Stuff coming out of the grain?!

9 years ago

Hello all!

I have beautiful, dark stained oak flooring. It's 4-6" wide planks, "hand planked" (so someone fed it through the machine by hand, I guess) and extremely durable. Actually, for what I've put it through, extremely durable.

That said, I've had my foyer/hall covered in cardboard for a couple of years due to renovations, moving stuff in and out, and to protect it from my own, general carelessness.

I've finally gotten the room and hall painted, and am taking up the cardboard to clean the floor and live like a human being.

I find that under the cardboard, coming out of the grain, are small beads of what look like dried sap, or even what glue looks like when a drop dries. The floor's not glued, and none was used anywhere near it.

Some of it scrapes off with a credit card, but not completely. I noticed where grain is deeper, I'd be gouging into the wood, probably into the finish.

Has anyone seen anything like this?
Is it removable without ruining the finish?
Is the wood "weeping" through the topcoating/clear stuff?

Before anyone asks, I've only got an old cell phone and you cannot see the drops/spots in these pictures, so no. No pics.

I've lived with worse, but this is an incredible floor. It's the nicest thing in my entire house and I'd like to correct the treatment it's evidently received in my efforts to protect it. Thank you all for your thoughts.

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Comments (6)

User
9 years ago
Try cleaning it with mineral spirits and a plastic scrub pad, used gently with the grain.
User
9 years ago
What is the finish on the wood?
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CEFreeman
Original Author
9 years ago
Lazygardens, that was my thought, too, but I was afraid it'd remove the factory finish. You don't think so?

LWO? ... ahhh... factory?
User
9 years ago
If it's a factory finish, then mineral spirits won't hurt it. That's what they use to clean off the excess glue after a gluedown job. That's assuming that you have the usual poly or AO finish. Test in an inconspicuous area first. All bets are off if it has an oil finish.
glennsfc
9 years ago
Can't really comment with something credible, because not enough information from the OP. However, that said, the only thing I ever saw with the symptoms the OP describes is stain bleedback. Since the flooring did receive a dark stain, perhaps the cause is bleedback.
CEFreeman
Original Author
9 years ago
An update.

I took a cloth and mineral spirits and carefully rubbed on this stuff. I took care not to get it all over the place and am glad I did.

The funny drop-like globs are still there, but the finish did cloud a little. Probably only noticeable to me. I'm not worried about that, because I'm certain it's something I can fix.

After the MS evaporated, I took a credit card and tried going over the smooth, non-grainy parts again to see if these would lift up. But no... still not going anywhere!

"stain bleedback." I'll have to look this up. Funny how it's only under where the cardboard has been. I'd almost have said it was cardboard, but that's not the case.

Thanks for the ideas, guys.