Just so you know 6 years after you made this video you are still saving hardwood floors. We were amazed how well this worked. We took a chance on your video after putting two laminate floors down. If we had seen your video before we did them we would have redone all of the rooms. Thanks for thinking outside the box. We were able to remove the stains and the floor turned out beautiful!!
I've been in the wood floor business for 20 years and you're one of the only people with the fortitude to tackle that job . I've seen pool bleach used in the past and it takes many applications to work . Good job .
Yea, it was a trial and error. I have it down pat now. LOL. Ironically, I'm going to wind up ordering wood bleach anyway because I want to stain my floors a light/medium grey and the red undertones in my red oak need to be removed first or they will look a muddy brown. Which I don't want. So as soon as I am done painting my bedrooms and then putting in a new wall; bleaching and staining my floors will be the next project.
@@thatchicknyc3606 I hope you made a vid on that.. Btw, I've been reading up on hardwood floors trying to figure out if mine is red or white, and it seems red was more popular because people liked the warm tones. But the light 'ash' coloring would probably be more popular now, imo. I'd love to see the end result of your bleaching project and how it compares to the hair stuff. Prob cheaper, right?
yo. I am in a nightmare right now man. I have a 15 month old baby girl, a 93 yr old mother in law , her 4 cats, and a 90 yr old house with original hardwood floors with these black stains EVERYWHERE . not just from her cats, but from her as well. She has dementia and sometimes refuses to wear her diapers or just simply forgets to. I have spent the past almost 3 years trying to figure out how to get these floors done so my baby girl can have SOMEWHERE to walk and crawl and play, but, bruh. Just renting a sander is beyond expensive and I know the sanding won't remove the stains. I have decided to just paint and seal them after doing a quick screen and refresh or whatever it's called. my brain has turned to mush from all the dang research that has gone into this sh*t. thank u tho for posting ur VERY hard work , I truly appreciate you mama !! You have been super thorough and detailed and all of the things that usually go unappreciated, so, thank you.
I'm in a similar situation I have a 19 month old moved into my mom's place last month and im saving money for a new place to live. She has 2 cats a dog and a rabbit she lets the rabbit wander around never had a cage and thank god she doesnt have carpet bc itd be even worse but she refuses to have the bunny in a cage and has had the animals here for 3 years im staying in the living room rn with my baby where all the animals would go to the bathroom or try to anyway in the fireplace area there was cat litter boxes. I moved it to a different area of the house now though. The bunny decided the opposite side of the room was the best place to pee and poop my family thinks I'm crazy for trying to clean it and think I'm a terrible person for saying it's bad for their health and he needs to be in a cage. i can't deal with the smell and germs we had bronchitis for almost the whole month we have been here and were seriously sick. I got on infection medication and that helped but the floors look exactly like hers if not a little worse. I have a gate up so the bunny can't come in the room at least but I make sure she always wears socks I hope u will leave that place and find a good place to live that's safe and healthy or at least get it super clean and sanitized God bless you and your family ❤
Why are there negative comments here? This video is NOT about replacing the boards. It's about removing the stains. Anyone who says replacing the boards is easier and cheaper has no idea what they're talking about. So thank you ma'am for making this video and going out of your way to help others. The success here is pretty phenomenal and the idea is quite clever and effective.
there are always going to be negative people who miss the point. 1. some people don't know how to replace the boards2. some people don't want to buy a box of boards to replace them
I actually learned how to replace the boards (on YT) after I did this when I changed the place of my bedroom doors and had to fill in the gaps of the door tracks. I removed boards from my closet floor to fill in my bedroom doorway. it was a pain in the ass, BTW. lol.
fredsayshello I sand floors for a living and replacing the boards is faster and easier if you’re going to sand it anyway so you really have no idea what you’re talking about
Thank You for Sharing Your Video !! We bought an Older home ,and when my Wife and I pulled up the Old Carpet we found beautiful Oak Wood floors ,but in one of the rooms , the floor in one large area was heavily stained by Dogs .After I sanded floors it looked great except for that One large area . I searched all over the internet , tried many suggestions with no real results and with no answer from Floor Professionals,then I found your Video ! Thank You so very much !! I followed your Excellent Video and Advice and I am so Grateful for you sharing your Wisdom with us All . Stain came up and it looks Great !! Thank You for taking the time to share !! BE BLESSED
I have tried everything to get the stains out without re-flooring. YOU are now my new best friend. My ignorance doubted you 100% at the beginning. It actually worked. Closest thing to a miracle I've ever seen. Brilliant and thank you. Cheers.
I have worked for professional cleaning companies and never seen nor heard of this intuitive and innovative tip! And most other products do not work - like this did! Beautiful job and kuddos for being brave to do the work yourself & also sharing with the rest of us who love our fur babies & don't mind cleaning up the messes they create! Awesome video! Thanks so much for sharing :-D
The reason why you never seen nor heard of this "intunitive and innovative" tip is because it's STUPID and WRONG because it is VERY DANGEROUS to one's health. You people cannot POSSIBLY be THIS STUPID! Don't you think there is a reason the professional cleaning companies you worked for never did something asinine like this before??? Think people, THINK. The harm that this cleaning method causes your lungs, brain and other vital organs is massive. What are you all thinking??? Idiots commending other idiot's!
