DH has ruined week old wood flooring

[Veraper]

I feel sick to my stomach.

We have splashed out on parquet flooring for all of downstairs (sick of renting a rug dr after every dog walk). Have been uber cautious with furniture pads etc.

DH saw ink-like black splodges on the floor last night and had to scrub very hard using the green side of the sponge to remove (still slightly visible tbh). And the floor now has white splodges the size of Xmas choc coins.

We are wooden floor newbies, can anyone save my floors? Has the varnish just come off? They are my dream floors and I didn’t even get to enjoy them yet (still doing up the rest of the house)

I don’t understand how you can’t get water on your floor!

How will you mop it?!
It will never be clean if you don’t mop it.

I thought the whole reason to have no carpet is because it’s easier to sweep, hoover and mop.

If you had young kids, there would be no way you could have a floor that you couldn’t get water on.

What a ridiculous design.

Honestly OP, I understand wanting to keep it nice but it’s not possible to keep water off of it forever and so I’d see the white marks as part of the charm.

For your dog you could put the water bowl on a dog bowl mat, then put that on a big rug and hope that he stops dripping water away from the rug.

What were the black markings.

This happened to our wood floors so quickly after we installed it. Now we have LVT

Sorry, I’m laughing at Xmas coins being used as a serious form of measurement🤣

@SkySecret Me too! 🤣🤣

What is the subfloor like? My concern would be rising moisture, though at a week in that would be very soon. Basically oak goes black when it reacts with moisture and the staining is permanent so has to be sanded/treated.

Dog bowl set up. Damage is just in front of grey towel, hence why water is highly likely. He often gets water a good 2m into room with wood shown.

Will actually give teaching him to dry off a go! He knows how to close doors as DH and I were both born in barns.

@Itsnotchristmasyet you use special wood floor cleaner.

Parquet is not really suitable for high traffic or wet areas like kitchens or hallways. We have parquet our living room and clean it once a week.

You never use spray paint, yet you got some on a new carpet. How? Magic?

Ahh that makes more sense.

@Ginmonkeyagain may I ask what brand you use? I was going to invest in the bissell hardwood cleaner at Xmas. Floors will prob be done in by then.

He knows how to close doors as DH and I were both born in barns.

🤣🤣🤣

You can’t replace the damaged pieces, herringbone doesn’t work that way.

The beauty of engineered wood is that it can be sanded and re-oiled, unlike laminate which is fucked once it gets scratched. I’d contact the manufacturer and ask for a recommendation. We went for engineered wood for this reason!

My dh is a carpenter. He says the black marks are almost certainly water that has been allowed to dry on unfinished wood. They don't show up as black straight away.

Is there a chance floor got wet before it was finished?

@Veraper we use Method almond wood floor spray. You do need to make sure the floor is sealed though. Just spray it sparingly on the floor and mop with a dry cloth.

Wooden floors don't need daily mopping.

We used to do house refurbishments and had many wooden floors. First contact the flooring retailers for advice. Second, after that depending on what they say, the thing is to darken the pale patches. I would choose the most inconspicuous mark and get a cotton wool bud with just the lightest amount of olive oil and rub it in. You will find a solution because wood is forgiving.. as you need to be of your partner.

@rosesinmygarden thanks for asking your husband. I’m almost certain the marks were not there before last night as I would have noticed. But it’s certainly not impossible either.

As someone else mentioned, you get this when iron reacts with the tannins in oak.

https://fromtheoaktree.co.uk/blogs/news/removal-of-stains-and-tannins-in-oak

I was mystified by these stains appearing all over my worktop - turns out putting a wet cast iron pan down, even for a second, is a big no.

As others have said, sand and refinish. Such is the beauty of wood.

Maybe a silly suggestion but have you tried something like this:

amzn.eu/d/89RVUO5

It saved my wooden beside table which had awful water stains... maybe that would help?

To make it clear - the back marks are NOT water stains. Water alone won't cause marks like that - even leaving water to dry won't cause anything like that. It's the reaction of water + metal + tannins in the oak. The marking is almost instantaneous. OP, it could have even been caused by drips of water from a metal pan.

As I've said, they don't show up as black immediately. It's possible the floor got wet before the builders had chance to finish it. It happens a lot apparently.

DH really hates fitting this type of flooring and wooden kitchen worktops because due to the fact they're in a home (where people are living) they inevitably get water spots on them between him fitting them and him finishing them. Then a week or so later, the black spots appear and he gets the blame.

Poor you. What are you going to do now? <<thinks yellow pages French polisher advert>>.

Do you have a utility room where the dog dish can go? Also putting it on a plastic food mat made for that should also help.

Jesus H. The definition of 1st World Problem in the dictionary has a link to this thread.

We were out of the house when the floor was put in. Builders could certainly have had a spill before the floors were treated.