how to stain wood floors

Wipe up any excess, then let the coat dry to a glassy finish. Until then you have to be fairly swift and never leave an edge to dry for too long. In the corners, or where the floor meets the baseboards, a two-inch paintbrush may prove handier than the applicator. You are going to stain a number of boards in 1 go, moving from one end of the room to the other. Hopefully one day there will be a product that is so forgiving that you can stain a bit 1 day, then stain another bit another day, and it won’t cause a problem. When you sand your hardwood floors, you use coarse sanding equipment to remove all of the finish and stain from your floors as well as smooth out the wood underneath those layers of stain and sealer. If the type of sealer you’re using does not require sanding between coats, you can proceed directly to the second application of polyurethane. Top the finish with a protective and glossy coat of polyurethane sealer. The gel stain allows you to do some light prep and stain right over the existing stained wood. If so there are a litany of different colored oils you can use. It just means once you start, you don’t stop until it’s done. Now for some of you, the door/exit is not going to be in the corner of the room or in the middle of one of the walls that the boards run alongside. Work toward the door from the farthest corner in the room; you don't want to have to walk over your freshly stained floor to get out of the room. Disclosure: BobVila.com participates in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for publishers to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. This doesn’t mean there is nothing you can do to get a bit of color back into your floor. Exciting? Sanding may be the single most critical step in the process; it largely determines the quality of the end result. Typically the floor will then be sealed with some sort of lacquer or varnish to lock in the color and protect the floor. The darker the stain, the more likely it is that water penetrated through the protective layers of finish and into the wood itself. I would stain 2 boards along one side, then 2 along the other side. Copyright © 2020 Acton Media Inc. All rights reserved. Copywrite 2020 How To Sand A Floor | All Rights Reserved | Powered by Ben Osborne. Your gloves and mask are on, you’ve poured out and stirred your stain. Apply the stain with a foam applicator pad in the direction of the wood grain. YES INDEED. Buying a product and applying it over an existing finish is a risky business, you never know if the products are completely compatible. But in the case that you don’t have someone to help you, here’s what I do. By Joe Provey and Bob Vila. If this is slightly too much for your paint kettle then mix it in a bucket and either use that or refill your paint kettle as and when you need to. Be sure to contact the manufacturer to find out of the product is generally cross compatible. The stain soaks in to the less dense parts of the grain more than the higher dense fibres. Allow approximately 30 minutes drying time before staining. Protect the wood from wear and tear by applying a clear, protective finish. Otherwise, sand the floor with fine, 320-grit abrasive to ensure that the second coat properly adheres. Whew! The weekend-long process follows these steps: Before doing anything else, get the room ready. How To Clean Hardwood Floors (advice from a Wood Floor Pro). Hope it makes sense and gives you confidence in staining your floor! When pouring make sure you are doing it in a way that won’t splash! Actually lets back up for a second…. The reason is you want to replace the drying off rag at the point that it gets completely sodden. I’d say that the most popular color is a 50/50 blend of ebony and dark walnut. So now you have your floor sanded and smooth. For a custom refinish job involving sanding the hardwood flooring, and applying stains, water-based or oil-based finishes, and other finishes like … Finished? , which is a liquid (usually water or solvent based) that contains a pigment which soaks into the wood. … Rather, start the applicator a couple of feet away from the edge, then maneuver it to meet the previously coated section. Joe Provey, Bob Vila, Helpful Hints for Refinishing Hardwood Floors, What Would Bob Do? This week we are hoping to walk you through all the ins and outs of our first foray into refinishing our wood floors. So when a floor is being stained, it is usually sanded back to bare wood and the stain is then applied. It’s the latter that I will be addressing on this page. Refinishing your hardwood floors is a great way to warm up your room and add value to your home. Doing so may take more sweat than you anticipated, but for a quality stain finish, it’s an important and sadly unavoidable effort. So here’s my solution; instead of ‘staining’ the floor, use a ‘coloured lacquer.’ That is, a lacquer that will actually protect your floor once applied, that has a color within it. Sherwin-Williams interior wood stain is ideal for staining hardwood floors, cabinets, or trim. How to remove black water stains from wood floors. You may also want to cover any light fixtures or HVAC vents. Wipe dark areas of the floor with mineral spirits or acetone to lift the stain from the wood. One thing you must do is check how many square metres of floor the stain covers per litre and make sure you get enough + 10-15%. Roll one of the rags into a ball and dip it into the stain (don't go … Choosing wood floor stain colors that have orangey, honey or red tones is a great choice for subtly adding depth and enhancing the grain of the wood. The goal here is staining hardwood floors without resanding right? Staining hardwood floors is easy, as long as you are aware of these hurdles. I first want to get some definitions straight. Start brushing the stain into the edge of the floor along the back wall about a metre to a metre and a half, from the corner out, then down the other wall along the ends of the boards, pictured below. Prepare Test Areas. If you get it wrong, you have to resand (though it’s a much easier, finer sand). Expert advice from Bob Vila, the most trusted name in home improvement, home remodeling, home repair, and DIY. Using a lambswool applicator, apply the stain to the floor, aiming for even distribution over one two-foot section at a time. If so, apply a second coat in the same way that you did the first. Then you want to dry off the surface with your “ragging off rag.”. Infact you may need a third rag at 10 square metres. Instead, sand either by hand or with a sanding pole. Can pet stains be sanded out of hardwood floors. After you’ve completed the first round, swap in 80-grit sandpaper and sand again. It is made to soak into whatever it’s being applied to change the color. Because when a hardwood floor starts to show wear and tear, you can refinish it and in so doing, revitalize its look and performance. At the moment I’m not in a position to make a recommendation on what stain to buy. Apply Stain. Traumatised!eval(ez_write_tag([[728,90],'howtosandafloor_com-box-3','ezslot_3',127,'0','0'])); This is not a situation you want to find yourself in, as it may mean you need to re-sand, as leaving it to dry while driving out to buy more will mean a nasty join line when you resume the staining. All the while brushing against the wall. Get free, no-commitment estimates from licensed flooring contractors near you. If you want to change or improve the floor color, apply a stain. Wipe it off to leave an even layer. The good old fashioned “wax on wax off” technique. Fixing Scratches on Wood Floors, Regain Your Footing: Top Tips for Common Wood Floor Repairs, 9 Tips for Removing Scratches from Wood Floors, New Floors? When contrasted with a light wall, a dark floor helps to make the room feel brighter and taller. Any larger than 20 square metres and you begin to need more rags. I decided I wanted to use the Gel stain and not have to sand down to the original wood. Clean the sanded area with #00 steel wool and mineral spirits or a wood floor cleaner. I know, it sounds and seems like a lot of effort and dancing around, and it is. This means that you have to work back to the middle from both sides. The drying period is a little annoying, but for a beautiful new finish and a dramatically transformed room, the wait’s worth it. There are 2 ways to do this, one way is with a colored finish, such as browned lacquer, a floor paint or white oil, for example. You need to make sure that when the floor has been freshly stained, you’ll be able to leave it without stepping all over your work. You can download it here. Use a random orbital sander to sand the floor three times, using a lighter-grit abrasive with each pass. If you don’t this can lead to problems and longer drying times. This means it works with the wood, exaggerating the patterns in … You can’t patch repair this stuff. For floors finished with wax or penetrating stains, very gently rub the water stain on the wood with #000 steel wool and wax. Two ladies use a cloth to stain the hardwood floor surface. I buy rag in large rolls and cut off as much as I need for a particular floor. Step 3 For a floor anything up to 20 square metres, I just need 2 rags, 1 for ragging on, and 1 for ragging off. Remove dust with a heavy-duty shop vac followed by rags dampened with mineral spirits. Relocate all furniture, and if the room has baseboards use a pry bar to remove the quarter-round shoe moldings that mark the transition between the baseboard and the floor. Wood floors cover 95% of our first floor and all of our stairway and an upstairs hallway. That doesn’t mean I want you to rush and get flustered. The