Can You Use Regular Stain on Old Hardwood Floors?

Take extra care when dealing with older hardwood floors.

The only thing that might change about the process of refinishing an old hardwood floor as opposed to a new one is the machine you use to sand down the floor. Apart from that, refinishing an older hardwood floor requires you to take the same considerations as you would with any hardwood floor.

Sanding

If you're dealing with an old hardwood floor, chances are it may have become warped and uneven with time. If this is the case, do not use a drum sander as you might with a perfectly flat hardwood floor. Instead, use an orbital sander that will move with the contours of the floor. This will remove the bulk of the stain, but you will need to use smaller sanding tools to do the edges and corners of the room.

Cleaning the Floor

You have to get rid of all that dust once you finish sanding. A shop vac is a handy tool for getting rid of the bulk of any sawdust. The older the floor, the higher chance of old stains having seeped into the wood. If you see any stains lingering on the wood even after a thorough sanding, wash the floor with a rag soaked in mineral spirits. This will help lift out any grease stains and remaining wood stain. The wet cloth will also pick up any residual dust.

Restaining

Unless your old hardwood floor is rotting out, in which case you'd just replace it, you can use any type of wood stain you'd use on a new hardwood floor. If you're not sure what color to go with, get a few samples from your hardware or home improvement store and paint them onto the floor. Let them dry so you can see the full effect. Once you make a decision, remove all of the stains -- including the one you chose -- with mineral spirits or commercial stain stripper. Paint the stain onto the floor as directed by the manufacturer and allow it to dry completely.

Protective Topcoats

With your old hardwood floor stripped, restained and properly dried, all you need to do is apply a protective topcoat, such as polyurethane. Of course, if you like the way the natural wood looks unstained, you can easily skip staining and just add the polyurethane. Bear in mind that if you do this, you will most likely need to apply at least three coats of polyurethane instead of the usual two after staining.

References

• Hammer Zone: Finishing a New Hardwood Floor With Oil-Based Urethane
• Hammer Zone: Applying Polyurethane
• "Times Union"; Sanding and Staining an Old Wood Floor; Joe Keegan; July 2008
• Lowe's: How to Refinish a Hardwood Floor