane with a tint will give you the finish and color you desire.

It will be if done right from the start. You will get many years of good use and little effort if done properly. Ed

[Anonymous]

PAINT / STAIN .. two different animals. Paint sits ON the surface for protection and has a colorant in it. Stain goes IN the wood, giving the actual wood fibers color, which is then sealed in and protected with a topcoat of varnish, shellac, etc. IN order to color the wood fibers, they MUST be exposed, which is a condition you do not have. You have stated that you followed the manufacturer's directions explicitly, but I cannot ever recall seeing a can of stain that did not include in the directions a statement along the lines of : "to be used only on clean BARE wood".

Sounds like you have chosen the wrong product or you are misusing the one you got.

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[Chris Merrill]

Apparently not:

"For application to bare wood" is what it says on the website.

If you simply cleaned the floor, then you were applying the stain on top of the finish coat (polyurethane) which will NOT accept the stain.

[nospambob]

[roger]

Mike G. is entirely correct (as usual!). Do it right. Having just recently redone the bathroom floor in my place, (it was CARPETED wall-to-wall!) I can only say take time enough to do it permanently and correctly. In my case, the damn carpet even covered the baseboards!

Were I in your shoes, I'd have covered the floor with a throw rug 'til the holidays were over. Pulling the terlet is very simple and straight forward. At least you didn't have two wax rings to deal with, (I hope!) as I did, until the project was completed correctly.

I hope all will go well for you.

Regards

Roger I hugged my toilet......

[jim]

the solution is to get a floor sander and sand up all the floor and then work on the bare wood with the stain.... tben when its dry you put on poly.. to cover the dry stain....