Our house is an old one built back in early 50s, it has an oak plank floor that is stained and varnished. One of the kids used a space heater directly on the floor, and it blackened the floor right in front of it. I think the burn damage is very shallow, so I am not expecting to have to sand very deep to get rid of the burn marks. I know I cannot get a perfect match without refinishing the whole floor, but I will settle for something that you have to look close to notice it. IS this an achievable goal? I figure I can lift up a little piece of the floor surface from a corner of a closet (same flooring), strip the varnish and stain and use that as a test- piece. I could lift up a second little piece and use that as the sample to match the stripped test-piece to. But how can I match the stain accurately? Not long ago, I tried matching a sample of a door that was stained and varnished to a chart of stains at Lowes, and the stain that I thought matched pretty well looked very different when I applied it and varnished it. I bought three cans of stain before really getting something close, and it was still not a good match at all....but I didn't care if one door is a little different from the others. How can I get an accurate stain match?
How to repair burned spot on varnished oak floor?
Jan 04, 2005
3 Replies
Are you sure the floor was stained. I don't think it was very common to stain oak floors. If it was just varnished, it has probably darkened over the last 50 years and will be very hard to match. If it was stained, I don't think stripping will remove the stain; you just have to sand deep enough to get below where the stain soaked in.
Easiest fix: get some acrylic craft paint and paint fake grain over the blackened spot. Also, forbid the kids to touch a space heater. I've fixed booboos with craft paint, including spilled wood stain on concrete. Digging the char out might leave a depression that is more noticeable. Paint may not stick well to char unless it is sanded first, but I would try. Can get gloss medium to add to paint if the floor is glossier than the paint. Acrylic is easy to wash off, even when dry, with hot soapy cloth (new paint). Get a flat artist brush, a light brown and a dark brown, load the brush lightly and use short back and forth strokes to immitate the grain. May need to add ochre, black, white or blue to get the right hue.
I stripped a friend's kitchen cabinets once, and didn't know end panels were fake wood grain. Big "oops"! Had to paint in wood grain to match the cabinet new finish, and it worked pretty well. Takes a bit of practice and color mixing, but can be done. Would be easier for someone with a bit of art experience.
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