Stain in a wood floor

[BigguyZ]

I need to get pictures, but I don't have them at work. Anyways, I'm helping my brother refinish some floors in an apt he owns. We sanded the entire apartment, but the kitchen has some sizable stains. One stains looks to be a pet stain, and another outlines the place where the stove was perfectly.

My brother wanted to go natural, but he's decided to stain the kitchen. Will the stain and poly seal the smell of the pet stain in? Or would we want to treat it with an enzymatic solution first? Also, the stain around the stove seems to still be soaked. The floor had been covered with plywood and vinyl, so it hasn't been a wood floor in there for a while. But is it possible that there was a stain/ spill so bad that the wood is still soaked/ wet? We sanded the area, and it seemed dry, but recently it got really dark, and was wet to the touch. There's no water pipes that could be leaking in that area, and it's only around where the stove was. Is it just that the wood was so saturated with oil or something?

It's odd, and we'd like to avoid having to pull out the floor and patch. Would stain and poly even adhere if the wood's that badly saturated?

Thanks,
Travis

[billwmeyer]

White vinegar will help the pet odor. As far as the stain, if it is still soaked, I don't see how you will ever get out the stain or have luck refinishing the floor. You will either have to find a way to remove the saturation, or replace it. I have no idea how you would remove that saturation. I am afraid you will have to patch in this area. If the two stains are close I would replace both areas.

Good luck.

Bill

[pelligrini]

I don't have much to contribute on the stains, but wood floors in kitchens are usually not a good idea either. A kitchen is somewhat of a wet environment. We've had nothing but problems with them in kitchens. Between spills, leaky dishwashers & icemakers etc. they've always ended up cupped and damaged.

[cabinetman]

I would first try tri-sodium phosphate (TSP). It's easy to find (HD has it). That should help if not solve the stain problem. If that doesn't work use oxalic acid. The wood should be dry before doing any finishing.

If either removes the stain so the area is presentable, once it's dry and finished, odors if any should be sealed. Finishes won't adhere to wet wood.
.

[phi1l]

The stain around the stove is probably cooking grease splashing over the years. I think I would first try a good emulsifying cleaner to see if you can get it to come out. IF that doesn't work, I would just soak the area with a light solvent to see if you can move the stain farther into the wood. Another possibility would be to BLO on the floor to see if that will make the rest of the floor look like the oil soaked area..


THE pet stained area can be a bit harder. The Ammonia has probably oxidized the wood. The only way I can think of would be to treat the floor in that area with ammonia to see if you can blend the stained area into the rest of floor.

Here's another possibility, you may e able to remove that by applying one of those deck rejuvenation products, that would remove all patina from the wood.

[wardprobst]

Be careful using a deck cleaner inside, it's mostly oxalic acid and pretty tough on the respiratory system. I'd bleach the whole area around the stove and the pet stain and see how it turns out. If it's oak and you use ammonia it will darken it considerably like fuming does so the deck cleaner is better if you want natural.

DP