I posted this at FHB as well, but thought I might get good advice from fine woodworkers as well. Thank you in advance.
I recently installed 3/4 X2 1/4 Red Oak T&G flooring,Select & Better grade.
I did the install myself but chose to have the sanding and finishing done by a hardwood flooring professional. They have done a beautiful job on the sanding.
My problem is with the stain. Staining was done on Thursday 7/3. Miniwax oil-base stain was used. There is some un-evenness in the absorption in some of the boards. Obviously I expect variation in color from one board to the next due to differences in grain, etc. However, there are several boards where the color trails off at the end of the board and is much lighter. I think they might have been moving a little too fast and wiping it up before the stain had a chance to penetrate.
Can more stain added to corrected this (without darkening the color significantly) or without sanding to bare wood again?
They are returning tomorrow morning to apply the first coat of polyurethane.
FYI, The wood was allowed to acclimate for for several weeks prior to install & I let the floors settle out for three weeks before sanding.
Replies
Sure you can add more of that stain. If it's an application error, as you suspect... I'd make the flooring guys do it. They might need to wetsand with some of the stain to get it to penetrate evenly since I believe Minwax oil stains set up in 24 hours. In any case, you have a right to expect them to do a professional job. At the very least that should include proper and thorough application of stain.
Regards,
Kevin
Thank you for your reply. I don't think I'll have a problem getting them to do it. They been good to deal with thus far. It's just a question of if it can be done and how best to accomplish it. Would dust from the wet sanding cause a problem with the polyurethane?
Thanks again for your help?
Would dust from the wet sanding cause a problem with the polyurethane?
Oh no. If they wet sand it'd be more like a slurry of wet stain and wood particles when they're done. I imagine they'll try just wiping some stain over the problem areas to see how it looks before resorting to anything else. In any case even if they didn't wipe up the excess stain and wood particles, which I'm sure they will do, it wouldn't pose a problem for the poly provided the stain is thoroughly dry before the poly gets applied. No worries there.
Regards,
Kevin
Thanks again. They'll be here at 8:00 AM tomorrow I'm anxious to see how it all works out.
I agree. Just don't let them apply the poly until you are satisfied with the stain step or you will have a mess on your hands
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