Hi There.
I am glad the forum is back. Hope you guys are doing good.
I have some refinishing and staining questions.

Do you wet the floor before staining?

Can anyone give me detailed description on how to do it and if it is necessary.
I guess it makes the wood grain rise a little bit then you can screen it and it comes out smoother? Am I right?

Do you spray the floor a little bit?
Do you wipe the floor with dump rug?
Do you do it after belt sander or after screening?

Second question:

I have done refinishing job. Everything came out great but



Areas close to the wall are a little bit lighter then the middle of the room.
I have used palm sander (orbital sander) in order to get rid of the edger marks. I have screen the floor with 150 sand paper and then with 220 looks perfect, not even one sanding mark but a little discoloration.
Do you guys use palm sander?
How do you get rid of edger marks?

Two rooms of the house were quarter sawn 5/16 white oak those two rooms came out a little bit darker then the rest of the house? Rest of the house has 5/16 white oak plain cut.
Came out darker and in some places uneven in color. Slightly uneven almost hard to notice. By uneven I mean as if there was old plant stain but the unevenness is not a perfect circle plus before sanding the floor looked even in color and after buffing floor looked perfectly uniform.
Should I sand the quarter sawn wood differently?

Is there a sealer that I can use before applying Minwax stain?
Does it work well?
I have used Provincial Minwax stain I did not wet the floor.
After stain I have put Quick dry sealer and then two coats of Basic Coating finish

Next question:

Next project. Client wants to stain the floor. This is the formula he wants to use:
7 parts Ebony
2 parts Red Mahogany
2 parts Dark Walnut
1 part English Chestnut

Is the normal to mix so many different colors?
What kind of problems I can run into?


Last question:

I will be installing wide boards Yellow Pine about 8" wide.
I will glue and nail. Is that necessary to glue it? It is the floor on the attic, moisture in the flooring and sub floor differs 1%-3%

This floor will be painted blue.
Have you painted floor before?
What is the best product to paint it? How do I sand the floor before painting?
do I buffer?
Do I use primer?
Anyone has painted the yellow pine before?

Thanks Guys.
Rafal Maleszyk

Jeez Rafi,

That's A LOT of questions! When I have more time, I'll walk you through it. But I will suggest you sign up to Bill Price's "Floormaster's" forum and just READ. So many of your questions are discussed on a regular basis. If you would just read the questions and answers at that forum, you would learn so much regarding floor finishing (and installing as well ). Here's the site:
http://www.floormasters.com/

Rafi, I'll answer a few questions

You are referring to water popping. I only do it for DARKER colors. Sand normally and screen the floors to 120. Water pop by wiping the floors with a wet rag (not rug). Try not to puddle and DO NOT miss any spots. It will raise the grain to allow the stain to take darker and more uniformly. Don't use a sprayer. Don't screen afterwards. Make sure floor is dry before staining. Usually overnight. That's it. Pretty simple.

Light and dark places in the stained floors are caused by two things usually. Uneven sanding and uneven staining. You sanded the floors too fine and the edges you wiped the stain off quicker than the field, resulting in more penetration in the field, causing it to be darker.
Two ways to achieve a uniform, darker stain. Drum sand and edge the floors to 100 grit. DO NOT SCREEN or palm sand edges! Remove edger swirl by scraping and hand sanding using 60 grit on the edges only to remove swirl and blend in edger/drum sander line. Vacuum ans stain floors. Simple old time way. Water pop way. Sand/edge floors to 100 grit. Remove edger swirl by either random orbital hand sander and 80 grit or scrape and hand sand. Screen to 120 grit. Water pop the floors and wait to dry overnight. Stain floors as normal.


No!


Yes, and No. Minwax makes a pre-stain conditioner but you don't need it for hardwood floors. I never use it. I do not like Minwax stains. Use professional products like DuraSeal and Bona Dri-Fast. Finish choice is up to the customer and finisher. Whatever you are good at applying.

Sorry, that's nuts. I can see mixing a few colors but four different ones? Can't he find a stain that is already the color he wants? Generally, when people do this, they "think" they are getting something special and "custom". What they are doing is being a PITA. If it were me, and the guy was adamant on this mixture, I would CHARGE MORE for doing this, use all the same brand of stain, and mix plenty extra and mix it all up at once. If you need two gallons to do the whole job, mix all the stain NOW for the entire job. Do NOT mix it up in small batches.

It's a good idea to glue and nail floor boards 5" and wider. The MC is within specs. Is this space HVAC controlled? Hope so. Make sure to acclimate flooring well.

Yes, I've painted floors before. If it's rough, it'll need sanding. How you do that depends on you. All wood to be painted should be primed. If I were you, go to a GOOD paint store ( Benjamin Moore, Sherwin-Williams, etc.) and tell them what you're doing. They can mix up a primer for you and recommend a paint to use. Are you going to coat this paint with a poly afterwards? You can you know if you use the right paint and right finish. I prefer alkyd (oil) primers and latex (water) paints to paint floors and top coat with water-based poly.

Thanks Gary.
Very helpful.
Thanks for the floormaster.com I will read

I do not use 16" disc screen to screen the floor I use the sand paper. I use the roll of sand paper that is sticky on the back. I stick that paper on the pad and change on every room or more often if needed.
120 leave the marks.
151 leave the marks
this is why I go to 220 then the wood is buffed and stain doesn't soak as much which is fine.

How come that after 120 screening you can stain and do not have screening marks??
Thanks

Easy answer. I never screen if I am staining the floor medium to dark colors and I am NOT water popping the floor. I will use the old time method of sand to 100 and scrape and hand sand the edges (I described this in my earlier post) OR option #2: If I do decide I need to screen the floors for a medium to darker stain, I'll clock the buffer in a way the sands with the grain and leaves less swirl. Plus I'll use a thicker red driver pad which is LESS aggressive than the thin white driver pad and results in less swirl. When I do need to screen before staining with a darker color, I'll water pop the floor. Amazingly, this technique also minimizes sanding screen marks. With light colors, very fine screen marks do not show. For many years, I screened with either 80 or 100, and the manufacturers RECOMMENDED this. And I had minimal, if any, screening swirl. But over the last few years, it appears to be more noticable. I will have to conclude that the 3M white driver pad is TOO aggressive for screening prior to staining and that 3M has also increased the aggressive grit on it's sanding screens. BTW, if you are sanding up to 220 prior to staining, you are sanding the floors TOO FINE for staining. The highest I hear of anyone going here in the USA is 150 and then they water pop the floor to get the stain to absorb decently.