I just installed red and white oak in my entire house and stained it dark walnut. It looks pretty good but there are a few areas that need some touch up and I could use some advise on how to do it. There is one area in the middle of the hallway that came out to dark and there is an obvious transition in the middle of the room. How can I blend these to areas so the transition is not so obvious? In the room with the herringbone pattern, I wiped it all one direction so it obviously was not going with the grain and it is noticeable. How do I get these light streaks out? Thanks for all you professional input/help.
Some things aren't worth trying to figure out on your own. Phucking up a floor finishing can (will) become expensive and time consuming. Hire a professional to fix it. JM2C.
Or become a pro---
Yes, it will. That's about the only good thing I can say about Minwax.As Pinwheel mentioned---
Apply more stain and rewipe the streaked area---this will even out the color and remove dried excess stain.
Good point, but learning alongside a pro greatly reduces your learning curve.
Not everyone has that option. I know I didn't. What I know about sanding floors, I've spent 19 years learning & I promise you, I screwed up more than one floor while I taught myself. I've had to rework more than one. Those lessons are the ones that stick with me & were the most valuable in the long haul.
When I started sanding floors, I couldn't set down in front of a puter & look up a youtube video, or get on an internet forum for answers.
I guess I was lucky to be trained by some good guys. The guy that taught me HW installs was really good with HW, but didn't know dick about other aspects of carpentry. We taught each other. For example - A big problem we used to have in new/tract homes was the HVAC guys kept running their under-cabinet boots out 24" and sealing it to the floor. I taught him to pull it up to run under it so we didn't have to keep coming back to do a sucky repair. He taught me how to rack for speed and efficiency (and still look good).
They guy that taught me to finish was, well...Just plain awesome! Best looking floors I've ever seen. His 2nd coat looks better than most 3rd's. He's my preferred sanding sub (I personally don't do re-sands anymore, only repairs).
I've seen a lot of work where guys were learning as they go, and most of it sucked. That's fine for Section 8 stuff, but I'm doing higher-end stuff now so that wont fly. I'm sure after 19 years it's all figured out and looks great, but I prefer to learn from a pro. Not knocking you Pin, just my opinion.
Thanks for all the great information and encouragement. The floors are looking great. The one area that still needs some work is the herringbone room. On the final sanding, I sanded it with 100 grit on an orbital sander but now that it is stained I can see the sanding marks in the direction that I sanded it. I did the same procedure with the rest of the floors but since I was able to sand it in the direction of the grain you can not see any sanding marks. How do I deal with this on a herringbone pattern?
BTW, my second coat could nearly always be sold as finished product, but we still put down the 3rd