Cherry Wood Floor Spot Repair--Now Lighter in Color


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Old 08-15-11, 10:15 AM
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Cherry Wood Floor Spot Repair--Now Lighter in Color

In several places on my engineered cherry wood floor, I found discolored spots where the polyurethane coating had worn through and the wood had become dirty or stained. I sanded out the stains, and tried applying the first coat of glossy clear polyurethane. However, the sanded areas are now very much lighter in color than the surrounding wood. I know that cherry wood darkens with age. Will the newly sanded areas darken over time to match the color of the rest of the floor, and therefore I should just complete the repair and let the color naturally darken? Or do I need to somehow stain the now lighter areas to match the rest of the floor? Of course, since it is engineered wood, I can't keep sanding out my repair mistakes to these areas! Also, is glossy clear polyurethane generally the appropriate finish? (I don't have any further information on the type of wood).
 
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Old 08-15-11, 10:23 AM
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Welcome to the forums!

Did you sand thru the stain? or just removed some of the failing poly?
A pic or two might help - http://www.doityourself.com/forum/el...your-post.html
 
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Old 08-15-11, 10:52 AM
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Did you use water or oil based polyurethane? If the floor was done originally with oil based and you used water based, your spots will be lighter. If you used oil and the original was oil but you used fewer coats, your spots will be lighter.

That said, I think Mark got it when he asked whether you sanded through the stain.
 
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Old 08-16-11, 07:35 PM
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Photos of Floor Spot

Here is several images of the floor spot I resanded. I had assumed that the color was natural--but was it actually stained? If so, how would I locate the correct color stain, and apply it in such a way as it matches the rest of the floor?[IMG][/IMG]
 
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Old 08-16-11, 07:57 PM
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Second Photo

 
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Old 08-17-11, 04:28 AM
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It looks like something got spilt on the floor and dissolved the original finish. Is there anyway to get in touch with whoever finished the floor originally?

The floor appears to be maple and maple generally doesn't stain well but it does look like a light stain was used. It may be difficult to find the right stain and get it to blend in a small area. The poly you applied would need to be removed in order for the wood to accept the stain.

While not ideal, you could experiment with tinting some poly and 'painting' just the spots with it. Tinted polys aren't recommended for floor use because as the poly wears, the color will wear with it. If you go that route you'd need to apply a few coats of clear poly over the tint to protect the color.
 
 

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