Hello,
I am hoping someone has experience to share on rehabbing 80-yr-old red oak floors. I have drum sanded them to remove the finish, but many of the boards have unsightly and stubborn stains (see pics). Some of them appear to be from long-ago water damage, and others from who knows what. They are not easily sanded away and seem to penetrate pretty far below the surface.
As an experiment I dug into one such area. I had to go at it with a 36 grit disk on an angle grinder to get to “clean” wood — almost 1/4” down in some spots. It seems impractical/unwise to do this everywhere.
Are there any magic stain-lifting treatments? Or, is it acceptable to grind down 1/4” (the existing boards are a full 3/4”—maybe never sanded in all those years). And if so, should I bring back the drum sander for the most even job?
Or do I just live with it? Pulling them up and replacing them is out of budget because there are so many.
Thank you!
Replies
Have you tried oxalic acid? It will bleach out the dark spots. You have to play with it. And frankly some stains just won't come out
Thank you for the suggestion! I ordered some and will try it.
Oxalic acid is a good idea, but remember to test an area first else you could end up with very white patches inside of the dark ones.
Good luck!