Staining part of a wooden floor

[JonClay]

Hi everyone

I'm looking for some advice on staining only part of a wooden floor please.

Parts of the floor in out bathroom are starting to look a bit unloved. We assume it's because droplets of water have gone onto them over time from dripping towels etc. We'd like to treat and re-stain only those parts, but we're not sure of the process.

Do we need to treat them first (e.g. rub them down, then seal them, then stain them), or is there another (aka easier!) method?

Many thanks
Jon

What are they treated with already? Is there any wax or oil?

How old are the boards?

Photo would help.

you need to sand the floor lightly. use 120 grit paper first, then a 240 grit. if its just water marks it will be easy. i would do the whole floor or it may look patchy, it shouldn't be a big job unless your bathroom is huge.
then stain if you want to change the colour or just varnish.

Hi both

Thanks for your comments. I'm not sure what they're treated with as the boards were there when we moved in. I'm guessing that they're around 10 years old.

Yes, it is just water stains that have caused the problem, so we'll get sanding!

Many thanks once again.
Jon

if the floorboards are "planks" then you can, after cleaning and sanding, colour them with a spirit-based wood dye such as Colron (not the water-based one) and then give a few coats of satin or matt "Diamond" floor varnish.

A good trick to hide colour mismatches is to treat adjacent boards with a slightly different colour - light/dark/brown/reddish/yellow or whatever. Then any fading or staining is less noticeable.

It will look better if you treat the whole floor. The varnish will resist future staining and water damage.

It can look quite smart. Here's the floor under my bath:

p.s.

if they are waxed or oiled, dyes and varnish may not adhere. You can dry degreasing with White Sprit, otherwise, use an oil and wax treatment again.

Thanks John. Very useful. They are planks so I think we'll go along with your suggestion.