"RicodJour" wrote in message
ups.com...
wrote:
My wife and I recently bought a fixer-upper house built in 1954 and the
oak hardwood floors need some help but I'm not sure exactly what to do.

There was wall-to-wall carpet in the living room, dining room, stairs,
hall and master bedroom which had been down for at least 30-35 years
judging by the condition of the padding under the carpet.

The finish isn't worn away, it has most of the same characteristics of
the rest of the floor but is a mottled darker shade of reddish-gold. I
suspect it's an effect of years of pressure and heat on the varnish
itself; before we took up the carpet you could see where the previous
owner had positioned and left his furniture for the past three decades,
and this mottling appears only in what would have been high-traffic
zones - around furniture, in the hallway, across the living room to the
stairs, etc. This mottling isn't on top of the finish because it's not
affected by any of the standard wood floor cleaners.

I really don't have the time at this point to sand the finish off and
redo the floors. Is there something I can do short of sanding and
refinishing the floors?

Not really. You can try screening the floors (a screen is put on the
bottom of a floor polisher which essentially is a mild sanding that
doesn't remove much of the finish). Unfortunately that probably won't
work. The mottling you're seeing has probably penetrated into the
finish and will require sanding to remove it.

R

It worked for me. Mine was caused by light hitting the floor, it had
yellowed the old varnish . I did one sanding and wiped the floor with
mineral spirits and this showed me it had helped but not got rid of all of
it so I sanded again. Third time got it all. You could sand a small spot and
refinish to see if this helps.