@@abbylane521 Someone should tell the hair fanatical people that PAY their stylist to use this on their hair then how "dangerous, wrong and stupid" they are too! Women and men who hire professional cleaning companies put this "dangerous poison" on their hair every time a grey hair spurts up or they want to constantly change colors and such. The only reason this offends you is because you haven't a clue and don't think of how to use old tools in new ways. Most professional cleaning companies clean new and like new condition of wood floors. Showcase homes that don't even have hardly dust on them. That's all that most "professional" cleaning companies are about. They wouldn't know what real dirt and messes are to clean. And if - they had to labor in real messes than they would charge insane rates too. But out in the real world where many professional entrepreneurs own their own cleaning business and customize tasks for homes that have children and pets in them and they clean to help people and not profit off their pets or children to charge them more for it --- these tips are welcomed and used to help those who pay life forward and not using people only for profits. Your comment was hilarious! Calling this dangerous when people put it on their head to make their hair whatever color they want shows your limited views on a topic you haven't a clue of the real world about. Wood won't singe and fry with this like does to human hair.
Thanks for posting this video. Clearly, you went through a learning curve and worked really hard on this project. But, by sharing everything you went through you have saved viewers dealing with this issue a ton of time and effort. The floors ended up looking fabulous.
Thanks for the inspiration! I used your concept for a much smaller (but decades older) stain I found when I pulled up old carpet. I didn't want to go the hair developer route, so I asked myself what else might come in small quantities and deliver the necessary high level of peroxide and stay in place. Answer: Tooth whitener. I bought one small tube of tooth whitener gel. I put it on the black stain for a series of three nights, covered with plastic wrap. Each day I wiped it clean with clear water and let it dry so I could see the progress. It's not entirely gone but now it looks much more like a natural flaw in the red oak. I can sand and refinish with confidence.
Just bought the hair peroxide and developer at the beauty supply shop. You are a genius. We will do Nature' Miracle afterward. So many floor contractors are making tons of money off of pet owners. You should sell your stain, odor remover trick at least to keep pet lovers from being taken advantage of! Our fur babies will go outside and in their liter boxes too! I am paralyzed and unable to walk. My husband is getting a room together for our babies, 2 dogs, 1 cat, he and I will sleep and watch TV downstairs after I have a serious, dangerous 2 day spine operation. It may help me walk. Fingers crossed. You really are so smart! God Bless you.
It's a home remedy. I put the video up so other people could save money instead of spending $$$$ to get it professional fixed/cleaned. Hopefully this helps a lot of pet owners. :) Gluck on your surgery.
I just found this because I have old saturated wood from previous owners that just covered it all up with carpet. This is very helpful and informative and inventive! Great job and that is for the breakdown it’s so rare for people to actually break it down step by step so I appreciate your time and effort for this!! 😊
OMG I LOVE YOU! I am in the process of doing this right now--and it works!! I had tried the hydrogen peroxide---nope, then I tried the oxalic acid---NOPE! I was really depressed yesterday thinking I would have to get my floors died black or something---then I tried this today and it is working like a dream! I am not spraying with the peroxide--and I used heating pads-the kind you use in the microwave--and it lifted the stain right out...I am SO happy. I am going to send this link to all my friends with animals! THANK YOU FOR BEING SO CLEVER!
@Savetime Mann HIya--yes--I put down her developer and powder mix on a slightly sanded surface--and then put the plastic wrap over it--and put on top of that 2 or 3 heating pads--the kind that don't plug in--but you put them in the microwave for 2 mins --they are the kind with rice or sand or something in them---and then just left them for while and came back and voila--when I peeled the plastic off I could see that the stain was gone! I did it in small sections.
OMG! I got tired & my back started to spasm just WATCHING your video! Bless you that you were able to do this yourself & save so much $$$. much respect!
This is seriously amazing! I recently started refinishing my hardwoods and I had 3 major pet spots and this worked so well!!! Thank you so much for the idea!
I had a similar problem with pet urine on my white oak hardwood floors. In some of the worst areas I was able to remove the floor nails and turn the individual boards over. The unfinished underside is clean and ready to sand and finish. Your bleach worked great BTW.
This makes total sense, because I remember my floor finisher telling me that the really deep dark 'urine' stains are really a mix of urine and the runoff from the dyes in the carpeting that once covered the floors, so even if something works to get out the urine stain, most people don't realize that there's also carpet dye to deal with if the pets once peed on the carpet. Great and awesome video! Thank you SO MUCH!!!
Welp, we got the dark stains from cat pee without any carpet over the wood floor. Just an old girl cat who gets in the litter box and pees straight over the side.
WOW!!!! I SO wish we had seen this when renters destroyed our hardwoods. We sanded but didn’t realize we could lighten the stains! This is so smart!!! Amazing!! I will never forget this!!! Saving your video!!!😊😊😊😊
Fascinating. You actually "dyed" it. LOL. Your floor looked like mine when I refinished three years ago. Exactly like that. I used bleach on the urine stains and they did get a little lighter. My biggest bugaboo was finding and removing all the carpet staples from the old carpet. I put a lot of work into it, and wore out two belt sanders. I just finally accepted that it would always look "distressed". The very worst was in front of the entry door. I laid down six large slate tiles there and they look great..
I have been trying to sand/peroxide/“raw hate” the same problem away for two days. Your persistence has given me hope and inspiration to fight on. Thanks!
Thanks a lot! I have multiple blackish stains from my elderly dog peeing on my area rug and soaking through to the hardwood. I tried regular peroxide and it barely touched those stains. I will be trying this method since it worked so well for you. Thanks again! Great job!
Thank you so much for for this information I have had to remove the carpet due to the smell And found such a mess, should never let them live in my house. I am so amazed how well this works, I do know that I will have to use some stain due to over bleaching, don’t even care, I am on my way to having my beautiful hard wood floors back. Thank you is not powerful enough to express how very great full I am. I have a limited income so I couldn’t afford to rent a sander and my small circular one just wouldn’t do the job but I learned about a nice tool called a carbide wood scraper and it does a great job at removing all the layers of varnish to get to bare but badly stained areas. Ok break is over, got to work.
