Hi All,

First post, and I must say that this site has been a tremendous help as I do my first attempt at a refinish on a bedroom. Here's what I have so far (and thanks to all those who have posted such great info that got me this far!!):

- 1960's oak strip flooring, previous oil based finish, board gaps, some slight marks and squeaks. Room is 15x13.5ft
- tightened floor from below with shims and PL
- used a rental DU-8 drum and Super 7R - sanding schedule of 60/80
- trowel filled with Woodwise red oak; overnight dry
- BM and edge again at 100
- hand sanded any swirls and marks at 80
- OBS-18 at 100 all around (rental drum was not aligned and left chatter marks...)
- tacked, then water-popped; full overnight dry
- Bona DriFast Special Walnut stain; 2 days drying currently. Oddly, the floor feels 'slightly damp' to the touch, but is dry.

Current State for reference:





I just did a walk through to inspect prior to starting finish with Bona Mega Satin (3 coats planned; will abrade with OBS-18 w/220 minimum 24hrs between coats), and did notice three small areas of marks; one looks like a small arc across three boards left by a vacuum or machine wheel impression. The stain looks consistent through the boards, but you can see the slight 'indentation' from eye height at the doorway. The other two marks are two boards or less across, and are very slight sanding marks left by the edger.

These are probably minor to anyone else but me , but I am wondering if it would be worth the extra for me to possibly light hand sand those areas with 60 or 80 and touch up the stain before starting the finish? If I do so, will the texture and/or water pop grain end up changing to such a degree that I would attract far more attention?

If anyone has any tips, tricks or caveats in this regard, it would be greatly appreciated! I was planning to start finish tomorrow, but I think I will push that back until I can choose my fate!

Thanks in Advance,

Tom

The best way I've found to remove marks after staining and before coating is to use a scraper. I prefer a Red Devil- 1" scraper. With a sharp blade you can lightly scrape out scratches, swirls, etc without changing the grain and stain should be consistent when re applied. Don't just scrape the marks, scrape about 3 - 4" on either side.Begin with light pressure, increase the pressure to make it cut lightly as you cross the damaged area, and end each pass lightly, in other words "feather" the repair area. We do make it a point to do this as we are staining if we find flaws, but have had success doing next day touch up repairs before 1st coat. I wouldn't touch it with sand paper.

We never water pop Oak floors, so I'm not sure if that'll affect the absorbency in the scraped areas.

Floors look nice in the pics. If you can't see these marks from a standing position about 3-4 feet away, chances are that satin finish will mask them enough they won't be noticeable. Truth is, it's hard to find a refinished floor without a slight sanding mark here and there.

Hi Floorpro - Thank You for the reply

I ended up having to repair a few areas, which I accomplished by re-sanding and then touching up and blending the stain by hand. I ended up also finding a small, thin, blistered area that I was able to cut out and use a trowel-on filler and some sanding to get it to match the rest:





Overall, I was quite pleased with the results. You are correct in that the Satin finish does hide some of my transgressions! One minor spot where a dime-sized area of Bona pooled, but very inconspicuous way off to one side near the baseboard. For my first attempt at flooring, I am happy enough now to tackle some of the larger areas of the house as time goes by

Cheers,

Tom

Nice looking floor!