One question that I am asked very often by my clients is how to remove pet stains from hardwood floors. The answer to this question is determined by variables in the flooring itself.
Here are some tips:

1. Determine what your flooring is: white oak, red oak, long leaf yellow pine, walnut or maple. These are the domestics used, however there are many alternatives used today. Forget trying to bleach engineered or laminate flooring.


2. The harder the wood the harder it is to get the stain out because of penetrating issues: how dark the stain is plus how long the stains have been in place.


3. If completely refinishing the floor, the sanding will take care of some of the stain, if not all of it.


4. To deal with what is left behind, first try saturating the area with hydrogen peroxide and let dry. Wipe with water to see results. If progress was made and your not far off, repeat this step.


5. If the stain is still dark use a two part bleach (A-B) to lighten the stain. This type of bleach will definitely remove all of the natural color of the wood itself along with whatever is remaining of the pet stain MOST of the time. Wash the area with clear water to check the results.


6. If there is still an unsightly stain remaining the only other alternative is to in-paint the grain with dry touch up pigments mixed in shellac to match the surrounding area.


7. If this is something you are not comfortable with hire a professional to touch up the area or remove the wood itself and patch the area with new wood or rob some from a closet or other such area that is available.


8. For floors that are stained but still have a finish intact, the finish has to be removed first to get the stain out.

Alan can be reached directly via email c/o Alan Noel Furniture Refinishing at anoelfurniturere@bellsouth.net . You can also visit Alan's website by CLICKING HERE

Visiting Atlanta? Attend one of Alan's upcoming highly informative Highland Woodworking wood finishing seminars:

Aug 17, 2016  French Polish Workshop
Aug 27-28, 2016  Antique Restoration