TCNYC: You are a warrior! Thank you for sharing your resourcefulness and your diligence, with images covering every step of the way. That was impressive, and now I'm motivated to tackle my own floor issues.
THANK YOU for posting this! I used the 40% peroxide and lightening cream. I did not use the Saran Wrap or heat, but the results are still freaking amazing. This technique saved us a lot of grief and means will be able to go with a much lighter stain on the floors. Unfortunately, I don't have photos of the sanded floors before I treated them with the peroxide, but I will share before and after photos after the floors are finished. Thanks again, great technique.
yes, you did it .I tried several techniques before fing your video. I followed your well organized video with fabulous results. the only thing i would want to remind greater audience is to use the plastic tub you show to mix the product....
This worked very well on my oak floors thanks so much for posting. Others said try food grade peroxide in 35% concentrate but I couldn't find any to buy, but our hairdresser liked this story so much she gave me some product. I found using the iron on quite high heat directly on the wood worked best and mixing some 3% on top to make it juicy so it steamed its way in and repeat as necessary. My before and after pics are pretty amazing considering they are 15 years old stains down deep left after using the drum sander. This method really saved my floors. Also tried a heat gun which seemed to be effective but went back to the iron.
Very Good video, I have that same problem, my sweet kitty was sick and she peed all over the carpets and hardwood floors, I need to fix all that mess now that she has passed away, This was very helpful. Thank you.
She isn't persistent she is impatient. First of vinegar is oxylic acid and woulda worked the same as would peroxide if she had let it soak and then dry over 2 weeks. Problem is ppl think they can wipe it away or sand it away and it doesn't work like that. If she soaked a cloth on vinegar and or hydrogen peroxide so that it stayed on the spot for a day and then repeated that for a cpl days then let it dry for 2WEEKS YES THAT LONG AS IT GETS WAY WAY WAY LIGHTER OVER TIME FROM DRYING OUT AFTER THIS PROCESS
I had water stains from potted plants on my hardwoods. They are the original thick hardwoods used back in the late 50's, early 60's. I used a drum sander and went below the stains.
urine is much harsher than water stains. I couldn't sand out the dug in pee. It was impossible. It was either bleach it or remove the boards altogether. And this was an experiment either way. I found removing floor boards (for my closet later on) was a super pain in the ass. I prefer bleaching spots, to be honest. Less tools. Less headache. Less effort.
I have been a wood flooring contractor for a long time its nice to know what works other than replacement or a dark stain over the entire floor. Thanks for the video cant wait to try it out.
actually, I DID remove the SURFACE stains. They are all gone. I'm not concerned about what is under the wood as you can't see under the wood. The smell is removed with Natures miracle odor remover. And my floor is perfectly level after this.
oh okay. Yea this was a lot of work with the sanding and bleaching, but I was so happy to get that yuck off my floor. :) Especially since a professional was trying to charge me 5k to strip, bleach and re-stain my floors.
ThatChickNYC You also figured out the key to it.. which is STEAM. You opened up the "pores" to the wood with the steam to allow the product to get in there and do its stuff. Very impressive. 🤗
This worked on my 100 year old floors and got me my deposit back! Want to note for others who may try leaving it on longer-- I was on a time crunch and had to leave in on for 8 hour chunks which did damage the wood a little i think and made it take stain unevenly. Still passable but could have turned out better if I hadstuck to the timeframe she suggests! Definitely take your time and do multiple shorter bleaching sessions for best result. Thank you for sharing!
Did you have to sand the entire floor or just the spots that were stained? I have one spot from a water stain. Should I just sand that one spot, get the stain out? Any tips are appreciated!
Nice! I’m at the 3% peroxide soaked heavy duty paper towels covered with a thick silicone mat that I put under her food and water. I had the same thought about the 40% but it’s late Christmas Eve and my back is killing me. Company tomorrow. Wish me luck!
GOOD JOB! I NEVER WOULD HAVE THOUGHT OF THE IRON-MY STAINS ARE ABOUT THE SAME AND YOU GIVE ME HOPE. THANK YOU. MY STAINS MEANING MY DOGS, NOT MINE PERSONALLY. THAT WOULD EAT THROUGH THE WOOD TO THE FLOOR BELOW, I AM SURE...)
Great choice using the iron steaming method, bc it is very effective in diminishing scratches and gouges on non-sealed wood. I use this on my guitar fretboard to remove scratches and dings, dont do on guitar body though..so if anyone by chance plays guitar, do this, wet towel over area, apply hot iron in short spurts, (will dry wood out tho, oil with linseed afterwards), works awesome. Sorry to intrude with that. Great job!
You are the reason women should rule the world! Thank you for saving zillions of dollars and a ton of fails. I saw your video just as I was getting ready fix my tinkle areas the wrong way.
I watched this and thought, what a crazy cat lady to do this! And then I remembered the 11 fosters I have in the house! LOL Thanks for the suggestions. It's actually my resident cats who have made dark stains on my lovely wood floors, not the fosters. Thanks for the great idea.
LMFAO. I actually have 4 cats now. And none of them pee on the floor. We have a Litter Robot, which self cleans. These were from my old cat who passed. She was sick and that is why she was peeing on the floor.
