Newly purchased house - Hardwood floors stained dark in some spots

Hi everyone,

As the title says, recently purchased my first house (yay), but while I initially noticed these stains in the floor during a daytime walkthrough, I realize now they’re a lot more bothersome when it isn’t super bright inside. Images in the attached link

I’m not moving in for a few weeks, so wondering if I can fix this beforehand (I know for a fact it won’t happen at all if I wait until after I’ve moved in…). It’s mainly this one section in the hallway and one of the bedrooms, as shown in the pics.

I did some initial research and it seems that they’re likely going to need to be completely refinished, and I had a few questions about doing that myself (or would love to hear if there are other options!).

  1. How easy of a task is this for a beginner to woodworking etc.? Most of my DIY has been in the realm of tech, so I don’t have any experience or needed tools. Maybe I’m in over my head here and it isn’t something I can do myself.
  2. What tools/equipment do I need? I believe just a sander (any recommendations would be nice), wood stain, and sealant. Plus brushes to actually spread the stain/sealant.
  3. Can I just refinish the areas that are stained, or will it look horribly uneven if I do that? Do I need to refinish all of the flooring if I do some? (80% of the floor is this hardwood floor throughout the house, there’s not a break in it or separate sections)
  4. Given the answer to 3., about how long would such a task take? I assume there’s a lot of passive time waiting on stain, restaining, sealing, etc.

Thanks for any help, really appreciate any advice!

Solemn,
  1. Technically surprisingly easy, really surprisingly hard.
  2. A giant floor sander, along with the sandpaper and buffing disks to actually use it (extremely expensive, not sure if easily rentable)
  3. No, it will pretty much only look worse if you try to do it in patches. Also, depending on the wood, you may want to do pre-stain treatment, cause some woods just absorb stain really splotchily.
  4. Depending on the finish, could be anything between a few hours to a couple days needed between layers of finish. Some require a month or more of curing before you should put furniture on top. I’d recommend against those, we have more modern finishes that are honestly just better in addition to being more convenient, despite what some people say online. YouTube side by side comparisons are my go to for finding info on this sorta stuff.
Im14abeer,

I know this is the DIY sub, but I would get a few estimates to have the floors redone wholesale. Trying to piecemeal it will almost certainly look worse than leaving it alone. You can rent a floor sander and DIY, but they’re tricky to run with no experience so you’re likely to leave the floor wavy. It’s also fairly expensive. Pros will be in and out in three days. If you do decide to DIY, the finish is applied with a lambswool applicator. blog.cityfloorsupply.com/how-to-use-a-lambswool-a…

If the stains are more than superficial, the options are going to be staining the floors darker yet or removal and replacement of the affected boards. Both of those will require refinishing and the latter is for sure a job for someone with experience. I agree with vodulas, that looks like water or pet damage that has already had an attempt at fixing it. Good luck, those are really pretty floors otherwise.

Vodulas,

I am by no means an expert, but that could be water damage. Are the boards there more raised than the others? If not, the previous owner may have sanded it down and stained over the top.

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