Stain not taking, floor two different colors


Corinne

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Help! My husband and I are redoing our hardwood floors. When we took up the carpet that was in the living room it revealed a pretty dark hardwood floor. This is in contrast to the almost natural color of the other wood floors in the house including the connecting landing and stairs. He rented a sander, sanded the floors down and we applied a traditional cherry stain. The color came out much darker in the living room the anticipated which is fine, but definitely does not match the floors it connects to as they do not appear to be taking the stain the same way. 

Any ideas on what we can do to help blend the floors? We are okay with the darker look but can't have the two different colors the way they are. 

I have uploaded pictures of the layout and the way the colors took. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. 

Thank you!

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Looks like you stopped halfway through the staining?  Did you like the unstained color?  Are you willing to re-sand?

Certainly you can stain the lighter wood (banisters, floors, steps in other room) if that is your preference.

At this point, you're going to change something, so I would do some experimenting with both woods, possibly in less conspicuous places.  My bet is that you'll decide to re-sand and use a different stain/finish on the floor.

Honestly I can't tell that the floor has been sanded; it doesn't look like a "just sanded" surface.  Did you treat it with something after sanding it?

 

 

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Both parts of the floor were sanded with the same grit levels and stained with the same color. The darker section had been previously stained with a darker color but had been sanded down the same way the lighter section was. However the lighter wood does not seem to be taking the stain. When you apply the stain and then wipe off it is as if the stain comes right up. So frustrating.

We even tried using a darker stain on the wood that looks lighter and it made the wood a little darker but again it does not appear to be absorbing the stain color. 

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Along with Highlander, I suspect that part of the floor was sealed or treated differently.  The only floors I have redone were sanded to bare wood.  I'm not sure that's what you did.  

I understand that some floor treatments (I've heard this about Pergo) are not healthy to breath, nor is wood dust, in the first place, so the only tip I can offer is that if you do re-sand, be sure to wear breathing protection.  (And, as I'm sure you know, seal off from the rest of the house.)

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  • 1 month later...

You could try a wipe on gel stain on the light parts and see what it does, but I'd guess close to a zero chance that you will get a close match.   Other than that, it needs to all be sanded down to bare wood.

What type of stain did you use?  I'd advise to never try using Minwax liquid stain on a floor.  It penetrates differently depending on how long it stays on before wiping.  If it pools in one spot, you will have a dark spot.

On the rare occasions when I used to stain a floor, I'd use a buffer with piece of carpet to spread the stain. It goes really quickly, and you aren't down on your knees.  I'd recommend Bona stain.  I learned the hard way on the Minwax stain 35 years ago.

I have finished, start to finish, at least one floor a year for 33 years, and a few since then.

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