Hi all,
My wife and I are starting to sand and refinish the 50 year old red oak floors in our rental property and I have a couple of questions.
There are many dark grey water stains, ranging in size from a few inches to a few feet across, from the last tenants’ plants, dogs and
aquariums which sat and leaked directly onto the floor. It appears that they aren’t going to come off with sanding, and we’re wondering
how to get rid of or disguise them. The floors are in decent shape, otherwise.
Is there a good way to bleach the irregularly shaped stains without bleaching the surrounding unstained wood? Or should we
just make everything uniformly blonde. My wife said she had heard about a process called “pickling” for floors,
but we don’t know what that is.
Alternatively, would it be easier to stain everything very dark, either walnut or almost black,
to obliterate the water stains?
Any one have any experience or suggestions?
Thanks!
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Replies
KylefromKY
Oak once stained is hard to lighten up.. You can try oxilcic acid But I caution you it takes a while to really bleach it.. A one pound box to a gallon of warm water works best.. I get the water just short of boiling and flood it on.. wait nearly 30 minutes and wipe it off..
repeat untill the area is satisfactory..
Yes do the whole floor it's easier in the long run!
Pickling is a process whereby paint is used to fill the pores of the wood, brush it on and remove it just as it dries, some will remain in the pores and a light haze will form. Very much a skill type operation. Start real small to control it.
Stain will cover it but in turn make the room seem darker and smaller. Fine if intimate is the look you are after, not so good if the apartments seem small to begin with..
It's difficult to just bleach certain areas of a floor, best to bleach the whole thing. Then you can go over the badly stained parts as needed. When the pickled finish is used, they first bleach if it's red oak to get rid of the red tone. Then with the white stain it doesn't look pink. If the stains are real bad you might have to bleach then go darker stain. I'd use at least 3 coats of oil based poly for a durable finish. Good luck.
Dogs do not leave "water stains".
Pet stains can go very deep, and are a real PITA to get out...even with sanding the whole floor.
I would probably go with the darker walnut stain (less on the dark marks) to try and "even it out".
Option #2......If lighter finish is important, try replacing wood in stained areas with wood from closets etc, (I would only do this in MY house, not a rental) or Laminate floor over it.
what are you sanding the floor with. i like the orbital square pad type because you can really stick on one spot and really work on it. larry
hand me the chainsaw, i need to trim the casing just a hair.
Thanks for all of the replies.
I think we'll try the oxilcic (oxalic?) acid idea first and see how well that removes the stains. (Is that available at hardware stores?) Now that we have the old, dark finish completely removed, we are amazed how bright the floors are. Everything seems bigger and lighter. The floors are actually white oak, not red as I thought.
We started with 20 grit diagonally, then parallel. Nww we're using 32 grit, then we'll finish with 100 grit. (That was the procedure outlined by the rental company.) Could the bleaching take place between the 32 and 100 levels?
After the bleaching, I guess the grain will be raised and we'll need to re-sand. Would 100 grit be appropriate for that or should something finer be used?
Thanks again for all of the help.
i only bleached one spot then sanded it pretty good afterward.the stain came back,i had sanded the bleached wood off. larry hand me the chainsaw, i need to trim the casing just a hair.
Thanks again for all of the earlier replies.
We tried Oxalic acid, but the stains are just too dang dark. I treated the spots (not the whole floor) 7 or 8 times and they are still there. I'm not even sure if they lightened up very much. I tried straight chlorox too but no help. I'm okay with the spots being there if they have to, but I just want to make sure they're isn't any thing else to try before I entomb them under the finish.
Any other ideas?
Thanks, Kyle
If it IS water, the oxalic acid should work on white oak. I might try to leave it on the stain overnight. Mix it up as a paste.
If it's animal stain, I believe you will have to live with it."Roger Staubach for President"
Thanks for the reply.
I did leave it on overnight by the way, but as a liquid, not a paste. It came in a tub as crystals which were dissolved in water. How could you make that into a paste?"Argue for your limitations, and sure enough they're yours."
Oxalic acid often works but not always.
If you are skilled, cut out out the offending piece, flip it over, mill , shim, reinstall and apply finish.
Expert since 10 am.
Edited 2/9/2007 9:55 pm ET by jackplane
If there were just one or two spots, I might try that but there are probably a total of 20 or more spots of varying sizes all over the house. That's too much work for me!
"Argue for your limitations, and sure enough they're yours."
there has been discussions here about faux paniting the wood grain back to match. see if you can search and find it or maybe start another thread. i have rentals after a couple tennants the stains will blend with the scracthes pretty well.lol what kind of finish are you using? i like to finish the floors a couple weeks before the place is fully ready to rent to give it plenty of time to dry. larryhand me the chainsaw, i need to trim the casing just a hair.
Faux painting is beginning to look like the only option that will work. I have a friend who is an artist and she might be able to help me. I think I might go with water based poly for the finish.
"Argue for your limitations, and sure enough they're yours."