preparing and staining oak floor

[lewislee]

hi all,

i inherited an engineered oak floor in my lounge, its in good condition with only a few heel marks no deep scratches and has a laquer finish.

over the last year or two it has become very orangey! i want to stain it to an american black walnut colour.
does anyone know whats best for stripping the laquer?? and whats best for staining and refinishing?

we want a matt finsh and are not scared of hard work!! does it need sanding back or can we chemical strip and then light sand?

thanks in advance

 

[WoodYouLike]

You need to sand it back, otherwise there is a risk your new stain won't hold.

There are coloured HardWaxOils available, even black. Applying two coats of the colour will give you a darker colour than one coat colour - one coat natural. So you can test it out which shade you prefer.

 

[woodfinishes1877]

One alternative is to apply a waterbased stained lacquer and then overcoat it with 2-3 coats of a clear https://vault2.secured-url.com/frenchpolishes/acatalog/Floor_Coatings.htmlwaterbased lacquer Matt. It is a far harder wearing option and will not require the same maintenance as Harwax Oils. If you feel it's looking a bit tired looking after a few years then a light sand and a thinned down coat of the waterbased finish will really bring it back to life.


Just another option, whichever way you wish to proceed sanding back really is the only option. Stripping using a Methylene Chloride based stripper is possible but it will cause a huge amount of mess and you would then need to apply a coat of shellac barrier seal prior to overcoating in order to seal in any old stains...extra work!

Hope this helps

 

[lewislee]

thanks guys for your replys.

looks like sanding is the way to go. ill look into both finishing options and do some tests on some scrap oak.

many thanks