I am refinishing my red oak floors. I have finished sanding down to raw wood. In several places the floor is "weeping." I have removed several sections of flooring and the bottom half of the floor board is dry. The floors were installed in the 1940s. I have just bought this house and don't really know the "floor's history." The floors were carpeted when I bought the house. This isn't my first refinishing job but this is the first time I've seen this weeping problem. Any ideas?

What is the nature of these "tears"?
Is there any relationship between the areas that are "weeping" and something else that was on the floor prior to sanding?
Really gonna need some pics and/or better description of your problem.

The area where this first appeared was in a bedroom. Apparently some sort of floor covering had been placed down that required glue. When I removed the carpet, the floor was covered with dried "trowel marks" of glue. After I finally sanded the dried glue residue, the floor underneath looked pretty good. It was about 3 days after I finished that room that the weeping appeared. I replaced that wood and thought that that was the end of my problems. When I finished sanding the living room, the floor looked good. Then a couple of days later the weeping appeared there.

The weeping can best be described as moisture oozing up from the floor boards. If you run your fingers over it, your finger is wet- not dripping wet but very damp. The areas where the weeping occurs is darker than the surrounding areas. Not stained like with pet urine. I'll try to post some pictures.

I have experienced this before. I have never identified the liquid but common sense tells me it is not H2O. My opinion is that is is a type of light oil of some sort. In the cases where I have encountered it, no amount of sanding removed it. The only remedy was removal. On one job, we went ahead with the finishing and hoped for the best. Since the floor was to be stained, that helped disguise the bleed back. The sealer stopped and further bleeding and as far as I know, the job was a success. In the cases where I have seen it, it was not severe.

I agree with you that the weeping isn't water. I appreciate your replies. I think I'm just going to go ahead and refinish like I usually do and hope for the best. Cross your fingers. Happy Thanksgiving.

What is the surface temperature of that area, compared to where this is not happening.

I'm leaning towards dew point being reached in that area for some reason.