Hardwood floor botched screening
Hi, We have an an apartment that we are renovating to sell. Although the floor wasn’t in bad shape, we decided as long as we were painting, we would screen the floors to so they would like nice and spiffy. Oops. The living room and dining room came out mostly fine, but the long hall and bedroom came out blotchy all over. The GC explained the problem like this: the old poly coat had worn off in some places, so when they screened, where there had been no poly the stain was stripped. Then they polled over the entire floor, so now there are shiny light brown areas, and shiny bleached out looking white spots. Where it is polled but not stained. The GC tried sanding and patching those areas but nothing seemed to work, so he’s now proposing re-screening the hall and BR with a thicker screen to remove all the stain, and lay down new stain and poly. I’m concerned with a few things – first, that the hall and BR won’t match the DR/LR. (there is a saddle between the DR and hall, that is the only point where the two areas would meet.) Secondly, since the problem came because the floors were uneven, will this exacerbate the problem? He also said there isn’t enough thickness to sand them. So might a heavy screening put me in the position of having to put a new floor down? This would be a *total disaster* as we are planning to go on the market next week and can’t afford carrying it empty for the months of permits, coop permission, etc., that that would take, besides the cost of laying down a new floor. We were just trying to make it look nice but I fear we’re now going down the rabbit hole . . . Thanks for your thoughts and expertise!
elm_bk
in Renovation 11 years and 1 month ago
3
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3 replies
elm_bk | 11 years and 1 month ago
Thank you both for these responses – it always amazes me what kind of expertise there is here in this community! I will report back w the outcome – hopefully in the next few days. I really appreciate your input — Elizabeth
thetinkerswagon | 11 years and 1 month ago
I hate to be the trouble maker here, but i have done plenty of floor work and repairs and I am not so sure that this is going to go all that easy. Once the stain has been tampered with, it is very hard to correct it (in a repair) without sanding out the entire floor. For starters, do you know who made the original stain? Even if you get the correct stain manufacturer and color, I am worried that the screening may have interfered with whatever grit the floor was last sanded to – possible sanding it down and closing the grit, which will tend to hold the stain out, making it lighter, or leaving it open. ALSO, screening does not remove all of the old poly, so in those spots where the finish was not worn through, the floor will not absorb stain the way it should; result may be uneven. I am wondering what kind of poly was used? was it water? or oil. you know, years ago, I would have never done it, but I am told you can put water base poly over very old oil base poly (provided it has been screened). the reason I am thinking about the poly now is, if he can put a light stain on those spots – lighter than the good (still stained) floor, he can then tint the poly to match the surrounding stain and only apply the tinted poly to those spots that may need it, being careful to feather it out as he nears the edges. I know this sounds troublesome and it is, but we have often tinted poly during repairs – with some good luck. the idea is not to go too dark too quick, so after staining lightly, he may wish to apply two LIGHTLY tinted coats of poly, followed by a clear coat over the entire. takes some experimenting with and if it is water base poly he can do two or three coats in a day and be done or still have time to take some off and start again if he had to. The trick is to not add too much tint to the poly – it must be done in light layers or it will look “painted” or it will go too dark. and, if the stain is oil base, he will want to be careful around the edges of the good poly or it will show a ring. water base might be easier. again, another reason to go light with the stain and apply tinted poly to the spots to correct for the lightness. ALso, if this is oil base poly, it may be hard to pull it off the wood so soon without fully sanding. until the poly has cured fully, it tends to burnish into the wood as you try to remove it – it does not white off (which dry product will do), but may move around. if it is water base, you will have better luck with it sooner. When trying to match colors, it is a good idea to have a color wheel handy. sometimes we may go too red, in which case a coat with a little green in it will push it off to brown. if we go too orange, a coat with a little blue in it will correct. Charlie Hoey at Abbott Paint can answer a lot of questions about the staining and tinting and he has most of the tints out there. may have some other ideas as well. to answer your last question, heavy screening would not go through the floor. even a 60 grit screen will not do it. he can work it all day and he will not even get all of the poly out, no more than go through the floor. Steve
Rick | 11 years and 1 month ago
I don’t see any more options for you. I think your GC has it right, remove the saddle screen, stain and polly again and put the saddle back. It shouldn’t be a problem to get the stain color close enough to the other rooms. If for some reason your floor doesn’t come out the way you want, you could easily install quarter inch flooring ( oak? ) over what you have. That would be a small cosmetic job and probably would not need permits and such. Good luck and try to relax with this. It really shouldn’t be a big deal.