September 4, 2019

Easy Brown/Gray Floors & Palazza Vecchio


We are staying at the best location in Florence! We are a 5 minute walk from the famous Santa Maria Fiore and Palazza Vecchio is right outside our door. The palazza has near continuous free weekend concerts and is always filled with people and street performers. It is so much fun. We are so close we just listen for the music and head down tot palazza to enjoy the performance. 




The other day we walked outside and there was a large parade with women dressed in incredible gowns, flag throwers, and military. 🇮🇹  I have absolutely no idea what we were celebrating but it was a blast. The parade closed with a real wolf being walked through the streets! 🐺




Maple floors are less common now, because maple doesn't take traditional wood stains very well. But they were very common back in the day. You will find old maple floors, with these skinny 2" boards all over in old homes, especially in the east and mid-west. Staining maple is not a problem with our products, as you can see. Just apply stains and let them air dry! So this is a great project for your old maple flooring, to update it and bring it into the 21st century! Not to mention, this is the easiest way to stain your own flooring. Let's get to it!

MATERIALS


  • Hard Maple Flooring 
  • Sand 80, 120, 320


Directions


1. SAND
We had our floors sanded by professionals, since this is the trickiest part to refinishing floors when using Weatherwood Stains. Normally, floors are tricky all the way around- sanding, staining, and topcoating, but we make things easier with our products. We had them sanded to a 80, then a120 grit. Another option is to purchase wood that's pre-sanded and ready for a stain.

2. REMOVE DUST
Remove all the dust. Using a dustless sander can help with this. Now they are ready for stain. 


3. PREP
Pour all your stain into a 5 gallon bucket. Tape off anything you don't want stain to touch, tiles or whatever. You may want to tape off your sections of wood, as well. 


After sanding- you can apply a heavy coat of  Weatherwood Stains' Reclamation wood stain. Do not wipe off- allow wood to absorb stain. This time-lapse video condensed 30 minutes into a few seconds. You're gonna love watching it! It looks so cool-- the gray just sort of appears out of nowhere. You can see that I applied a heavy coat of stain and then the wood does the rest. 



4. STAIN APPLICATION
Edge the floors using a brush or large sponge brush.
  • Dip the broom into the bucket and lightly push the stain into the wood grain, cracks, and grooves. Unlike most waterborne finishes, the goal is not to wipe on and wipe off, but rather you should flood or drench the wood's surface and then allow the wood to absorb the stain. 
  • Work in sections, a few planks of wood at a time. Either tape off the floor into sections or keep a wet edge as you work across the floor, this will avoid overlap marks. Do not stain half a piece of wood and then come back to stain the other half. Like regular stains, it will be difficult to blend the stain if the product dries mid board, and then you add more stain to the other half. 
  • ​See above video for additional information. 

​5. DRY TIME
  • Floors will dry within 2-4 hours, drying is quickened in warm environment with good air flow. 

6. SAND
After the floors were completely dry, we had them sanding with a high grit, 320, just to smooth them out. It was a very light sanding, so it didn't effect the color at all. 


7. TONE
To brown and darken the color you should apply the Weatherwood Clear Maintenance Oil application is just like your typical wood stain application. You brush or wipe it onto wood, allow 5-10 minutes for it to penetrate, then wipe of excess. This can be done with a flooring applicator as well. Allow to cure 48 hours.

8. TOPCOAT
Seal and protect floors with 2-3 coats of Weatherwood Stains' Polyurethane Topcoat to lock in the wood color. We buffed the topcoat, to create a smooth, flawless surface. Now the floors will never need ongoing maintenance or care. They're ready to enjoy for a lifetime.





If you have any questions, please let me know! I would love to help you get the perfect wood floor. If you're looking to achieve this color on your OAK floors, you will want to use Weatherwood Stain's Light Oaking. Don't forget readers save 10% on all Weatherwood products with code: WELCOME10.

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