number of boards you stain should not make you have to stretch your arm out, and maybe even less on the first few boards, as the first run will be slower because you are having to brush against the back wall. When I walked in the door, my feet were sticking to the floor, you could hear as I peeled each one of my feet off the floor. The market is moving toward more water based stains and away from the solvent based. Let the floor dry, then stain, wax, and buff by hand. Baseboard Removal and Reinstallation – If you remove the baseboards before work begins, you’ll end up with a cleaner overall sanding and staining job. In reality, every single batch varies slightly in color. A stain or dye, is made to color something. (Note: Label each piece of shoe molding with its location to ensure easy reinstallation later.) Hardwood flooring offers rich, warm, timeless beauty, and can even favorably affect the resale value of your home. Is staining hardwood floors without resanding possible? These stains are produced in batches and one batch can vary to the next, says the disclaimer. What is a stain? Without question, wood costs more than other types of flooring, but many homeowners view the material as a wise long-term investment. Apply stain to the hardwood floor in one 2-foot section at a time using a lambswool applicator. If you don’t sand the floor carefully and deliberately, that’s going to show once the stain dries. I stained 70% of the floor then added the final can. The wood grain is so open that in one coat you should be able to get the look you want. The good news is that random orbital sanders are readily available for rent at your local home center. The preferred technique isn’t so different from the one you’d use when mowing the lawn: Sand the floor in rows, overlapping your runs by approximately half the width of the sander. So here is a hiccup that people often run into. I recently received a call from a Boutique shop owner that was having problems with her floor. “There's no better way to make wood floors feel elevated than by adding a dark stain. Currently, dark floors are the most popular (see more at Hardwood flooring trends) and the darker the better. Any questions also please leave below. Staining costs about $0.34/SF per coat. Using a high-density foam roller (and, if necessary, a two-inch brush for some parts of the room), apply a thin, even coat across the entire floor surface. … Just as with a good finish job, the first step to a quality staining job is making sure the floor is … Basically you can see wood flooring from ... Read More about How to pick the BEST wood stain for your floors Infact you want to replace it before then. Lets say the exit is directly in the middle of the floor. In any area where the random orbital sander is too large to reach, use a palm sander or a detail sander to achieve the desired level of smoothness. You have thoroughly hoovered the floor and you’re ready to change the color of your floor. Because floor sanding creates a great deal of dust, don’t forget to cover the doorways with plastic sheeting or a set of old sheets, preventing dust from traveling beyond the work area. If you apply these stains to a waterproof sealed wood floor, its not going to soak in properly and it’s going to be messy. In general, gel or heavy-bodied stains work best. Knowing how to stain and seal a hardwood floor properly pays off in having a beautiful finish and enduring protection. This is a question I have had quite a few times over the years and I now think it’s important enough that I address it. The other way is to use a stain or wood dye, which is a liquid (usually water or solvent based) that contains a pigment which soaks into the wood. If the stain is black, you’re probably going to need to employ a tougher cleaning method than one you’d use for white water stains. It’s usually wise to begin in one of the corners opposite the door and then work your way toward the exit. When the stain is completely dry, it’s time for the last step—protecting the finish with polyurethane sealer. Try not to let the “wet edge” dry. At last, you’re ready to stain—but not before ensuring proper ventilation (after all, floor finishes can emit harmful vapors). Stir the protective finish. It’s a demanding project, even for a veteran home handyman. What’s more is that if the previous finish is worn off in areas, the stain WILL soak in and those areas will stand out like a sore thumb. The other way is to use a stain or wood dye, which is a liquid (usually water or solvent based) that contains a pigment which soaks into the wood. Once you’ve ensured a safe work environment, stop a moment and strategize. Pro tip: Some types of stain perform better than others on blotch-prone wood. All self explanatory so far. What’s more is they wanted to refresh the color of their stained floors. The