Hello,

I'm refinishing old pine floors. It looks like the previous owners sanded and stained an area right in the middle of the living room (picture frame looking area). They must not have liked the result, and covered with carpet.

I sanded down the whole floor and spent hours with a drum sander and 24 grit paper trying to remove the stain (or maybe the wood just got discolored from being exposed to the carpet pad for 40 years).

A trash can full of sawdust later, you can still see the stain.

I wanted to leave the floors natural, but should I try to stain the rest to color match? Should the stain be darker than the old stained part or try to match it?

What is the best method to stain? Sanding sealer, then stain? mix stain into sanding sealer? I was going to use this sanding sealer, then top with bona traffic http://www.homedepot.com/p/Rust-Oleum-P ... /202521769

What stain should I use? any method for blending the different colored area's?

How far does stain penetrate (or "weathered" untreated wood discolor)? I may try and rent the sander again...it looks better than it was, but still clearly visible.

Thanks for the help!

If you sanded to bare wood and still see a discoloration, you likely have a urine stain or water damage. There's no way flooring stain would be left in the wood after that .

If that is the case, you either need to remove and replace the stained wood or try to hide it by staining the whole floor darker.This wont solve the problem , it will only help disguise it a bit .

The best method to stain pine is to use a wood conditioner.Minwax wood conditioner is okay.After that , apply stain .After the stain dries , apply finish.

I'm sorry to hear you had to deal with this pattern. Pine is a softwood, as is Douglas fir. I have seen these "postage stamp" areas on many Douglas fir floors that I've sanded over the years. When I first got in the trade, I tried sanding it out, too, and got nowhere. The discoloration is always a square or retangular shape, usually in the center of the room. I warn customers that there's nothing that can be done for it except what's being said here: stain the rest of the floor darker to minimize it, or replace the boards. No one has ever had me do either one, but it's important that they know ahead of time that this stain might show up on their floor.

Thanks for the help! Can you add stain to the sealer and do it in one shot, or is it best to seal, then stain?

Should I go with a stain that is slightly darker than the discolored area or do I need to go a lot darker? Any tips on masking the discolored area so that a line is not visible?

The discolored area I have is about an 8'x8' square in the center of the room. I got a bit lighter with all the sanding (took another go at it), but its still visible. I sanded a lot (many bags of sawdust)...I'm thinking that the exposed wood (there was no finish on that area) has weathered through. may try putting hydrogen peroxide on that area. Anyone tried this?

You don't want to add stain to sealers. You will put the stain down first. If you want to use a sealer, it'll be the first coat after the staining.



I don't know of any way that you will be able to mask the lines that go cross-grain. Nothing short of a black stain could do that. By staining the rest of the floor, you can minimize the contrast of the box shape, but you can't hide it. As for "darkness:" you want to match what is already there--not darker or lighter, but as close to the same intensity as you can. I'm not sure I fully understand that question

I’ve never had success with any short-term bleaching. One of my customers said he got rid of a stain by applying bleach to the same area for a period of weeks. The stain was gone, but in its place was a lighter area that also stood out. Hydrogen Peroxide is going to weaken the wood fibers, and I’m not sure you’d want to do that on softwood. I’ve only bleached hardwoods, in preparation for white stains. Basically, I don’t think you’ll gain anything by bleaching—the discoloration will not disappear, even if you succeed in lightening it up.

This is one point of view. Maybe someone else has some tricks for softwoods.