Great work! The weak (3%) hydrogen peroxide is okay for recent stains but may need to be repeated a time or two. For older, soaked in stains, you'd have to repeat it too much, so using the strong stuff, like you do, is the way to go! Gets rid of the urine smell as well! ...Everyone, be sure and wear protective gloves, 'cause the hydrogen peroxide will kill off layers of your skin, before you know it!
@@MK-ih6wpIt's been a while, so I'm not sure which video this is, but I have tried bleaching and it didn't work for me. I think I'll have to take the old finish off and go from there. Not a task I look forward to.
Brilliant work thinking outside the box with developer About to deal with a tenants mess they left behind after hiding it for 3 years! On top of the fact we had the floors done before they came! We have approx the same amount of area to treat
@What why how, regards using the hair developer and baking soda to remove stains from an oak floor... would you please clarify your comment? I am reading this that you used baking soda with the 40 developer (I guess in the same 1oz + 2 oz ratio) instead of the packet of bleaching powder used to lighten hair? Am I misreading this? Thanks.
I'm impressed by your determination. If you had purchased two part wood bleach, the results would have been a lot quicker. My brother had a floor refinishing company and we routinely would bleach out animal urine stains. There is a learning curve as far as how long to leave the bleach on, as it is a lot stronger than what you used, but after a while you kinda figure it out. Still, good job!!!!
It's all a learning curve I think. I was just kind of impatient. I would have had to order the wood bleach as no store around me carries it (annoying). Also the wood bleach is much harsher chemical-wise and needs something to neutralize it after it's application from what I understand. With this I could clean it up with soap and water. Which is a big bonus. For me it was about what I could get my hands on the fastest. :)
The wood bleach, I don't think, would have worked as well as your technique. I used some strong chemical mixtures and they did not do as well as your recipe.
Ken, It's wood bleach. That's what it's made for. Not hair bleach. Can't tell you how many hundreds of urine stains we bleached out with it. But it must be best left to professionals who know what they're doing.
Gary, I yield to your experience. I have done a lot of wood working but have never used wood bleach. Although I am not a professional floor guy, I do have experience in construction and engineering. If wood bleach will work faster than this technique, I will give it a go on my next repair.
Gary, I yield to your experience. I have done a lot of wood working but have never used wood bleach. Although I am not a professional floor guy, I do have experience in construction and engineering. If wood bleach will work faster than this technique, I will give it a go on my next repair.
Thanks so much. You saved me a lot of money. It makes sense hair developer is stronger than regular peroxide and stylists use it to lift the color off hair. 👌
You are fantastic. I have been looking for something like this forever...I appreciate your good, orderly, clear instructions...THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR POSTING...
If you want to get your wood to match, you can use regular brown tea to stain the wood little by little until you get the color matched as close as possible. start with light and add more tea until you get the color you want. Or one viewer recommended a wood conditioner. I haven't gotten around to sealing my floor yet as I got side tracked with other things. But I plan to lightly re-sand and then totally bleach the floors a white-ash color before I stain them a light grey color and seal them. I did a lot of research and the best bet, if you want to avoid a significant color change, is to use a high traffic WATER based polyurethane sealant. Oil based sealers are more durable but tend to give the finished color a yellowish tone. I will be laying down 4 coats of a water based sealant. I will put up the video when done. Hope that helps.
Wow, you kicked it up a notch..I just use HP. But the hair developer is an improvement. BTW, I don't know if you have an accent but you have a lovely voice! I still love my cats.
I have to hand it to you; I'd have never thought of using a hair product... partly because I don't even know what hair developer is. I thought you were going to use oxalic acid, but no... you went for highlights. Good for you. :)
Did these chemicals cause any bonding issues when you refinished the wood with polyurethane? I have heard that can be a problem when using chemicals to try and remove these black spots.
That’s smart bc developer is peroxide, just stronger, right? Makes sense to me. I’m moving to a spot that I will have to lift stains on the old wood floors and I’m saying a prayer that I will be able to get them out. I will try this method for sure.
Thank you. I have one spot on my hardwood floors from the dog peeing. I had a case of bottled water sitting there and I did not know he had peed there, as it ran underneath the water. It turned the floor black. I will see if I can do this method.
It looks amazing I didn't think it would be possible but now I'm a believer it really looks so different after the different steps to remove the stains ,thanks for sharing this video I'm going to try it do you know where I could get the product from?
Hi, my mother-in law has cats and there are urine stains in spots on her hardwood floors. I can't stand her floors. Will this cleaning process work without sanding?
Hi great video so impressive,could please tell me roughly how many hours did you have in just the stain removal process without any sanding time included. Thanks 🙏🏼
Thank you for this video, I'm having the same issue. I can across a similar video, which seem to be more effective and less costly. This required time & patience. First step is to pour hydrogen peroxide over the stain, then cover with a cloth or a towel that's soaked in hydrogen peroxide. This process may have to be repeated several times, before stain is removed. But it's very effective, without any muscle being used or machine.
I have 1954 house with hardwood floors. Appears to have lacquer or other finish. Does the urine go UNDER that finish, or how does that go? Same with peroxide? Thanks.
i sanded my floors first. i would assume that the bleach may eat through the eurathane. try it on an inconspicuous spot maybe. perhaps inside a closet.
Completely wowed this is amazing thank you SO MUCH!!! My problem is from my elderly Jack Russell but hoping it will work as well for us 🤞 I’ll try to edit and let everyone know!
You mentioned oxalic acid. There is a lot of it in Rhubarb leaves. Perhaps a "tea" made with Rhubarb leaves would give you a solution containing enough it it. (Not sure if using hot water is better or cold water for longer periods).
