Solid Hardwood, Engineered and Laminate Flooring - staining/painting a pattern on existing HW floor???

dont know how to start w/ this but here goes. the wife would like to sand the red oak HW floor (orig to the house 1963), down to the wood, and then refinish the floor by masking a portion in a pattern, and then staining or painting the area. the finish coat would be a waterbased polyU. our concern is the stain will bleed thru to the masked off areas. how would we do this w/o that happening??? does this make sense?? should we put down a couple of coats of poly and then mask and stain w/ some type of transparent paint, and poly over it???

This is something that takes great skill and patience and should be left to a pro.

Phil

not the answer i was looking for...:confused:

so does mural painting, appliance and TV repair etc...but it can be done by someone other than a "professional." (you obviously don't know my wife!!!!):D
im looking for advice from someone who does this and can give me some pointers as we would like to DIY this job.
Thanks
Frank

It's actually quite simple, but rather tedious. Painting is a not a problem. Use any kind of paint and then make sure you several coats of a sealer. You don't even need to sand down to the bear wood if you are painting. You can paint over the stain.Staining is trickier. In order for it not to bleed you need to score the wood. The stain will not bleed outside of the scored areas. Obviously geometrics would be easier to score.

thanks spider...thats kinda what i figured as far as the paint goes. i figured the staining would be a problem and wasnt sure how to stop the bleeding. wouldn't i have to use steel wool to rough up the surface for the paint to adhere better or will the over coats of polyU take care of that? she was planning on using a harlequin(diamond) style pattern, so geometric was in the plan all along :)
Thanks again!
Frank

fatkid,

I was reading back in the posts, but can't remember when or where I saw it. A gentlewoman was wanting to do something similar on her cabinets with stain. She mentioned using some type of gel stain designed for crafting projects instead of the regular stains you using for flooring and other major wood projects. I believe she was making it appear as though she has 'insets' on her doors and drawers. As far as sanding, it does take patience and a very tender touch with a sander on the wood floors. I haven't attempted any sanding on mine, but do remember years ago the damage my family accidentally did while sanding hardwood floors with a large floor sander & with the belt sander.

Here is a link to our forums information on wood flooring.

http://doityourself.com/woodfloors/index.htm

Maybe there is some information on prepping the wood there. I know you will, but research your options and then make a choice on how you would like to proceed with this project. After seeing your wife's work, I honestly believe that you guys can do this, but it will take a lot of time and patience (as does most DIY projects LOL).

Kay

thanks to you as well Kay. didn't think to look there for help w/ this. Cat is so siked about taking on this project, and as always ill do much research b4 we start.:D ill keep you posted on the progress!!!

Sorry Frank, I meant you didn't need to sand ALL of the stain off, but yes you should sand off the polyU in order for the paint to stick. The harlequin design will be great. Good luck
:cool: