Q: I’m sanding and staining a hardwood floor. The floor has stains and cracks everywhere. We will need lots of wood filler to fill the cracks correctly. Is there any type of wood filler or product you’d recommend to spread and cover the entire floor, and then sand and stain?
We don’t want to remove the floor, so what’s the best course of action?
A: You will need to find your nearest wood flooring retailer. They will likely sell filler in 3.5 gallon tubs. You spread it over the entire floor with a flat blade trowel. Bona, Dura Seal and Woodwise are three examples.
As for the black stains you could try applying hydrogen peroxide. There is another product I’d like to try called stain solver. I get emails from www.askthebuilder.com. The retired builder who runs the site has a side job making an outstanding oxygen bleach cleaner. It would be worth a look. Just keep in mind this is wood so you don’t want to soak the floor with any liquid. Just wet the surface of the boards. www.stainsolver.com
Follow-up Q: Would durabond 60 or 90 be a bad idea? I realize it’s for drywall but I’ve used it in the past. Can’t remember if the stain took well after sanding.
A: Absolutely NOT. You will likely buckle the floor for one as it sucks all the moisture out of the dura bond. Better to leave the cracks than do this.
Follow-up Q: Would I apply the stain remover after it’s been sanded, and before adding the filler? Currently, it’s been sanded. I’m wondering if I could somehow get away with not adding the stain remover. Not sure how the finished product will look.
A: Yes, I would do an initial rough sanding to bare wood and then try to treat the stain. After it dries, clean the floor, spread the wood filler. Let it dry and sand it off with finer grit.
It depends how dark of a stain you intend to apply and how much of the stain comes out with just sanding. Impossible to know until you try.
Follow-up: Thanks a lot for your advice I ended up buying the Duraseal wood filler which worked great. Easy to work with and sands easily too. The stain went on great and we picked sedona red stain so it hid the other stains well. Still have to add 2 coats of finish to shine and it’ll look great.