^I spilled a solvent on my hardwood floor and it took the shiny smooth finish off and made it rough and a little bit lighter. How do I make it look normal again. It's not a huge area, do I need to get floor sealer or something? It's like there's a shiny coat on the floor and the solvent took that away. I don't wanna fuck up my floor any more than this tho.
Yes, buy some sealer and paint several coats...letting it dry between coats. Really good sealer will leave a finish and it will darken/bring out the color or the wood as it dries. I've made book cases with wood I've "finished" by sanding and putting sealer on...several coats and sanding in between. It looks great and lasts. After everything is at the right color you may want to re-seal the whole floor. It'll be worth the trouble.
If it's a new floor you probably removed the polyurethane. Old floor probably varnish. Then the wood grain swelled up as it absorbed the solvent. Sand with something like 100 grit paper wrapped around a wood block, then 150. Overlap into the good stuff a little bit. Remove the sawdust and then you might have removed the stain, if the floor was stained, in which case you will have to re-stain with whatever color stain you can get the most nearly matches your finish. Wood changes color as the sun hits it, so it might be hard to match exactly. Stain can be applied with a rag, water base stains are the easiest to use. After the stain drys brush on new polyurethane or varnish and let dry. Polyurethane (use water based) comes in gloss, semi-gloss, and flat. Pick which one you want. Re-sand very lightly after 24 hours, just rough the surface, as the surface will probably be raised as the poly or varnish will also raise the grain and the sanding will smooth and rough the surface and help the next coating adhere to the first. But don't sand so much that you remove the first top coat or stain. Use 150 grit for a couple swipes only. Reapply your top coat. Repeat. It's nice to have three coats of clear finish on a floor as they take a lot of abuse.
I think it may be simi-gloss. I guess any one that I choose would probably look less obvious? How do you tell if it's polyurethane or varnish?
Is it really that noticeable? maybe just leave it instead of risking making it worse. unless it's because you're worried about a landlord getting pissed.
^yeah, I will admit that's some of it...it also kind of makes me upset that I didn't be more careful. I honestly wasn't even thinking that that shit would act like floor stripper if it got on the floor.
Actually both finishes are Varnishes, the older varnish was a shellac type, it was used before the late sixties or early seventies a lot. Polyurethane is a newer type of floor varnish that is used quite often now. If your floor dates back to the sixties or older it's probably shellac based, newer, or refinished, polyurethane. I'd just get some semi gloss poly and try that. If you don't seal it and then spill water on it, the wood will turn black. So at least give it a coat or two, you can get really small cans of poly.
idk how old the floor is, it doesn't look that old surely not as old as the building itself. I can also kind of tell it's been refinished before because theres places where there are scratches in the wood but it's under the sealant so it is probably the polyurethane stuff. Would it be a good idea to look for a small container at the local hardware store and try some on a peice of scrap wood or something to see what it looks like first?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNnAvTTaJjM"]Talking Heads "Burning Down the House" - YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVRp_RPxV5w"]
It probably won't look the same unless it's a piece of the floor, different wood has different colors. The poly will be clear, if you wet your finger and wipe it on the floor to get it damp...that's pretty much what the poly will look like except thicker. Just buy a half pint or even a spray or wipe on (with a rag) can of water based poly at Lowe's or Home Depot, or a hardware store, have a couple glasses of wine and do it. But don't spill the wine on the bare wood! $6.62 @ Lowe's You can always sand it off if you don't like it and do it over.
it's so simple. you cut the affected area out and flip it over. just be extra careful not to spill anything on the newly flipped over portion.
i really don't know if they normally stain the bottom. i kind of doubt it. my post was a joke though. it was basically the sitcom solution.
heh, okay I'm glad I didn't start tryin' to do that lol I can see some meth crazed speed demon pryin up every board in his floor or something.
