How can two slightly different shades of color of a hardwood floor be made to match one another?

Question

I just bought a house that had two large area rugs over the top of the hardwood floors in the living room and dining room. When I took up the rugs, I noticed that the shade of color of the wood under the rugs is slightly lighter than the wood that was not ever covered up.

Also, there was a lot of very fine grit that must have worked its way through the rugs over the years. Did this grit basically sand the floors under the rugs and that's the reason for the color difference?

Other than completely sanding the entire floor, restaining, refinishing, etc... Is there a way to blend the areas so that the difference is not so immediately noticeable (mostly at the areas where the borders of the rugs were)?

Has anybody ever had this problem? If so, how did you fix it?

? · Accepted Answer

If the flooring has a dura satin surface (a wax finish), application of a darker wax followed by buffing in the wax may stop the

floor from looking faded in the newly uncovered areas. If the flooring has a urethane finish, having the entire floor refinished professionally or doing it as a DIY project may be to only option to getting the floor coloring to become even. For some flooring types, just doing a spot refinish in the areas of discoloration will correct the issue, but an exact color match can be tricky.

http://www.kansascity.com/2012/08/21/3772209/handyman-gary-sanderson-on-fixing.html
http://homeguides.sfgate.com/repair-sun-faded-wood-floors-32112.html

For very sunny rooms, where coverings have been removed from the flooring, letting the light strike the surface evenly may over a few weeks begin to lessen the contracting light and dark color tones.

ADD'L...

This seems to be a normal event for stained natural wood flooring. When stained in place, the property owners are often told to place no coverings down on the stained flooring for at least a thirty day period. Even furniture placed in the room can cause protected sections on the flooring, and alter the normal color aging which occurs.

Another impact to natural wood floors is that the UV rays coming in will darken the stain color, so any covered areas will remain the original color and appear lighter against the now exposed areas. Some bloggers have indicated they left their Brazilian cherry flooring bare of coverings or furnishings for at least three weeks, and the resulting tone difference in the sunny room turned out to be less when compared to other rooms which received the same flooring.

http://www.denver-hardwood-flooring.com/hardwood-floor-area-rug-protection.html
http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/flooring/msg0107184914342.html
http://www.wfca.org/Pages/How-To-Clean-Hardwood-Floors.aspx

Should you later decide to place new floor coverings on the hardwood, other discussions indicated using a felt or vinyl pad instead of a foam, plastic, or rubber pad beneath carpets and rugs placed over natural wood flooring. This is a better pad material option to limit or even avoid the material causing discoloration.

Trending News

How can two slightly different shades of color of a hardwood floor be made to match one another?

1 Answer