Ask Mrs. Clean: House Cleaning, Stain Removal and Organizing Tips

[laydijayni]

We recently had a leak from our kitchen soak into our wood floor. In the corner it is very dark almost black. Anyone know how to repair this?

[mrscleannw]

Hi Laydijayni, and thank you for posting your question on Mrs Clean's forum.

According to the wood repair experts, this process should take care of the problem. As always, I recommend to test a very small out of the way area first.

Step 1: Mask off the stain with painter's masking tape.

Step 2: If the wood has a wax finish, use steel wool, if it is a polyurethane finish, use a medium grade sandpaper to start, finishing with a fine grade sandpaper to remove the finish. Remove all of the finish just up to the edges of the unaffected boards

Step 3: Mix Oxalic acid crystals in 1 cup of hot water, and stir to dissolve. (Oxalic acid is available in hardware or paint stores.) Continue adding the crystals until they will not dissolve further.

Step 4: Sponge the mixture onto the water stained area, and let it dry completely. Brush off the crystals, and repeat the process until the stain is completely removed.

Step 5: Stain, seal and refinish the affected area.

Some additional resources to remove wood stains:

http://www.ehow.com/how_4490265_remove- ... oring.html
http://www.onlinetips.org/water-stains-floors
http://ideas.reliableremodeler.com/Article.aspx?ID=1087

Good luck with your repair, and let us know how it turns out!

[Shana33]

Oh yeah that is horrible!
I had a very similar situation with my wooden floor - A sparkling wine exploded over night and the whole floor had discusting stains now.
There is really a way to ge rid of them?
I will try it for sure!