Q: We have stained our hardwood floors and really did a terrible job. Is there a way to correct this? Is it possible to remove the stain?
A: (We get emails like this far too often!) I hope you haven’t yet applied any finish. You will need a good orbital sander for the perimeter with some 80 grit sandpaper. You will need a polisher with both 80 and 100 grit screens. This will be used for the main field of the floor. With each machine remove as much of the stain as you can. It will take several hours and you will use quite a bit of abrasive on the orbital sander. 10 screens of each grit should be enough.
Once you have taken off as much as you can, wet (not soak) the floor with warm water. Let it dry, and without scuffing your feet, apply the stain in narrow rows, about 3 feet wide. Wipe the row dry with a clean cloth and do another row until finished. The reason for the wipe down with the water is to try to pop open the grain to accept the stain more evenly.
Because this work is difficult, that is why you should hire a professional, and why we charge money to do it.
Related Questions
Splotchy DIY stain jobQ: I recently sanded and stained the floors in my recently purchased house. I have red oak flooring, and really like the way the hall and bedrooms turned out. However, in the living room there are splotchy areas. They tend to be really light like they didn't take the stain.…
Ink stainI was cleaning my daughters room and she had a poster board on the floor and some water had gotten on the paper. Now there is ink from the paper stained on the floor. How do I get it out?
Blotches on maple stain jobOur maple floors have been sanded to the bare wood (light). The stain was applied by a professional. There are dark streak marks, hand prints, spots and splotches over sections of the floor. Continue to stain or sand again and put clear varnish?
Uneven blotchy stain jobMy husband took on the task of refinishing our wood floors. However, when he applied the stain, it was uneven and blotchy. Do you have any suggestions in correcting this problem?
Removing dark stainWe have select hard maple flooring from Canada throughout our new construction home as well as two sets of stairs that are also hard maple. Our flooring and stairs should have been sealed naturally; however, a dark stain was applied. After professional sanding, stain remained in all joints of where…
Hard jobWe have just recently bought a house dated somewhere around the early 1900's, After removing the 10 year old carpet and the 40+ year old linoleum we discovered the original hardwood floors underneath. The linoleum seem to have been laid with some sort of tar or tar paper under them.…