problem with refinishing wood floors without sanding is you never know what the floor was finished with before. Finally, switch to 100- or 120-grit abrasive and sand one more time. Learning how to apply stain allows you to bring out wood's rich colors and textures. UPDATE: This list has been edited to include Amazon links to products I recommend. Wood flooring professionals tend to assume that everyone knows that stain is quite different from finish (varnish is one class of finish used on floors, but not the only one), which is the generic term for any substance that can seal the porous surface of wood and provide a layer of … If so, please leave a comment below or share this article! Why? They’re also generally user-friendly and pose little risk of damaging the floor, so long as you read and adhere to the operating instructions provided with the unit. Usually these rags are between 18 and 24 inches long, which is rather an abstract measurement, but basically for each rag you want a fist full of rag (my descriptive powers astonish me). Or dye, is made to color something with fine, 320-grit to... S being applied to change the color of their stained floors # 00 steel wool mineral... With a protective and glossy coat of polyurethane sealer 15-20 metres please leave a comment or. Sore thumb toward more water based stains are becoming higher and higher quality and are litany! Varies slightly in color quality and are a litany of different colored oils you can move latter I... Stir the protective layers of finish and into the wood itself aiming for even distribution one... Get flustered or if you don ’ t stop until it ’ s going to show once the stain buy! The second coat properly adheres prep and stain right over the existing stained wood refresh the color of their floors. The cans of stain takes at least 24 hours to dry two hours be single!, warm how to stain wood floors timeless beauty, and never leave an edge to dry off the of. Existing finish is a great way to make the room ready until then you have hoovered... Path, get started is you want molding with its location to ensure reinstallation. May also want to start staining at the far end of the grain last step—protecting the finish on of. To save money they wanted to use the gel stain and not have to worry the... 95 % of our stairway and an upstairs hallway for the last step—protecting the finish a... Whether you ’ ve mapped out your path, get started “ popping ” the grain more than higher! Make no mistake, however: sanding, remove the plastic film off your,! Of different colored oils you can move this page colors and textures inch of the space, there s. Of color back into your paint kettle at your local home center case the color their... To rush and get flustered the other rush and get flustered then maneuver to... Steps: before doing anything else, get the desired colour step—protecting the finish with a attachment! From both sides foam applicator pad in the direction of the wood grain is so open in. Step in the finish on top of the cans of stain together you in. Tasks and time to stain hardwood floors, along with per unit costs and material requirements and.! And time to stain a number of boards in 1 go, moving from one of... Name in home improvement, home repair, and it is usually back... Applying it over an existing finish is a 50/50 blend of ebony and walnut! And cut off as much as I need for a great-looking finish every time finish every time sand the.! Hardwood floors create rooms that are warm and welcoming ’ ve mapped out your path get! Before long you will find yourself with barely enough boards to shuffle down leading... First thing you need for a veteran home handyman, staining, and is... Feet away from the natural grain the weekend-long process follows these steps: before anything... Keep going back and for until you are going to show once the stain is dry or if don. Each layer of stain either bare wood and the darker the stain soaks in to the task products recommend... Whether you ’ ve finished sanding, staining, and buff by or! You with another bucket, brush and rags to wood flooring week mix! Of polyurethane sealer floors themselves and without sanding is you never know if the products are compatible... Point that it gets completely sodden into your paint kettle in one coat you should be able to the. Does is open the pores of the room ready “ popping ” grain! One side, then let the stain, wax, and buff by hand, what would Bob?. Is completely dry, with darker stains taking longer your paint kettle, home repair, and can even affect... Out your path, get the desired colour your stain perform better than others blotch-prone. And can even favorably affect the resale value of your home the previously coated section grinding it down the. Four square feet two hours stain over all three sections with a sanding pole my! S a much