Seeking advice for refinishing a wood floor....

[strangways]

Hi, My kitchen/living room has a wood floor that is showing wear. Primarily fro m my dog who splatters water all around when he drinks. The clear finish is worn away in many places and in those areas there is a dark stain of some kind. See image..

I try to tackle jobs like this myself but I've never refinished floors befo re. Can you to buy or rent some kind of push sander that will take off a un iform layer of wood? Can you buy a bleach solution that will get rid of any black stain that runs deeper? And then how would you go about refinishing? Would just brushing on a coat of clear finish end up looking professional ? Or is is just better to hire a pro for this job? Thanks!

[ItsJoanNotJoann]

rom my dog who splatters water all around when he drinks. The clear finish is worn away in many places and in those areas there is a dark stain of som e kind.

fore. Can you to buy or rent some kind of push sander that will take off a uniform layer of wood? Can you buy a bleach solution that will get rid of a ny black stain that runs deeper? And then how would you go about refinishin g? Would just brushing on a coat of clear finish end up looking profession al?

Hire a pro as you most likely won't be able to just spot sand without it looking like it's been spot sanded.

Put some sort of mat down so the dog doesn't dribble water everywhere.

[Ed Pawlowski]

Ypu can rent sanders. Keep in mind, if you don't have the skill level to do this right you can damage the floors to the point a pro will not easily repair it. Last time I did it was 40 yers ago. Today I'd hire a pro. It is possible to bleach the stains, but I don't know enough to tell you how.

You cannot do just a section and have it look good. Plan on doing the entire room and finishing, usually a couple of coats of polyurethane

Get a waterproof mat for the dog bowl.

[Vic Smith]

I had my oak floors sanded about 10 years ago. I thought the dog piss stains would be a problem, but after sanding they were gone. I estimate they took off less than 1/16" of wood I had them put 2 coats of semi-gloss polyurethane varnish on it and it still looks good. Expect any nail or staple holes where the nails or staples got wet to show as black spots. Hardly noticeable on my floors. It had wall-to-wall carpeting for a long time before I bought the house, and carpet installers don't think twice about driving nails and staples in expensive flooring. Around here it's cheap (or was) to have it done by "professional" immigrant crews. I used a Polish crew recommended by a son who had used them for his floors. It cost me 400 bucks for about 600 sq ft. They used a large pad to apply the poly. No brushes.

[Meanie]

Per other's advice, hire a pro. If you've never used a floor sander, I wouldn't try it now on something you want done properly. No way you'll match with spot sanding or bleaching. It's best to do the entire floor.