How to save your water-stained wood floor

Q: While I was away on a business trip, my roommate decided to buy a couple of floor plants and put the containers directly onto the hardwood floor with nothing under them. By the time I got back, a couple of waterings later, water had run out of the pots and across the floor. Now there are two big water rings where the base of each vase was, and water stains along the path that the leaking water flowed. Can these be fixed, or does my roommate need to pay for repairs? — Vivian in Cambridge, Mass.

A: If the standing water around the vases hasn’t buckled the wood, you should be able to deal with the stains without too much effort.

Make sure the entire floor is dry, particularly where the vases stood. You may want to borrow a dehumidifier from a friend for a few days to encourage the drying process. In some cases where water damage is minor, the watermarks may disappear or diminish dramatically once the wood has dried completely.

If once the wood has dried, a white water stain is still evident, then water likely stained the floor’s finish. This is easier to deal with. Heat up a clothes iron (use a “no steam” setting and empty out all the water from the holding tank). Place a dry, lint-free white cloth over the stained area. Rub the iron over the cloth for 2 or 3 seconds then, lift the cloth away to check the spot.

Another method for white stains is to drench a super-fine steel wool pad with lemon oil, then gently rub the white marks with the pad to buff out the stain without scratching the finish. However, if the stains are dark, then water likely penetrated through the finish and into the hardwood itself.

This is more complex, particularly if your floor was installed in the past few years. Older hardwood floors seem to handle water staining and refinishing better. Newer floors not only don’t handle water so well, but also have to be cleaned or repaired more carefully. Contact a flooring professional if you’re not sure.

To get to this type of stain you will need to sand away the finish — being careful not to sand the wood itself — and then try to lighten the stain. The most common recommendation is to carefully apply a 50-50 solution of water and bleach, or professional wood bleach, directly to the stain using an old toothbrush. Use only a small amount (you may want to test it on one of the less-conspicuous stains), blot up any excess and let dry. Repeat until the color matches the rest of the wood again, then let it dry for a couple of days before gently sanding, applying wood stain (if necessary) to finish matching the surrounding floor, and refinishing the damaged spots.

As to who should pay for the repair, I’ll leave that to you and the roommate to figure out. At the very least, this should be a lesson that water and wood floors don’t mix.

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