Q: I live in an high rise in downtown Toronto and want to retouch the hardwood floor in the living/dining area without having to sand. The landlord refused to stain it when I moved in and it was already looking dull.
I’ve lived here five years and some areas are pretty worn. My son is allergic to dust and therefore, I can only have a couple of small area rugs. I pull them out when I have friends or children over. Otherwise, my floors are bare all the time.
How can I apply some kind of finish over what it here already? What product could I buy that is dark? There are stains from dog’s pee and also scratched areas where chairs are or where my son used to play with toys. The wood is the standard type of wood used in all Toronto buildings.
I can’t hire a contractor to do it. In fact, it’s strictly prohibited.
A: Oh my, I would have thought the landlord would be happy to have his property taken care of.
As to the floors, it really sounds like they need to be fully sanded and finished. Dark stain may help hide the urine marks, but since they won’t have that, the damaged pieces need to be replaced. There are pre tinted urethane finishes but it would still require the floors to be well abraded with a polisher and screen mesh. Even this can be risky. If there is any type of residue on the surface of the floor from wax, oils, silicone etc. there is a good chance the finish applied will peel off.
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