Stained wooden floor

[RicodJour]

except for

amongst

sander. Don't

If moisture has stained the wood, how will lightly sanding the finish get rid of the stain in the wood itself? I don't see any way that the stain could be removed without bleaching with oxalic acid or sanding it out, and both of those will definitely affect the existing stain.

Your (OP's) situation is a tough one. Doing a spot fix and touching up to match is nearly impossible for someone without _lots_ of experience (read mistakes/failures). It's not clear from the original post whether this is a new house or just new to him. If you can contact the previous owner or builder and find out the manufacturer of the flooring you could buy some replacement boards. Cutting out the old stuff is the easy part - getting the new boards to fit tightly and stay in place is much tougher. Again, something where lots of experience is necessary.

An alternative might be to use a polyurethane with a darker stain in it. This is basically just a coverup, but a rather simple one to do. You'll have to screen or sand the whole floor to give the new finish something to bite into, but the odds of success are much greater.

R

[Dave Combs]

The house we purchased had a wooden floor installed over a slab in the kitchen. Other than (1) it having "V" grooves between the planks (horriblr dirt catcher) and (2) very thin poly coating it has been fine except for two areas. These are in front of the refrigerator and the door where obviously moisture has set and discolored the floor. Is it worth my while to try to sand these areas and re-poly them or shoud I just give it up as a lost cause.

Thanks.

Dave

[Edwin Pawlowski]

What you probably have is an engineered wood floor. Overall they are durable and within reason can be re-finished. Quality can vary amongst brands but you should be able to sand and re-coat to at least extend its life. Use a random orbital sander, not a very aggressive belt sander. Don't take off too much or the stain will be gone and you won't have a good color match.

[RicodJour]

Hey Ed. The OP did write discolored in the body, but the subject line is "Stained wooden floor". So I guess we're both interpreting it in different ways.

I've never seen a polyurethaned floor where the poly itself was stained from moisture. Seems to me that the poly, once cured, is a moisture barrier and won't absor water - otherwise, what's the point? I guess the OP will have to chime in and let us know exactly what he means.

R

[Edwin Pawlowski]

The OP said discolored. From the original post: "These are in front of the refrigerator and the door where obviously moisture has set and discolored the floor."

It could be surface discoloration of the finish itself. Do you know for certain the the water penetrated the finish and stained the wood?

If it is the finish only (most of these are pretty durable) lightly sanding will cure the problem.

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Considering the locations, it could be a lot of anything. Poly is a good moisture barrier, but it can discolor from certain dyes and chemicals.

[Dave Combs]

[CathyLee]

Santa brought a wagon with rubber tires for xmas, the tires left yellow marks on the Maple floors...cleaner didn't work but the sun seems to have faded them some...any other ideas to remove them.?

[Scott]

If a light sanding doesn't help try some oxalic acid. Oxalic acid is sold at any Shermin Williams. The container says wood bleach, but its oxalic acid.

[Dave Combs]

Thanks to all for their suggestions and help. Any other suggestions will be appreciated.

Dave

[nospambob]