Clean Wood Floors Before Staining

All wood floors are protected by a clear coating that eventually becomes scratched scuffed and dull.

Clean wood floors before staining. But often that s the wrong solution. When a wood floor loses its luster the usual solution is to sand it down to raw wood and completely refinish it. This floor was sanded correctly but was aggressively mopped with water against the grain probably in an attempt to remove all the dust. Because different floor finishes have unique care requirements the best way to clean hardwood floors will depend on the type of finish rather than the wood species e g cherry maple oak.

The technique of wetting the wood down before staining is called popping the grain. The wood grain is so open that in one coat you should be able to get the look you want. Tack cloth is a cheesecloth like piece of fabric that s coated in a layer of sticky adhesive. Unless all traces of sawdust and sanding dust are first removed any finish you apply whether it is a coat of paint or stain plus topcoat is doomed to be imperfect although the finest dusts are virtually invisible to the eye if they are left on wood surfaces when you apply paint stain or varnish the surface will turn out muddy in color and rough to the touch.

If the finish stain has penetrated through to the wood the floor probably has a soft oiled finish common in older homes whose floors have not been refinished and resealed. They are usually the result of standing water and are most likely to occur when the finish has worn thin. It includes everything you need to create a fresh semi glossy polyurethane finish without changing your floor s color. The most troublesome hardwood floor stains are those that affect the wood itself.

Rust oleum transformations wood and laminate floor renewal kit. This is a vivid illustration of how important it is that the texture of your wood floor be absolutely uniform and consistent before you apply your stain. If deep cleaning didn t restore your wood floor s glow you could give it a fresh new finish without sanding or staining using one of the following products. Lastly before you stain it s a good idea to use tack cloths to clean every last bit of dust off the prepped wood surface.

When you water pop wood you won t have to do multiple coats of stain either. If the stain is on the surface your floor probably has a hard finish such as urethane. Consider your flooring s finish before trying to remove a stain from wood floors. You need to remove the finish to bleach these black stains out of the wood and the best way to do that is to sand the affected area by hand with 120 grit.