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How to stain hardwood floor

How to apply stain on hardwood floor

Staining is a way to change the color of any hardwood floor. Whether it a new unfinished hardwood or refinishing old one, you can apply the colored stain after sanding and make desire color of the floor. It is not a required part of finishing hardwood – without stain application the floor will have its natural appearance after finish application. Learn about hardwood floor colors.

After sanding and buffing floor surface has to be well cleaned with a vacuum. Before starting on staining it is always better to apply a little bit of water on the surface of wood. It will help to open wood pores and stain will penetrate better into the surface of hardwood. Water application means to make the wood just slightly wet. Do not take a mop and “flood” the floor – you will damage it. In about 15 – 20 min after “watering” the wood will be dry and ready for the stain application. But always read manufacturer instructions. Some products might require wood conditioner application before actual stain, and drying time might be different.

Always test the stain color before application. On a different wood it can looks slightly different. It is possible to mix different colors of stain in order to get desire color, but always use the same products from same manufacturer. There are different types of hardwood floor stains available divided in two major groups: oil and water based.

Do not mix oil and water based stains.

Try to mix enough stain for a whole floor. Even if you make the same proportions of different stain colors second time the color might be slightly different from expected. Also stain has an ability to settle over time and for this matter always shake the stain bucket eliminating sediment from the bottom.

How to stain hardwood floor?

There are different techniques of stain application, but principals are the same. Apply stain on the surface of the wood; let it penetrate for a few minutes, and swipe everything what is left from the surface. Application can be done with a brush, rag, or roller. Try to work in the direction of a wood grain. On our video we will show how to use floor buffer for stain application. It is very convenient and time efficient method if you have a big floor area to stain. For creating darker color it is possible to apply the stain couple times.

Different products have different drying time. Follow manufacturer instructions and after stain will be dry the floor is ready for finish application. Learn more about hardwood floor finishes.

Which stain should I use for staining the floor?

You can use either water or oil based stain, but you should be aware it is harder to work with oil based stain.

How long does it take to stain 12’ x 12’ room?

If you are planning to do it by hand yourself it can take a good few hours. If a hardwood flooring installer will use a buffer as we showed on the video for a couple of hours two people will stain the whole 600 sq ft house floor including the living room, bedroom, kitchen area and powder room.

How much does it cost to stain hardwood floor in 200 sq. ft. room?

Average cost to stain hardwood floor vary from $0.4 s/f to $0.7 for labor, but these prices are good on a big projects (at least 700 sq ft) and as a part of whole wood flooring refinishing process including sanding and finish application. If you are looking to hire someone just apply a stain on already sanded 200 sq. ft. floor it will be a minimum charge which vary from $200 to $250. But if the area will be 700 sq. ft. the cost will be around $300 - $450.