ThatChickNYC Maybe you should consider putting out a shingle and charging for your services. I just spent over $1k to remove wood floor ruined by cats. You could make $ while saving folks $
Thanks. I watched your video a while back and tried the peroxide on my floors based on your success but it didn't work on my floors, even after I let it soak overnight. There was no change. :( So I had to improvise. I think cat urine stains might be harder to get out... or it might be the type of wood I have. I'm just glad this worked. It took a while, but it was pretty effective, so I'm happy. :)
This is fantastic! Thank you for sharing your genius. I have a question about the floor sander - you rented all you needed from HD. Did they tell you how to use it? Was the floor sander fairly easy to use? Did you have to plastic off the doorways, or was it easy enough to just sweep or vacuum the floors after sanding the room?
They did tell me how to use it. Since I am fairly petite 5ft 5in and 100 lbs I was worried about it dragging me around. And When you first turn the machine on it gives a little kick, but other than that it was pretty easy to use. I had no problems with it. It is repetitive though and you can expect your body (arms and back--from the swinging back and forth and side to side) to be tired after a few hours on the machine. I do recommend taping things off as much as you can. The dust literally gets everywhere. it's unavoidable as the vaccum bag that comes with the machine can only catch so much dust. To rent the machine, You have to bring ID and put a deposit down (on a credit card) for the machine, which you get back when you return the machine. I also paid a delivery charge because I live in the city wasn't willing to carry the machine up the stairs. If you have space in your vehicle and a strong man around you can avoid the delivery charges. It was $60 for drop off and delivery. Rental charges vary according to how many hours/days you need to keep the machine.Hope that helps.
I rent so I really appreciate your youtube video. I admit I was disappointed after first try with bleach But you kept going. Im glad I kept watching now I can skip sanding. Thank you, Thank you.
@ThatChickNYC- what automatic cat litter box do you own? I noticed you posted a comment about having one that is fairly simple to manage for your three cats on another video's thread. What brand is it? Thanks in advance! Much appreciated!!!
I have a Litter Robot. with 4 cats. (1 is a foster) And it is AWESOME. It costs $500, but you can get it on a payment plan with PayPal. It's kinda big so I have it in my kitchen pantry closet. I LOVE this thing. I never have to scoop litter out. They also have a 30 or 90 day return policy (can't remember which since I never returned it). And an 18 month warranty where they will repair/replace a defective part/machine. I have had 2 over the past 7 years. And I can't emphasize how much I DESPISE scooping litter, so that I can honestly say it is worth the price to me. Also you save on litter because it uses less than regular scooping. Put "Litter Robot' in the search engine and you should find a video on YT about it. Basically it has a timer that goes off when a cat climbs in and then 7 minutes later spins around and dumps the poop and pee in a tray. which you line with a bag and then toss out when it's full. Just make sure you leave it off for a few days if you get it, so your cats can acclimate to it without the noise. it isn't loud per se, but scary to cats when they first hear it. I forgot to do this and scared the F--ck out of one of my cats and she refused to go in for at least a week.
Yea, if you clean the inside regularly (about once a month) with baby wipes, the odor is minimal because it drops the waste into the bottom. So long as you use a good clumping litter it's great. I love this thing and will never go back to a regular litter box again.
I mean... It worked. But I could have just tore that out and installed new oak in 4 hours. Now that side of the floor has the opposite problem. It's lighter than the rest. Definitely interesting that you got it to work though. I have seen people try many things and most of the time they just make it worse.
AAAAHH this is pure genius!! I have the exact same problem, and I am so grateful that you posted this video! I have a question though - did you find that using Nature's Miracle on the sanded floor got rid of the smell?
I have used it on bedding and mattresses in the past and it worked like a charm. I used vinegar and baking soda on my floors... but the vinegar did stain the wood a grey color, so I had to bleach it twice. So in the future I would use natures miracle.
I used just salon care 50 volume creme developer. I brushed it on and then sprinkled baking soda on top of it and let it sit over night.It does work. You will need to clean areas with water; let dry; Then treat with Nature's Miracle to eliminate the odor. let dry; re-sand; then use a pre-stain conditioner before you stain the whole floor. This will even out the stain penetration. Otherwise the areas you bleach will show differently. Time consuming but it does work.
Yes and no. I tried several different things from a few videos. I still ended up with a couple of spots that just would not bleach out. I did not use your method on these spots so I can not say that your way did not work for me. I mostly used just the developer alone but, I also mixed it 50/50 with Behr, (no 64), finish stripper. Both of these methods had limited success. As I said, I was still left with a couple small spots that just would not lighten. I will post a clip of floor over the weekend showing before and after.
I experimented a little more, and found that using the powder/developer and steaming the towel with no saran wrap the 2nd time (you still need to do one saran wrap steam) lightens the stains a LOT faster, and it pretty much got my blackest spots out. I added that to the description later.
Ok, I posted a video on our adventure with refinishing this one room. We used your technique at the end and I have to say it worked quite well. I should have tried it first. (Don't say it)
The first ingredient on the bottle of developer is listed as peroxide, so I assume it's just a concentrated form of peroxide. I assume the powder lightener is the actual bleaching agent. Together they are a powerful mix.
