The refinishers did my floor while I was away and when I returned,
I found a refinished floor that had more than a few complexion problems…
View Image The spots were, of course, entirely obvious before I had the floor
refinished, resulting from a previous renter of the house having a
little piddly dog that peed on the rug and which soaked into the floor.
The fellow who was overseeing the work (not one of the refinishers)
and I discussed having the refinishers stain the floor just dark
enough to cover the blemishes. I am too deaf to understand much,
especially with individuals who are not native English speakers, so I
am not quite sure of the story, but on my return, the overseer,
contrary to his earlier position, said that staining the floor would
have just made the spots even more prominent. I am planning on putting the house on the market and had thought the
hardwood floors would be a good selling feature – if they could be
cleaned up (disguised?). One bedroom, the hallway (shown in the
picture) and the dining area are particularly bad. The other two
bedrooms and the living room could probably be made presentable with
replacing only a couple of boards. The flooring is face nailed
2″x3/8″ white oak. The stains go from light brown to dark brown and
are generally about 8″ to 12″ in diameter. Is there any hope in salvaging the damaged areas? I have read that
bleaching does not work all that well, but what about bleaching and
staining? I see my options as either carpeting the affected areas and
taking a hit on the sales price, trying bleaching and staining, or
replacing about 300 sq ft of stained flooring (not cheap).
Replies
Come on folks. Someone must have faced this problem. Would appreciate any information even if it is on the negative side...
The bleacing might have worked had your refinishers tried it before putting on the finish. But then again, I've never done it. I'm not a floor guy, but have done some woodworking.
In order for bleaching to work, the finish must be removed. Then re-stained and finished again. Tough to get a good match, I would guess.
Could replace the individual boards that are bad. But then again, sanding, staining, finishing.
If it were me, I would put down area rugs, "to protect the newly refinished floors" while the agents are showing the home.
Or call it character.
Good luck. Sorry I'm not much help with this one.
Pete Duffy, Handyman
I'm surprised they couldn't sand most of that out. I had stains in several rooms on my oak floors - house had been a rental/party house - but only the one area near the door to outside, where the dogs let loose when they couldn't hold it any more, failed to come completely clean.
Sorry Casey. In my experience dog or (especially) cat pee stains will never come out. I once belt-sanded a section of oak floor all the way down to the tongue but the stain just kept going. When I ripped out the damaged boards, the stain was still visible on the underside of the boards.