oak hardwood floors - advice

[AndyPanda]

I have a house built about 1880's and the oak floors were horribly stained and cupped. On top of that, the wood looks like previous owners have rented sanders they didn't know how to use and have made lots of grooves and valleys from the sander. Any contractor has said they would just replace the whole thing - but I don't need that and don't mind the funky old, beat up look. I'm retired with time on my hands and I need the exercise so instead of renting a big machine, I've just been on my hands and knees (with kneepads and respirator mask) and hand held sanders. This also allows me to take my time. I just work on one room at a time and only work on it for a few hours a day -- so I get the exercise and yoga stretches without beating up my back.

This is the last room that I'm working on right now (saved the worst for last) and it has really bad stained areas. There are areas where the wood is beautiful and then big patches of very dark wood that no amount of sanding can get thru. I've tried a few different wood bleaches, including the ones that work by pulling out the iron content from the wood. And if you're scratching your head over that - the working theory I have is that previous owners had dogs that peed and soaked into the wood - the iron in the pee turns rust colored and there are chemicals to pull that rust/iron out of the wood. But it doesn't smell or anything - just very dark - whatever stained it was many, many years ago. And I've given up on trying to bleach it - this is as good as it's going to get.

It's been suggested that I just stain everything dark with wood stain -- but I'm more inclined to just leave these splotches as part of the vintage vibe. Let the new owners replace the floors when/if I sell this house someday. This photo is after rough sanding so it's nice and flat now. Those dark areas don't get any lighter if I keep sanding deeper. After I do the finish sanding, I will apply pure tung oil finish thinned with Orange Oil Solvent. I like better than poly even though it takes a long time to dry and doesn't protect against scratches as well. What do you say about the dark spots? Any suggestions?

 

[Vacumatic]

I have solid oak floors and a friend of mine has oak floors imported from a French farmhouse and 150 years old. He decided to leave everything to professionals and the result was amazing,, history but with a perfect and practical finish.

Something that i would suggest you consider is the color of your furniture. The room is going to look a mess if any wood furniture clashes with the color of the floor. I went for light oak floors and my dark wood cabinets and roll top desk looked terrible, they had to go.

But really, like yourself I have time on my hands but the experts can do things so much better and without the dust clouds that an amateur might produce.

 

[Darth Scandalous]

I did a bedroom years ago that had stains like that. And yeah, there's only so much you can do with sanding or wood bleaches. I used a medium stain and it actually ended up looking pretty nice-- wasn't looking for pristine and neither are you. One thing I would note is that the light spots ended up being more obvious than the dark ones. Strategic placement of throw rugs and furniture can go a long ways too. I finished with floor grade poly but only because by the time I was done, what was going to be a spare bedroom ended up being a nursery for my firstborn.

In my case the rooms had been carpeted at some point and I kind of wonder if it wasn't caused by some kind of chemical breakdown in the pad. Hard to say.

 

[Mojo88]

Oxalic acid works in most cases. Just make sure you have excellent ventilation and proper personal protection. I sold woods coatings and the company I worked for had a two component bleach system. It was sold to cabinet makers that wanted to give a bleached oak look. That also might be possible.

 

[Jay21]

Eventually, you’ll reach the point of diminishing returns and you then risk making it worse. The stains probably will never come out. You really only have a few options:

1) leave it as it is and be done with it.
2) stain the wood in an attempt to cover the stains, but they may still be noticeable.
3) put some throw rugs over the spots.
4 draw some body chalk outlines around the stains and then you’ve got some really good conversation starters.

 

[StillShaving]

If those were my floors I would try to even out the stain, at least somewhat. And I would not really care if there were dings and other defects in the surface.

I like the results shown in this short video. Maybe there is a useful tip in there somewhere:

 

[ColtRevolver]

My house is only about 75 years old. It has stains in a couple of rooms that a pro couldn't get out prior to me buying the house. With furniture in the room, I don't pay any attention to them.

I've lived here 33 years. I am not particularly gentle on the floors. About 20 years ago, I scuffed and recoated the floors mainly to keep from wearing down the grain in high traffic areas where the varnish was worn. The project probably cost about $100 and came out looking a million bucks. I'll probably do it one more time right prior to selling if and when that time comes.

Worn and stained floors in a 1880s house wouldn't bother me a bit.

 

[Rhody]

I’m so impressed that you did this by hand. Id be tempted to see what a power sander could do. Obviously these floors have never been refinished so you could sand down. Personally I wouldn’t do more chemicals based on the risk of exposure. How did the other rooms turn out?

 

[Mojo88]

I thought about your floor and here is a sample of ours. It’s 3 years old and my wife wanted a rustic look so we chose hickory. You can see the variation in colors. I know yours isn’t the same but I don’t mind the differences at all. We have had mostly positive comments since installing it. Once you get finish on it I think you will notice a difference. You can always do a couple test areas and see how you like it.

 

[malocchio]

If you can afford it I would let a pro do it . The tough stains will be replaced with fresh planks and when the entire floor is sanded , sealed and "varnished " you will have a masterpiece . I redid my red oak floors 3 times in 35 years . First with Dura-Seal oil base varnish , then Bona water based . The water based stuff is weak and will not hold up . A few years later I went back to Dura-Seal , and for my tastes a 2 coat high gloss finish . The $$ you spend on a pro will add much more than you spent to the selling value of the house .

 

[AndyPanda]

I’m so impressed that you did this by hand. Id be tempted to see what a power sander could do. Obviously these floors have never been refinished so you could sand down. Personally I wouldn’t do more chemicals based on the risk of exposure. How did the other rooms turn out?