It’s great to learn I’m not the only one with a “broken back”. I tried the bleach no heat it did not work which means I need to use it . Meanwhile I used Simple Green recommended by Home Depot employees and wow I could not believe my eyes It does take some elbow grease He also recommended a rectangular scrub brush that I could screw into a pole to do the edges and corners. Love it. No problem with minor stains The very dark ones like yours did lighten up some. My dilemma is do I experiment further with Simple Green inexpensive by the grow gallon - concentrate -biodegradable and non toxic. I used it mixed as told to clean walls and my deck outstanding (non paid ad). Maybe I’ll try a bit more if not I’m going back to the bleach and heat. That thanks to you. I should have known because I’ve bleached my hair all my life and used heat for faster development 😩now my question is the areas I hand sanded. I’ll used the ☕️ tea thanks but to paint over it before I paint do I need to do Any thing else to it??any thoughts any one? Thanks and God bless. Keep safe and VOTE
I'm going to try this tomorrow! Quick question if you dont mind, is there a reason why you used the iron instead of a hair dryer? I would think a hair dryer can heat it up faster and evenly. I also have a steamer, wonderign if that will work too!
ThatChickNYC thank you! I tried it and it lightened up the stains really well! Thanks so much for sharing your method. Have you had a chance to refinish your floor, either stainning or top coat it? Just wondering if the bleach interferes at all with the finish.
I just want to happily report back that we finished the stain and poly last night and the floor looks like new! Your method is just amazingly creative and effective. My husband now knows all about hair developer and how to mix it and apply it properly haha. I washed the bleach off like you said and to be extra careful we used pre-stain conditioner. After staining, you can slightly tell which spots were bleached because they turned out a little lighter, but then you would have to look really closely. Then once the poly was on, everything evened out and it's like nothing ever happened on the floor!
Try using Comet with a scrubby sponge. Disgusting brown sludge will quickly plug the scrub pad so rinse and repeat. It will take a few scrubs and rinses but works really quickly and after 24 hrs or so of drying you will be able to see how well it worked. You WILL need to use polyurethane because this will probably remove the finish but that's a small price to pay. Do a test spot first to see if it's going to work for your particular case but it worked for me. Good luck.
Just so you know 6 years after you made this video you are still saving hardwood floors. We were amazed how well this worked. We took a chance on your video after putting two laminate floors down. If we had seen your video before we did them we would have redone all of the rooms. Thanks for thinking outside the box. We were able to remove the stains and the floor turned out beautiful!!
I've been in the wood floor business for 20 years and you're one of the only people with the fortitude to tackle that job . I've seen pool bleach used in the past and it takes many applications to work . Good job .
Yea, it was a trial and error. I have it down pat now. LOL. Ironically, I'm going to wind up ordering wood bleach anyway because I want to stain my floors a light/medium grey and the red undertones in my red oak need to be removed first or they will look a muddy brown. Which I don't want. So as soon as I am done painting my bedrooms and then putting in a new wall; bleaching and staining my floors will be the next project.
@@thatchicknyc3606 I hope you made a vid on that.. Btw, I've been reading up on hardwood floors trying to figure out if mine is red or white, and it seems red was more popular because people liked the warm tones. But the light 'ash' coloring would probably be more popular now, imo. I'd love to see the end result of your bleaching project and how it compares to the hair stuff. Prob cheaper, right?
So glad to hear you say that because I'm going to try this and I was a bit worried since it was a DIY and not professional
@@angelbunny2518 do a test spot first. In a closet if you can.
The bigger problem is how to remove embedded dirt from the seams of old hardwood floors - wood filler is not the answer ... anybody have any ideas?
yo. I am in a nightmare right now man. I have a 15 month old baby girl, a 93 yr old mother in law , her 4 cats, and a 90 yr old house with original hardwood floors with these black stains EVERYWHERE . not just from her cats, but from her as well. She has dementia and sometimes refuses to wear her diapers or just simply forgets to. I have spent the past almost 3 years trying to figure out how to get these floors done so my baby girl can have SOMEWHERE to walk and crawl and play, but, bruh. Just renting a sander is beyond expensive and I know the sanding won't remove the stains. I have decided to just paint and seal them after doing a quick screen and refresh or whatever it's called. my brain has turned to mush from all the dang research that has gone into this sh*t. thank u tho for posting ur VERY hard work , I truly appreciate you mama !! You have been super thorough and detailed and all of the things that usually go unappreciated, so, thank you.
I'm in a similar situation I have a 19 month old moved into my mom's place last month and im saving money for a new place to live. She has 2 cats a dog and a rabbit she lets the rabbit wander around never had a cage and thank god she doesnt have carpet bc itd be even worse but she refuses to have the bunny in a cage and has had the animals here for 3 years im staying in the living room rn with my baby where all the animals would go to the bathroom or try to anyway in the fireplace area there was cat litter boxes. I moved it to a different area of the house now though. The bunny decided the opposite side of the room was the best place to pee and poop my family thinks I'm crazy for trying to clean it and think I'm a terrible person for saying it's bad for their health and he needs to be in a cage. i can't deal with the smell and germs we had bronchitis for almost the whole month we have been here and were seriously sick. I got on infection medication and that helped but the floors look exactly like hers if not a little worse. I have a gate up so the bunny can't come in the room at least but I make sure she always wears socks I hope u will leave that place and find a good place to live that's safe and healthy or at least get it super clean and sanitized God bless you and your family ❤
Why are there negative comments here? This video is NOT about replacing the boards. It's about removing the stains. Anyone who says replacing the boards is easier and cheaper has no idea what they're talking about.
So thank you ma'am for making this video and going out of your way to help others. The success here is pretty phenomenal and the idea is quite clever and effective.
there are always going to be negative people who miss the point. 1. some people don't know how to replace the boards2. some people don't want to buy a box of boards to replace them
I actually learned how to replace the boards (on YT) after I did this when I changed the place of my bedroom doors and had to fill in the gaps of the door tracks. I removed boards from my closet floor to fill in my bedroom doorway. it was a pain in the ass, BTW. lol.
people always need to criticize
fredsayshello I sand floors for a living and replacing the boards is faster and easier if you’re going to sand it anyway so you really have no idea what you’re talking about
ThatChickNYC Great video! Thank you for taking the time to film this.
