Same lady as the black front door thread…She has pre-finished oak flooring in the house, with several large area rugs. The wood not covered has lightened noticeably. The finish is in otherwise good condition. She is worried that the buyer may object to the two-tone appearance. What can be done?
Whenever you are asked if you can do a job, tell’em “Certainly, I can!” Then get busy and find out how to do it. T. Roosevelt
Replies
Got a sun lamp?
PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
I had seriously thought about that. What would it do to the already faded areas? And what kind of exposure time are you talking about...a day per room? I know it would be on a room-by-room basis, but roughly how much time?
Whenever you are asked if you can do a job, tell'em "Certainly, I can!" Then get busy and find out how to do it. T. Roosevelt
If you try it, shade the already faded areas, without strong lines. I've seen this look before. Gawdawful. I really have no idea how long it might take, but worth an experiment. I'm pretty sure the time will depend on how strong your sun lamp is. Not much help.
Other than that, you could do a stain finish over the whole floor to blend the differences. Kind of like a thin coat of paint. Or... to really get the same color... paint.
I'm pretty sure the floor finishers would suggest sanding the whole thing down to fresh wood. I've touched up floors successfully but always going the other direction. Very difficult to make the finish lighter than surrounding area. And your problem really isn't the finish.
Strip and bleach the dark areas? Getting into a rat's nest in a hurry.
Tell her to make sure she has low e glass next time. Greatly reduces the effect.
T. Roosevelt really set you up for a challenge this time. <G> Did you really say "Certainly, I can!" ?
PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
include the area rugs in the sale of the house
UV causes the photo-burn in, happens even if uv blocker incorporated in finish, usually uncovered area darkens.... not much they can do about it, uncovered, it will balance over time american cherry is the pits for this, darkens a lot u can use the sun lamp, but don't forget the sunblock and good sunglasses
This is strange! Of course, I live north of the equator.
;)
Our real wood floors darken in the sunlight. Are these real wood or a laminate surface?
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VaTom et al...there is about zero chance that I will do any work on this floor...during the discussion of other, much simpler, things to do, she asked my opinion...and I feigned ignorance but said I would check into it.
Piff...good point. Cherry furniture, for example, darken with sunlight. Don't have an answer. The floor is a decent quality red oak veneer, not laminate.
Ok all...on the slim chance that Piffin may be on to something...could the darkening be caused by the rugs? I think she said there is a foam pad under them...I didn't see a pad under the one I pulled back so I can't confirm. What would you use to clean the finish without stripping it?
Whenever you are asked if you can do a job, tell'em "Certainly, I can!" Then get busy and find out how to do it. T. Roosevelt
clean w polycare from absolute coatings, new rochelle, ny concentrate floor cleaner u dilute no paraffin or oil to contaminate surface or similar dedicated wood floor cleaner w/o waxes weird that floor darkened under carpet, have to be grungey to be the cause
I don't know about floors always darkening with exposure to sunlight. I once did a oak floor with water-base poly and the area under the bed darkened up. The floor finish manufacturer (Hydrocoat) had some fancy explanation for it, but basically I was screwed. That was 15 years ago, water-based finishes have improved since then.
If the floor is stained it would probably fade in the light, and stay darker under the rug. Depending on the finish, if not stained, the light would darken the uncovered area. The way light darkens varnish/blo...
Nope, it was not stained. I somehow think the Hydrocoat people called it "reverse ambering". Not exactly what I wanted to call it.
Strange , isn't it
Piffin
Wouldn't you agree that if you had walnut floors that they would lighten, not that that has anything to do with Ed's problem. I built some shutters for a library once, went back two years later and they were almost blond! Real ugly, but thank God the finish wasn't my job.
Doug
I don't get to work much with walnut so I defer to you on that.
For ed, it sounds here like it moight be a combo of water based finishes and stains that go that direction. I would almost exclusively with oil - though they tell me that this is headed the way of the dinosaur.
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If the owner is willing to pay the necessary costs, I would consider applying a toner (glaze) to the lighter areas. I would scuff sand the light areas with a pole sander with about 220 grit sanding screen and then spray on a lightly tinted toner-glaze (simply a clear coat that has a transparent tint added). I'd mix my toner light enough that I could get the tones matched up by making several passes (on a horizontal surface like a floor you have a fair amount of leeway regarding coat thickness). By varying the number of passes and speed you can get the match just right. Make it just a tad light at first then examine carefully and make quick light passes over the areas that need more color. Ideally I would follow the toner with a good coat of clear (maybe very slightly tinted) over the entire floor. That way you would be assured of an even sheen. My Accuspray ten gun can be adjusted so that the material flow is very light and then the fan is narrowed and I can use it almost as subtly as an airbrush (for getting the edges cut in without a hard line).An alternate way to get a soft edged application would be to apply a mask with an elevated edge (say a piece of ply with a narrower spacer glued to the bottom of it). I prefer to work such edges by hand and eye because a mask makes it hard to see how well I am doing, until it is too late.