I recently stained my oak floors only to realize that the scratches and imperfections that were unnoticeable before were now very pronounced. I also didn't do a good enough job wiping off the stain as there were a few blotchy areas.

I have since sanded out the scratches and blotches and restained them. The spots that I had re-sanded and re-stained downstairs turned out perfectly! No problem with the blending of the touched up area with the rest of the floor. Upstairs, however, is a different story. The touch up spots upstairs are still pale in the middle (for some reason they're not taking the stain as well). I tried re-staining them several times, too, and now the surrounding area is significantly darker from all of the extra coats of stain that they've gotten.

Should I re-sand the pale AND darker areas, water-pop the bare wood, and then stain again? Would wiping the dark areas with a paint-thinner rag lighten it enough to help blend it? Should I just re-sand the entire floor all over again? I cringe at the mere thought of starting over, but I'd almost rather do that than to keep trying something that won't end up working. BUT, the downstairs did end up turning out great?! Any suggestions?

If its lighter than its probally a little slicker than the reast of the floor. You need the same scratch to give you the same color. If you are usinga little orbital to sand off the old stain thenyou need to drop down a grit (orbitals tend to polish the wood ) ie a 60x grit on an orbital creates a similar scratch of an 80 or 100 on the big machine. A old timer trick is to wet sand, take a 60 grit disc dip it into the stain then hand sand the mark out.

I would say to resand the floor. A good sanding progression that will result in no marks or uneven stain is; Drum sand w/ a 50 grit belt, edge sand w/ 50 grit, edge again with an 80 grit, then drum sand with an 80 grit, finally, go around all of the edges with a palm sander w/ 60 grit paper on it. Then vacuum and water pop. I would suggest applying the stain with a floor buffer with a thin white pad on it.