# Floor staining



## DiscountHousePainter (Jul 8, 2012)

Just wanted to see if anyone has any suggestions on this floor were restaining. We done restain floors often and the couple i have done have been in good shape. This is an empty house I'm doing turnover painting in and they asked me to do the floors also. The problem is there are all kinds of rea ally dark spots and they want them re stained in the golden oak. I've sanded and bleached the dark spots in this room but as you can tell in the photo they are looking rough as the stain goes on. Any suggestions on what I could use/do to get more of a consistent finish? Thanks!


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## Epoxy Pro (Oct 7, 2012)

The only fix is replacing the flooring. Or using a dark floor stain. That dark stain on the floor is embedded into the wood grains is will never fully come out, or may never come out. I am by no means a flooring expert but did stay at a Holiday Inn last night.


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## stelzerpaintinginc. (May 9, 2012)

You could pull flooring from a more discreet place, such as a closet, and replace like Dave suggested, but I'd first try to pull the bad boards and see if they could just be flipped over, but that depends upon how deep those stains are. 

On a side note, when staining, might have best results by applying the stain starting at one end of the room and moving to the other end in workable sections, (24"-36"). That'll help keep at wet edge and insure stain blends in a uniform manner. Good luck and let us know how it turns out.


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## Epoxy Pro (Oct 7, 2012)

Great idea taking the flooring from a closet. Looking at the pic I am willing to bet the bottom is just about as bad as the top.


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## DiscountHousePainter (Jul 8, 2012)

Thanks guys. Switching some boards is a great idea and we may just have enough with the closets. They were hoping to not have to go with a darker stain but I let them know that it's a strong possibility we may have to go darker for uniformity. I'll post an update when we get it done.


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## slinger58 (Feb 11, 2013)

If a professional floor finisher/installer reads this thread, he'll probably get a good laugh. I don't think flipping boards is really an option with flooring like that. Not from the nail-down flooring I've seen, anyway.


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## MikeCalifornia (Aug 26, 2012)

You don't think floor sanding is an option? Yea, some of the stains may be left behind but most will be gone, especially with solid oak boards like those.


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## stelzerpaintinginc. (May 9, 2012)

slinger58 said:


> If a professional floor finisher/installer reads this thread, he'll probably get a good laugh. I don't think flipping boards is really an option with flooring like that. Not from the nail-down flooring I've seen, anyway.



While I don't consider myself a pro floor guy, I've refinished quite a few of em with professional results. Although it's not always possible to flip the T&G boards over and use the underneath side, it can be done if the tongue is centered, (assuming no grooves or relief cuts have been made to the underside). Here in Portland, OR, many old T&G floors fit that criteria, thus, are successfully reused by turning them over.


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## slinger58 (Feb 11, 2013)

stelzerpaintinginc. said:


> While I don't consider myself a pro floor guy, I've refinished quite a few of em with professional results. Although it's not always possible to flip the T&G boards over and use the underneath side, it can be done if the tongue is centered, (assuming no grooves or relief cuts have been made to the underside). Here in Portland, OR, many old T&G floors fit that criteria, thus, are successfully reused by turning them over.


Yep, that's what I was alluding to. Here, we never see them without the relief cuts. :thumbsup:


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## journeymanPainter (Feb 26, 2014)

A lot of times the underside of the flooring IS NOT usable ad a finish product (grooved for air, etc to pass through)


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## DiscountHousePainter (Jul 8, 2012)

MikeCalifornia said:


> You don't think floor sanding is an option? Yea, some of the stains may be left behind but most will be gone, especially with solid oak boards like those.


We did sand first, that was the problem, the dark areas lightened up some but not enough. We even tried bleaching them out as well which lightened them up but once the stain went on the dark spots pretty much returned. They aren't as dark as before but it's certainly not the uniform finish I was hoping for. It's a rental property so they're somewhat price concious so at this point I think our best and only option is to go with a darker stain. I originally thought it'd have to be something like a mahogany but with us being able to lighten them up some I'm hoping to get something in the middle of mahogany and golden oak


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## Bender (Aug 10, 2008)

Carpet that sucker.


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## Wolfgang (Nov 16, 2008)

Replace the wood or go with a really dark stain. You'll never bleach or sand those stains out all the way. Even with a dark stain those places will be darker.


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## straight_lines (Oct 17, 2007)

MikeCalifornia said:


> You don't think floor sanding is an option? Yea, some of the stains may be left behind but most will be gone, especially with solid oak boards like those.


If that stain is pet urine, it happens a lot on carpeted hardwood, then it has been fumed. No sanding will get it out, oxalic acid may lighten it some after sanding it back bare. Still not going to get it all probably.


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## DiscountHousePainter (Jul 8, 2012)

Thanks Straightlines, I believe it to be dog urine. That particular room had dog crap in it before the cleaners came and the door trim is chewed/scratched up so I'm pretty sure they kept a dog locked up in that room. The oxalic lightened it up but like you said it didn't get it out all the way and once the stain went down it was back to almost its original darkness. When I get back to that job I'm going to use a darker stain and probably do two coats on most of it and 1 light coat on the dark boards. I've done a little floor staining in the past and had good results that way so I'm hoping it'll work on this one as well. Thanks again everyone and hopefully I'll have pics to show with fairly good results within a few days. I'll be glad to get the floors done so I can do what I like to do (paint!!!). They want me to do the floors first because of all the dust that'll be everywhere after we bring in the floor sander.


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