Vlies to screen flooring

[Dave on the Mount]

Hi there. Need some expert opinions. Our kitchen area has oak hardwood flooring (which I hate in a kitchen area) which is integrated with the rest of the main floor. It was like that when we bought the house 11 years ago. Unfortunately my wife loves the flooring in the kitchen. But as we all know wood and water don't mix. There is some heavy wear around the frig and sink/ stove areas where the poly finish has worn off. I don't want to sand the whole kitchen area as that would make the floor uneven with the rest of the area. I've just discovered the term "screening" to touch up a floor. To me that used to be a light sanding, get the dirt off and apply a new coat of poly. I have the RO150 and I was wondering if the Vlies abrasives would be suitable to this. In other words, clean up the surface without a full sanding to the bare wood. Any opinions. And what would you use to clean up the black marks where it has won through the poly: ammonia, STP or something else, using a damp cloth of coarse. No soaking. Any opinions or experiences would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Dave

 

[Kev]

Feathering is another term that's appropriate in this context [wink]

I'd need to see something to assess, but my gut says you're going to need to be more aggressive.

Here's the trick ... start with the least aggressive option and step up if you need to. This is part of the measure twice thinking, you can always sand more, but you can't sand less!

 

[Parquet-Dave]

If you've got dirt ingress where the finish has worn through, you will need to sand that out. Do not use ammonia on oak as it will cause the floor to go black/dark brown (some manufacturers actually use ammonia to fume oak to give an aged or even bog oak type appearance).

The best result would be to sand the whole floor so you get an even finish, and as the floor has dirt ingress that would be my recommendation.  Screen sanding is to lightly abrade the surface to clean the floor of contaminants and provide a key for the new poly to key to. But as the finish has worn through for a professional finish you've left it too late.

My only suggestion would be to sand thoroughly the areas with dirt ingress trying to keep to board edges then apply a coat of poly to a small test area to see if it gives a reasonable colour match.  If not look at an isloating seal (spirit based seal) this dry's quickly and gives a slightly deeper colour.  Only apply the isolating seal to boards where you've sanded to bare wood.

Then apply the poly to the isolating seal and allow to dry thoroughly before very lightly abrading the whole floor, de-nibbing the freshly sanded area and providing a key to the remaining floor before applying further poly.

You are unlikely to get a perfect match but it may be acceptable to you and the wife.

 

[leakyroof]

Agree, black marks mean wood discoloration under a finish.
At least in those spots, you probably  have to sand on that wood to get rid of the black marks . You might try Oxalic Acid /,Wood Bleach carefully as a test to see if you can lessen or lighten the black marks without major sanding.

 

[Dave on the Mount]

Thanks for the suggestions. I've been away for a bit so I didn't get a chance to reply.  This will be an over-the-winter project. I may try to clean some of the darker areas with a TSP dilution and see whether that will help clean up some of the dark spot. Then start sanding and see how it goes. I appreciate the help.
Regards,
Dave