Q: Hey Wood Flooring Guy! I’ve sanded my floors and finished with 100 grit. After staining it I’ve noticed a lot of imperfections, some of them (swirl marks, grooves from the belt sander) I can live with. No refinish is perfect. But what I can’t live with is the uneven edging spots where my helpers missed an entire grits of sand paper with the edging machine. This has resulted in the stain not penetrating into the wood, since the old lacquer wasn’t fully removed like it was with the rest of the floor.
Please help! I’m not sure what to do at this point… Can I just sand down the high spots that are still a yellowish color? And stain them? Then re-stain everything? How should I approach this? I’d really like to know have to redo everything. I’m not sure I even can since it’s already been stained once.
Thanks in advance for all your help!
A: You may be able to rescue this if you haven’t applied any finish. You will need a good orbital sander, at least a partial roll of 80 grit sandpaper, a polisher and a package of 80 grit and 100 grit screens. You will need to remove as much of the stain around the edges, exposing clean wood as you are able. this will also allow a chance to remove the missed lacquer. If 80 grit doesn’t do the job, you may have to go to 60 grit. After you have accomplished that screen the floor with polisher and 80 grit to remove as much of the stain as you can. Then screen the entire floor, right up to the walls with 100 grit. Vacuum the floor. Wet the floor surface with warm water and let dry completely. When dry, apply stain one row at a time (3-4 feet wide) and after 5 minutes or so wipe off excess with a rag. Stain the entire floor. You will know immediately if you have been thorough enough. A hand scraper and fine file can be a good help in scraping out bad spots also.