Wow. This video is seven years old, and people are still watching. You did an amazing job.
Thank you. 😂😂. I haven’t been checking the views/replies in years.
@@thatchicknyc3606Summer of 2024 I’m here using your video!
@@thatchicknyc3606Me too!
Thank You for Sharing Your Video !! We bought an Older home ,and when my Wife and I pulled up the Old Carpet we found beautiful Oak Wood floors ,but in one of the rooms , the floor in one large area was heavily stained by Dogs .After I sanded floors it looked great except for that One large area . I searched all over the internet , tried many suggestions with no real results and with no answer from Floor Professionals,then I found your Video ! Thank You so very much !! I followed your Excellent Video and Advice and I am so Grateful for you sharing your Wisdom with us All . Stain came up and it looks Great !! Thank You for taking the time to share !! BE BLESSED
I have tried everything to get the stains out without re-flooring.
YOU are now my new best friend.
My ignorance doubted you 100% at the beginning.
It actually worked. Closest thing to a miracle I've ever seen. Brilliant and thank you.
Cheers.
you're very welcome
I have worked for professional cleaning companies and never seen nor heard of this intuitive and innovative tip! And most other products do not work - like this did! Beautiful job and kuddos for being brave to do the work yourself & also sharing with the rest of us who love our fur babies & don't mind cleaning up the messes they create! Awesome video! Thanks so much for sharing :-D
you're welcome
The reason why you never seen nor heard of this "intunitive and innovative" tip is because it's STUPID and WRONG because it is VERY DANGEROUS to one's health. You people cannot POSSIBLY be THIS STUPID! Don't you think there is a reason the professional cleaning companies you worked for never did something asinine like this before??? Think people, THINK. The harm that this cleaning method causes your lungs, brain and other vital organs is massive. What are you all thinking??? Idiots commending other idiot's!
@@abbylane521 From your comment, I'm thinking you're not the best evaluator of idiocy.
The bigger problem is how to remove embedded dirt from the seams of old hardwood floors - wood filler is not the answer ... anybody have any ideas?
@@abbylane521 Someone should tell the hair fanatical people that PAY their stylist to use this on their hair then how "dangerous, wrong and stupid" they are too!
Women and men who hire professional cleaning companies put this "dangerous poison" on their hair every time a grey hair spurts up or they want to constantly change colors and such.
The only reason this offends you is because you haven't a clue and don't think of how to use old tools in new ways.
Most professional cleaning companies clean new and like new condition of wood floors.
Showcase homes that don't even have hardly dust on them.
That's all that most "professional" cleaning companies are about. They wouldn't know what real dirt and messes are to clean. And if - they had to labor in real messes than they would charge insane rates too.
But out in the real world where many professional entrepreneurs own their own cleaning business and customize tasks for homes that have children and pets in them and they clean to help people and not profit off their pets or children to charge them more for it ---
these tips are welcomed and used to help those who pay life forward and not using people only for profits.
Your comment was hilarious! Calling this dangerous when people put it on their head to make their hair whatever color they want shows your limited views on a topic you haven't a clue of the real world about.
Wood won't singe and fry with this like does to human hair.
Thanks for posting this video. Clearly, you went through a learning curve and worked really hard on this project. But, by sharing everything you went through you have saved viewers dealing with this issue a ton of time and effort. The floors ended up looking fabulous.
thanks. and you're welcome :)
The bigger problem is how to remove embedded dirt from the seams of old hardwood floors - wood filler is not the answer ... anybody have any ideas?
Thanks for the inspiration! I used your concept for a much smaller (but decades older) stain I found when I pulled up old carpet. I didn't want to go the hair developer route, so I asked myself what else might come in small quantities and deliver the necessary high level of peroxide and stay in place. Answer: Tooth whitener. I bought one small tube of tooth whitener gel. I put it on the black stain for a series of three nights, covered with plastic wrap. Each day I wiped it clean with clear water and let it dry so I could see the progress. It's not entirely gone but now it looks much more like a natural flaw in the red oak. I can sand and refinish with confidence.
cool.
Nice
Just bought the hair peroxide and developer at the beauty supply shop. You are a genius. We will do Nature' Miracle afterward. So many floor contractors are making tons of money off of pet owners. You should sell your stain, odor remover trick at least to keep pet lovers from being taken advantage of! Our fur babies will go outside and in their liter boxes too! I am paralyzed and unable to walk. My husband is getting a room together for our babies, 2 dogs, 1 cat, he and I will sleep and watch TV downstairs after I have a serious, dangerous 2 day spine operation. It may help me walk. Fingers crossed. You really are so smart! God Bless you.
It's a home remedy. I put the video up so other people could save money instead of spending $$$$ to get it professional fixed/cleaned. Hopefully this helps a lot of pet owners. :) Gluck on your surgery.
I hope your surgery worked out well.
I just found this because I have old saturated wood from previous owners that just covered it all up with carpet. This is very helpful and informative and inventive! Great job and that is for the breakdown it’s so rare for people to actually break it down step by step so I appreciate your time and effort for this!! 😊
I'm in the same fix here, pulled up carpet area and that's what I found. Innovative idea here ! I'll try it at least before I demolish the floor !!
Did you both try this method? How did it work out?? Thanks!
