Stain lighter around perimeter
Q: We recently had our pine hardwood floors sanded, stained, and poly’d. Along the perimeter of the walls (about 6 or 8″) or so, the stain is much lighter. There is a clearly seen demarcation. What is this due to? The contractor said it was from build up over the years of wax, etc. around the edges of the room. I was wondering if different sanding or staining techniques had caused this.
A: Pine is difficult to deal with as far as staining. One really has to be careful. If too wide an area is stained at once, you tend to get blotchy overlap marks. this is not the problem you are having here. In my opinion, the edges were sanded a lot smoother than the rest of the floor, so there was less stain penetration around the perimeter. I always us an orbital sander with an 80 grit abrasive around the edges and polish with 100 grit screen following, which gets right up to the baseboards. This way, the entire floor surface has been sanded with the exact same abrasive. Someone made a boo boo.
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