Should You Stain Your Floor Before Putting Poly

This is the only way to change the color of your hardwood floors.

Should you stain your floor before putting poly.

Large and or deep scratches can be visible under the polyurethane. This floor was sanded correctly but was aggressively mopped with water against the grain probably in an attempt to remove all the dust. Drying times are influenced not only by the brand of stain but also by the. Floors made of maple birch and coniferous woods especially pine or fir are all very difficult to stain evenly.

When etching the surface you can do this by hand or you can also use a palm sander. This is a vivid illustration of how important it is that the texture of your wood floor be absolutely uniform and consistent before you apply your stain. It really depends on your preference but if you re wanting to apply polyurethane to a floor it s advised that you use a floor buffer with a 120 grit sanding screen. If the stain begins to dry before you wipe it off you re tackling too much area.

As with all wood finishes good results depend on smooth clean wood surfaces but this goes double with clear finishes such as polyurethane. The stain will probably get mixed up with the poly. Immediately wipe it off with a dry cloth. For open grain woods like oak ash or walnut you can apply a wood grain filler before the polyurethane to create an ultra smooth finished surface.

The floors need to be sanded 3 times with finer and finer grits so that all polyurethane and all stain is removed. Or possibly the stain you didn t mention if you stained the floor didn t dry before you applied the poly. It may be impossible to dry out this top coat as by now it has lost it s drying capabilities and is really just a pool of semi dried oil just sitting. Time limit to dry stain before polyurethane.

Maple and birch are tight grained woods with very small pores and the density of the pore wall fibers varies drastically. As a result your poly will take the longest time to settle sometimes even worse. If you attempt to add stain on top of floor without sanding it expect it to peel off. Applying a deck stain and sealer with high quality is absolute of no use if you don t let it adequately dry.

When you stain and seal a hardwood floor the stain must be completely dry before adding the final coats of polyurethane. Work in manageable areas. Overlapping stain on previously stained areas causes uneven colors. Sand your wood with at least 220 grit sandpaper.

This is more likely to happen using water based stain. Apply the stain to the wood liberally with a sponge or soft cloth. Knowing how to stain and seal a hardwood floor properly pays off in having a beautiful finish and enduring protection. I ll be sending you the url of my poly article so you can see how it s done.