The other rooms turned out great. And "by hand" means hand held power sanders. I'm using a belt sander to get the cupped boards down level and then a finish sander to smooth everything up. It's really not uncomfortable at all and I get a good stretching workout and it doesn't take as long as you'd think. "professionals" need to get it done ASAP so they can go on to the next customer - so they remove a lot of wood quickly with the big machine. The beauty of getting down on my hands and knees is that I only remove the least amount of wood to get it level.

I tried some Walnut stain on the lighter areas today and it's not nearly dark enough to blend - those damaged areas are really dark. So I would have to stain the light boards a really dark mocha or something. I think I'll just leave it splotchy and when I sell the house the new owners can get excited thinking about how they'll have the floors redone (like I was when I bought the house years ago).

 

[AndyPanda]

If you can afford it I would let a pro do it . The tough stains will be replaced with fresh planks and when the entire floor is sanded , sealed and "varnished " you will have a masterpiece . I redid my red oak floors 3 times in 35 years . First with Dura-Seal oil base varnish , then Bona water based . The water based stuff is weak and will not hold up . A few years later I went back to Dura-Seal , and for my tastes a 2 coat high gloss finish . The $$ you spend on a pro will add much more than you spent to the selling value of the house .

I can afford it (and might do that before selling the house someday) but the reason I wanted to do it myself ... The pros all said they wouldn't do it at all except to tear it all out and replace it completely. And I didn't want to have to deal with all that. Doing it myself lets me do one room at a time so I don't have to completely move myself and everything I own into the kitchen (the only room in the house that isn't hardwood). Also ... in the larger rooms (living room, parlor, dining room etc.) the boards are all long enough to span the entire distance - I've never seen that before so I felt like these ancient boards are kind of special and wanted to preserve them.

 

[borwish]

I can't really add anything but....I built our kitchen counter tops out of pine I think in 2017. I stained and then finished them with Waterlox. It was originally made for flooring. Our counter tops still look like new. It's expensive, but it's good stuff.

 

[musicman1951]

Personally, I'm fine with the antique look. It's very difficult to chemically alter small patches of wood and still have it look integrated. I wouldn't go that way if I were doing it myself. I"m not at all sure poly protects against scratches, but it certainly does make them difficult to repair.

 

[AndyPanda]

Personally, I'm fine with the antique look. It's very difficult to chemically alter small patches of wood and still have it look integrated. I wouldn't go that way if I were doing it myself. I"m not at all sure poly protects against scratches, but it certainly does make them difficult to repair.

That's what I love about the Tung Oil (and I mean 100% pure tung oil) I can sand out a scratch anytime I want and reapply some oil over the spot and it blends in perfectly. Spill some water on the floor and it beads up and doesn't leave any marks at all. And it's not so slippery if I'm running around in socks chasing my cat Plus non-toxic. Tung Oil just ticks all the boxes that matter to me.

 

[malocchio]

I can afford it (and might do that before selling the house someday) but the reason I wanted to do it myself ... The pros all said they wouldn't do it at all except to tear it all out and replace it completely. And I didn't want to have to deal with all that. Doing it myself lets me do one room at a time so I don't have to completely move myself and everything I own into the kitchen (the only room in the house that isn't hardwood). Also ... in the larger rooms (living room, parlor, dining room etc.) the boards are all long enough to span the entire distance - I've never seen that before so I felt like these ancient boards are kind of special and wanted to preserve them.

Big job !.... we sure would like to see some nice pictures as you progress on the job Andy.

 

[Frito Ray]

Oxalic acid…

Humm, that is also used to lighten stained leather, might be worth a try.

It is also known as “salts of lemon” and can be purchased from the pharmacy in small 50 gram containers…good for a spot test for now.

 

[Virgil Sollozzo]

I have a house built about 1880's and the oak floors were horribly stained and cupped. On top of that, the wood looks like previous owners have rented sanders they didn't know how to use and have made lots of grooves and valleys from the sander. Any contractor has said they would just replace the whole thing - but I don't need that and don't mind the funky old, beat up look. I'm retired with time on my hands and I need the exercise so instead of renting a big machine, I've just been on my hands and knees (with kneepads and respirator mask) and hand held sanders. This also allows me to take my time. I just work on one room at a time and only work on it for a few hours a day -- so I get the exercise and yoga stretches without beating up my back.

This is the last room that I'm working on right now (saved the worst for last) and it has really bad stained areas. There are areas where the wood is beautiful and then big patches of very dark wood that no amount of sanding can get thru. I've tried a few different wood bleaches, including the ones that work by pulling out the iron content from the wood. And if you're scratching your head over that - the working theory I have is that previous owners had dogs that peed and soaked into the wood - the iron in the pee turns rust colored and there are chemicals to pull that rust/iron out of the wood. But it doesn't smell or anything - just very dark - whatever stained it was many, many years ago. And I've given up on trying to bleach it - this is as good as it's going to get.

It's been suggested that I just stain everything dark with wood stain -- but I'm more inclined to just leave these splotches as part of the vintage vibe. Let the new owners replace the floors when/if I sell this house someday. This photo is after rough sanding so it's nice and flat now. Those dark areas don't get any lighter if I keep sanding deeper. After I do the finish sanding, I will apply pure tung oil finish thinned with Orange Oil Solvent. I like better than poly even though it takes a long time to dry and doesn't protect against scratches as well. What do you say about the dark spots? Any suggestions?
View attachment 1989432

I might have a pro work on it. I have seen floors that were in quite poor shape - others would have had it pulled out - that were rehabilitated and look amazing. I love an old floor, like all the character that comes with wear. Enjoy it.