Anyone know about refinishing floors? Particularly because of pet stains.

[MrsPinecone]

We just bought a new house. Yay!

The master bedroom has atrocious stains on the hardwood floors, pretty much in a semicircle around where a queen bed would be and in a path to the bedroom door. It looks like the owner had an incontinent pet and it soaked through a rug and stained the floor. Numerous times.

My question is: can stains like these be taken out with a sanding and refinishing, or is it hopeless and we need to replace the floor? I'm not opposed to replacement, since I bought the house knowing the stains are there, but would prefer the floor to match the rest of the house.

[Colinsgrandma]

We live in a 100+ year old home and I just had some of the floors refinished last year. If the stain is really dark it probably won't come out but a lighter stain probably will. I have refinished floors myself (a lot of time and work). We got an estimate and the guy told us then what would and wouldn't come out.

[FunnyFace]

Our house too had those type of stains when we bought it. We attempted using a drum floor sander and while it is now lighter it is still quite noticeable. I don't think anything short or replacing those boards are getting rid of the stains because we can only sand so much before the boards become too thin.

You might try a hand sander just in a spot or two to give you an idea how bad it really is and to determine if it is a DIY sanding project or if you want to replace the boards or redo the whole floor.

Oh and Congratulations on your new house!

[Lmnde]

Congrats to your new home! Got lots of storage???

The stains most likely continue to show after sanding with a clear finish or even a darker stain. Your best bet would be painting them after sanding, if you want to keep the flooring and not do major replacements. Other than that - new w2w carpet would cover nicely as well, without major constuction involved...

[MrsPinecone]

I hate W2W carpet, so that's not happening.

If I have to replace the flooring, I will. I don't want to spend a ton of time or money refinishing to still see stains.

[shashabell]

I would rent a drum sander and sand off and stip the floor. The pet stains will probably still be there but you may be able to make it so it's not so noticable.
Buy two different types of wood stain. A light one and a darker one. Apply the lighter one on the pet pee-pee area and the darker one on the wood that hasnt been peed on. It just might work.

Edit to add: You might want to wipe some wood grain alcohol over the pet stained area after you've sanded and before you apply the stain. I've seen it lift water rings off of furniture so it may pull some of the urine stain out of the floor.