Repairing / blending damaged clear wood floor finish
When we moved into our 1950 brick home we had the oak strip flooring refinished with a water-based clear finish. Recently the finish was damaged in several places by a new brand of flea/tick medicine for our dog. Now there are several areas (about 1″ by 2″-3″) that need refinishing.
I have already purchased a quality water-based floor finish. My question is what is the best way to blend in the repair?
My plan was to:
– clean the areas thoroughly with mineral spirits
– mask the areas
– lightly sand the damaged area (which is now slightly discolored) with P180 grit, and further out with P400
– refinish
I can easily mask the area to either side of the damage between adjacent oak strips, which have pretty fair gaps between them (up to 1/8″ in places).
Should I plan to refinish the entire length of the damaged strip, or can I just clean and lightly sand around the damage and not worrying about the finish peeling up?
My concern is at the edges of old/new finish eventually peeling up. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Replies
slightly discolored?
I take it the medicine penetrated the finish and did the discoloration? Oak, like many woods, take a stain and son't like to give it up. It seems to go down deep. You may not be able to sand it out to your liking. Oxalic acid (wood bleach) might help.
I also don't think you'll need to go way up to 400 paper. When refinished they might have used up to 120. Your new floor finish should fill the sand marks quite well using no more than your 180. In addition, you shouldn't have a problem with the new finish lifting provided there's no wax or other foreign matter on the original.
RE: slightly discolored?
Thanks for the re-assurance.
RE: Repairing / blending damaged clear wood floor finish
Just to follow-up in case anyone was searching for a topic like this...
I masked an area with painter tape using the egdes of adjacent boards as boundaries. I left an extra "clean" board between the tape and the discolored area to be repaired, and plenty of working room along the length of my repair area. The tape was not meant as an edge as with painting, but more of a working boundary.
I lightly sanded the discolored area a bit with P220 paper and then lightly sanded a larger area with P320 - careful not to sand through the original finish. I thouroughly cleanded the entire area within the tape with mineral spirits to clean up any sanding residue and to clean the unsanded wood surfaces of any cleaning or other residues.
I kept small tupperware-like container with my working supply of finish (water based to match the rest) and my brush. I tried top match my first coat to the area where I sanded P220. Second coat I tried to match the area where I used P320. A third coat over a slightly larger area.
Sometimes you can see the discolored area as it wasn't sanded out completely, but it is much less noticeeable with the finish and I see no signs (after several months) of any delamination at the edges, etc.
Just to follow-up
Thanks.