Applying Floor Stain on Wood Floors

After you’ve done the “hard” work of installing your wood floor, sanded it…and sanded it again…and cleaned it, the process of applying floor stain seems as easy as eating a piece of cake.  And while it’s true that nothing can compare to the work of actual floor installation, you can seriously screw up your beautiful installation if you get the floor staining wrong.

Keep in mind that the close-grained hardwoods like maple and walnut will accept less stain and at a slower rate than an open-grain softwood like pine.

One way to improve stain penetration quantity and rate is to thin out the stain.

Test the Stain

Start by locating some of those scrap pieces of wood flooring that you saved from the installation.  You did save these pieces, didn’t you?  Practice-stain these wood pieces.  You’re doing two things here.  First, you’re trying to figure out if this is the stain you really want.  Second, you’re getting a feel for applying the stain.

Plan Your Staining

Take a good look at your floor.  You will never want to step on a stained area of the floor.  While this might seem obvious, it really isn’t.  Because floor stain sinks into the wood grain fairly rapidly, it feels dry to the touch almost immediately.  The problem is, it’s not really dry.  Best solution:  just never step on stained parts at all.

So, you will want to plan your staining out so this doesn’t happen.  Think of it like using one of those old electric mowers with a cord on it.  You never want to run over the cord, right?

Clean the Floor

Then clean down the flooring with tack cloth.  It is vitally important to get that wood floor spick and span.  Tack cloth should be your last method of cleaning.  Before this, you already used a broom, Shop-Vac…and Shop-Vac again…and maybe even a very mildly damp dust mop.

“Experts” will disagree about using a damp mop, saying that it raises the grain of the wood.  My take:  if the mop is “dryly damp” and the room rapidly dries, it’s fine to do this.

Mix the Flooring Stain

Stains need to be mixed.  If the stain happened to get shaken up, you’ll want it to settle for awhile because the thin consistency of stain can give you a frothy mixture.

Apply the Stain

Face it, there is no easy way to apply floor stain.  Get down on your knees and wipe on the stain with one of the huge number of clean, dry cotton rags you bought.  Or use a wide brush.

Wipe Off the Stain

The stain is on.  Now it’s got to come off?  That’s right.  It does help to have two people on this job, because one person can be the “stainer” and the other the “wiper.”  After the stain is first applied, you need to let it set for a few minutes before wiping off.  Make sure you are consistent about the time you allow, or some areas will get darker than others.  Also, as you go from row to row, make sure that you minimize the overlap between rows.  Wide overlap will leave dark stained lines.