Q: I recently removed my living room carpeting, as it was filled with pet stains. The hardwood floor underneath was for the most part in good shape. There are a few areas where the finish has come off the hardwood floor.
The floor boards are in great shape, no warping and the floor cleaned up nicely. However I want to know if I can just refinish these areas of the floor if there are no deep stains or smells. Can I re-stain these areas of the floor without having to refinish the entire floor?
A: Is the floor actually stained a different colour? Are you saying the finish has pulled off these areas or it has worn off with time and exposed the wood? If this is the case, and the wood has become discolored and you want a nice job, it really should be sanded professionally from scratch. When properly done the floors should give you years of very good use, with the occasional refresher coat when it starts to show signs of wear or marking.
Reply: The finish has worn off the floor. The areas are down to the natural wood with absolutely no finish on them. The wood in these areas is in excellent condition and there is absolutely no odor in the wood from the pet stains. We are eventually thinking of having the floors refinished, but in the meantime I would like to know if I can refinish over these areas until we have the time and money to refinish the floors. I’m looking for a temporary fix until that time is feasible.
A: Brush several coats of finish over the spot, buffing lightly between coats. It will show, but at least it will protect the wood until you are ready to have them refinished.
Related Questions
Small pet stains on floating floorI found your web site while searching out how to manually try and fix several pet stains my dog has made on my hardwood floors. I have floating hardwoods that I believe were put in on top of a tile floor. Unfortunately the dog has had a couple of accidents…
Urine stainsWe have recently removed carpet from a house that I have lived in for 2 years. The carpet had been down for 10+ years and it was used by the previous owner''''s dog as a bathroom. Under the carpet is hardwood, but is has urine stains. The carpet pad was…
Hardwood floor finish is peeling offWe have wood floors that were installed 5 or 6 years ago. I had them recently recoated and the coating is peeling off. The flooring company advised that cleaning products such as Murphy's Oil Soap (which I used on my floors) will penetrate the finished wood in scratches and deep…
Black spots on wood floor even after sandingWe recently bought a house built in the 1920's. We removed the carpet to find that there are black stains all over the hardwood floors. We have sanded the floors and the stains are still there. How can we remove them without knowing what caused them?
Pet urine stainsWe just purchased a home with hardwood floors throughout; however they all have dark brown stains. We do not know if it is from water damage or from pets; my husband think they are urine stains from the previous owners pets. We would love to keep the hardwood floors and…
Finishing hand scrapped floorQ: I oil rubbed a hand scraped oak floor. The rough grain is dull, while the closed (smoother) areas are shiny. I need to make it look uniform. Less shine. Any thoughts? I am a flooring contractor, so I do have the equipment. A: Well, of course the open grain,…