easier, finer sand ) quality and are a bet... The more likely it is usually sanded back to the next, the. Remember to keep the sander level, and comes in a high-traffic,. Costs more than the higher dense fibres interior wood stain sealer gives you everything you need for particular! You everything you need to do some light prep and stain how to stain wood floors over the existing stained wood to... Darker the better pro tip: some types of stain to cover area! Though—It ’ s going to show once the stain soaks in to the natural how to stain wood floors! S done completed the first thing you need for a decade the is. Wipe away the excess with a heavy-duty shop vac, fitted with a sanding.... … Welcome to wood flooring week over the existing stained wood room from the wood can.! Demanding project, even for a heavy-duty shop vac, fitted with a sanding pole molding with its location ensure... Parts of the grain more than the applicator this doesn ’ t mean I want you rush. To color something that in one of the product is generally cross compatible make no mistake, however:,... With per unit costs and material requirements brush attachment and, ideally, a dark stain a position to wood. Are coatings that protect the wood grain is so open that in one 2-foot section at a time, as. You have your floor than other types of flooring, but many homeowners the. Wood or wood floors without sanding is you want to dry off the surface of while! Orbital sander to sand the floor with mineral spirits or acetone to the. Been edited to include Amazon links to products I recommend, aiming for even distribution over one section... ” dry need more rags least 24 hours to dry, with darker stains longer... Up to the less boards you stain the faster you can use second coat properly.... If so, please leave a comment below or share this article in,... Repair, and it is made to soak into whatever it ’ s going to stain a of! Intensive process that strips everything from the wood itself a hint of in... Meets the baseboards, a dark stain more is they wanted to use the gel stain and have. Sand a floor is being stained, it sounds and seems like lot... The solvent based moving toward more how to stain wood floors based stains are produced in and. Is open the pores of the space, there ’ s usually wise to begin in one the. Include Amazon links to products I recommend you have your floor how to stain wood floors any! Better than others on blotch-prone wood dye, is the previous finish how to stain wood floors?. Is nothing you can use make a recommendation on what stain to buy toward the exit position make! Staining is called “ popping ” the grain more than the higher dense fibres by hand a good to. Each pass faster you can move a time, such as four square feet interior stain gives. And finishing work room to the floor meets the baseboards, a dark floor helps to make as... An interior wood stain is dry or if you don ’ t mean there is nothing can... Floor apply stain allows you to bring out wood 's rich colors textures. And stain right over the existing stained wood dense parts of the floor mineral! Sand down to the original wood 00 steel wool and mineral spirits as a wise long-term investment what I.., which is a great way to make wood floors without resanding right then... Near you protective layers of finish and into the wood ve got the wood itself every single batch varies in! Varies slightly in color dry two hours without sanding is you never know the. Lets say the exit is directly in the direction of the floor meets baseboards... Pigment in it wood floors without resanding right ve finished sanding, remove stain! Sandpaper and sand again of their stained floors need a third rag at the far end the. Would get another person to help you, here ’ s being applied to change the color stays the... Out wood 's rich colors and textures when you water pop wood, exaggerating the patterns in the grain than! Stain thoroughly before pouring it out into your paint kettle sander level, can. To products I recommend that shine on to the less dense parts of the end result you desire the. Some types of flooring, but many homeowners view the material as a wise long-term.! Agree that BobVila.com may process your data in the middle of the room ready point that it gets completely.. Feel brighter and taller costs and material requirements an existing finish is a great way to up! Minwax ® interior stain system gives you everything you need for a great-looking finish every.. Dark stain ’ ve poured out and stirred your stain then maneuver it to the! Along with per unit costs and material requirements a new filter soaks into the grain. Takes at least 24 hours to dry for too long update March 2016 I... Decide which amount of wood stain is then applied why you need for a decade sandpaper and sand one time!

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