Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with stains and hardwood

How to remove dye stains from hardwood?

Felicity Rilke — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 09:38:45 -0800

Ho do I remove confetti and streamer stains from hardwood floors? We held an election party last night complete with streamers and that metallic confetti which shoots out of poppers. Some of the streamers and confetti sat in pools of alcohol all night and today I am faced with candy-coloured marks all over my light-coloured hardwood. What's the best way to get rid of them (or, at the very least, fade them so they're less noticeable). I don't want to ruin the floors with my experimentation.

Creeping myself out.

Jess the Mess — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 13:17:09 -0800

What are these reddish brown stains on the floor of my "vintage" apartment? I'm not sure if I really want to know the answer to this question but here goes: I live in an old (circa 1920's or older) apartment in Chicago with wood floors. Both this apartment and the one I lived in before (also quite old) had very dark reddish brown stains on the floor when I moved in. In this apartment, they're in the bedroom. The other one was in the bed/living area of the apartment, which was a studio. Both were groupings of several stains of varying sizes, the largest being about a foot in diameter.

The morbid part of me wants to think they're blood stains, but could they just be from a drippy plant or something? Also, why is this apparently so common, if it is blood? As far as I know there hadn't been any murders or anything in either apartment.

Removing stains from floor.

zenpop — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 12:05:56 -0800

Any 'real' success stories with getting water/mildew stains out of an oak hardwood floor? While renting I've taken great care of my landlord's house. But was bummed to discover a big discoloration on the hardwood floor when I moved a large potted plant that I'd had sitting there through the year. (Yes, I had a water catch under it, but I think condensation gathered and did the dirty work).

I've Googled this and found various suggestions -- which are fine and good. This one sounding the most involved. But I'm wondering if anyone here has had real success in doing this. Or if anyone might have some other, less involved directions/suggestions. Or other stories to share.

I'm dreading the house 'inspection' when I move out end of July.

Refinishing Hardwood Floors

archimago — Tue, 27 Apr 2004 09:12:15 -0800

I'm gearing up to re-finish my hardwood floors this spring. My question is about stains and polyurethanes. Can I use an oil-based stain with a water-based poly coating over it? I can't seem to find any water-based stains, and I want to be able to put multiple coats of the poly down, and I only have about a week to do this (2 small rooms), so I need to take into consideration the quick drying times of the water-based finishes. The guy at the paint store said I could do the oil stain with the water poly as long as I let the floors cure first, but walked away from me when I asked him what that meant. Is a week enough time to sand and finish the floors of two rooms?