Wood floor?
Question:i dropped alcohol on my wood floor and now its white where the alcohol spilled. how do i get the floor back to its original color?
Answers:
You do NOT have to refinish all your floor!
First, did you just splash a few drops, or did you spill most of a bottle? If it's just a few drops, the treatment will be different.
You have to figure out if your floors are stained, stained and varnished, or just varnished. If they are "natural looking" with a sealed surface, they are probably just varnished. If they are not the color of natural wood, or 'aged' natural wood (with an older coat of varnish) then they are probably stained.
Ok.. here goes.
If they are natural looking, go buy some fine sandpaper and some 0000 (called 'four-ought') steel wool. Also buy some varnish (gloss if your floors are varnished glossy, but they could also be satin or flat) and buy a small can of stain that seems to go with your floor best. Make sure you have a 2-inch or 3-inch brush and some paint thinner.
First, sand WITH THE GRAIN lightly over the areas where the alcohol dropped. Wipe away the dust with a clean, dry, lint-free cloth (like an old t-shirt). Then, using the 0000 steel wool, smoothe the sanded finish even more. Again, wipe away the dust.
Here's a trick. SPIT ON YOUR FINGER and rub the sanded part of the floor next to area you did not sand. If the colors of the spit-upon floor and the unsanded floor are about the same, your floors are only varnished and you DO NOT NEED THE STAIN. Keep the receipt and take it back.
Let the spit spot dry and sand it lightly with the 0000 steel wool to remove any raised grain. Dust again.
Then, using the brush and painting WITH THE GRAIN, re-varnish the sanded spot, placing your brush loaded with varnish on the sanded part and moving toward and lightly over the already varnished floor. (You will have to remove any wax from the undamaged floor before you do this.)
Let the varnish dry 24 hrs and then put on a second coat.
If your floors are stained AND varnished, be sure to 'feather the edges' of your sanded spot and use a stain that seems a bit lighter than the undamaged floor. You can always darken the stain, but you cannot lighten it. By feathering the edges, you won't see a sharp line where the undamaged floor meets the repaired finish.
Apply stain WITH THE GRAIN and let it dry 24 hours -- but wipe it away from the undamaged varnished areas as soon as you finish staining.
After the 24 hrs for the stain to dry, VERY LIGHTLY use the 0000 steelwool to remove any raised grain. Dust, and then varnish as instructed above. Let the varnished area dry 24 hrs. You may need to apply a second coat of varnish.
Remember -- any finish is only as nice as the preparation. Be sure to get rid of dust, to feather your edges, and not to get the repaired area too dark.
Blessings!
The alcohol ate the finish away, so the only way to get it back to the original color is to refinish your floors.
Sound to me like there was wax on the floor. Just splashing some alcohol shouldn't hurt the finish that bad. Wax will disolve instantly with alcohol and wax yellows with age. I stripped 50 years of wax off mine and the appearance went from a dark stained look to a new wood look. You might try some more alcohold or wax stripper (Bruce's) and feather the edges like the other suggestions.
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