OMG I LOVE YOU! I am in the process of doing this right now--and it works!! I had tried the hydrogen peroxide---nope, then I tried the oxalic acid---NOPE! I was really depressed yesterday thinking I would have to get my floors died black or something---then I tried this today and it is working like a dream! I am not spraying with the peroxide--and I used heating pads-the kind you use in the microwave--and it lifted the stain right out...I am SO happy. I am going to send this link to all my friends with animals! THANK YOU FOR BEING SO CLEVER!
Trinket you’re very welcome.
@Savetime Mann HIya--yes--I put down her developer and powder mix on a slightly sanded surface--and then put the plastic wrap over it--and put on top of that 2 or 3 heating pads--the kind that don't plug in--but you put them in the microwave for 2 mins --they are the kind with rice or sand or something in them---and then just left them for while and came back and voila--when I peeled the plastic off I could see that the stain was gone! I did it in small sections.
OMG! I got tired & my back started to spasm just WATCHING your video! Bless you that you were able to do this yourself & save so much $$$. much respect!
lol. yea it was tiring. But sanding the floor itself took more effort than removing the stains :)
I'm proud of you Mommie, taking care of business you are strong and should be proud of yourself!!!
This is seriously amazing! I recently started refinishing my hardwoods and I had 3 major pet spots and this worked so well!!! Thank you so much for the idea!
you're welcome
I had a similar problem with pet urine on my white oak hardwood floors. In some of the worst areas I was able to remove the floor nails and turn the individual boards over. The unfinished underside is clean and ready to sand and finish. Your bleach worked great BTW.
Turning the boards over is SO CLEVER! Bravo!
@@itsmytube62 omg!! I love all of the folks in these comments, fantastic ideas!!
Such a great suggestion! I’ll have to try it!
This makes total sense, because I remember my floor finisher telling me that the really deep dark 'urine' stains are really a mix of urine and the runoff from the dyes in the carpeting that once covered the floors, so even if something works to get out the urine stain, most people don't realize that there's also carpet dye to deal with if the pets once peed on the carpet. Great and awesome video! Thank you SO MUCH!!!
Welp, we got the dark stains from cat pee without any carpet over the wood floor. Just an old girl cat who gets in the litter box and pees straight over the side.
WOW!!!! I SO wish we had seen this when renters destroyed our hardwoods. We sanded but didn’t realize we could lighten the stains! This is so smart!!! Amazing!! I will never forget this!!! Saving your video!!!😊😊😊😊
:)
Fascinating. You actually "dyed" it. LOL. Your floor looked like mine when I refinished three years ago. Exactly like that. I used bleach on the urine stains and they did get a little lighter.
My biggest bugaboo was finding and removing all the carpet staples from the old carpet. I put a lot of work into it, and wore out two belt sanders. I just finally accepted that it would always look "distressed". The very worst was in front of the entry door. I laid down six large slate tiles there and they look great..
i tried bleach it didnt work
I have been trying to sand/peroxide/“raw hate” the same problem away for two days. Your persistence has given me hope and inspiration to fight on. Thanks!
let me know how it works out for you.
Thanks a lot! I have multiple blackish stains from my elderly dog peeing on my area rug and soaking through to the hardwood.
I tried regular peroxide and it barely touched those stains. I will be trying this method since it worked so well for you.
Thanks again! Great job!
did it work?
Thank you so much for for this information I have had to remove the carpet due to the smell And found such a mess, should never let them live in my house. I am so amazed how well this works, I do know that I will have to use some stain due to over bleaching, don’t even care, I am on my way to having my beautiful hard wood floors back. Thank you is not powerful enough to express how very great full I am. I have a limited income so I couldn’t afford to rent a sander and my small circular one just wouldn’t do the job but I learned about a nice tool called a carbide wood scraper and it does a great job at removing all the layers of varnish to get to bare but badly stained areas. Ok break is over, got to work.
TCNYC: You are a warrior! Thank you for sharing your resourcefulness and your diligence, with images covering every step of the way. That was impressive, and now I'm motivated to tackle my own floor issues.
You’re welcome
I tried it tonight and it worked like a charm. You are a lifesaver
Glad to help!
THANK YOU for posting this! I used the 40% peroxide and lightening cream. I did not use the Saran Wrap or heat, but the results are still freaking amazing. This technique saved us a lot of grief and means will be able to go with a much lighter stain on the floors. Unfortunately, I don't have photos of the sanded floors before I treated them with the peroxide, but I will share before and after photos after the floors are finished. Thanks again, great technique.
You’re welcome
yes, you did it .I tried several techniques before fing your video. I followed your well organized video with fabulous results. the only thing i would want to remind greater audience is to use the plastic tub you show to mix the product....
This worked very well on my oak floors thanks so much for posting. Others said try food grade peroxide in 35% concentrate but I couldn't find any to buy, but our hairdresser liked this story so much she gave me some product. I found using the iron on quite high heat directly on the wood worked best and mixing some 3% on top to make it juicy so it steamed its way in and repeat as necessary. My before and after pics are pretty amazing considering they are 15 years old stains down deep left after using the drum sander. This method really saved my floors. Also tried a heat gun which seemed to be effective but went back to the iron.
I'm glad to hear it helped
Very Good video, I have that same problem, my sweet kitty was sick and she peed all over the carpets and hardwood floors, I need to fix all that mess now that she has passed away, This was very helpful. Thank you.
YW
Sorry about kitty. :(
Great job! Never would have thought of this method to get those stains out. Brilliant and it looks amazing!
Girl, you are persistent! Love it.
She isn't persistent she is impatient. First of vinegar is oxylic acid and woulda worked the same as would peroxide if she had let it soak and then dry over 2 weeks. Problem is ppl think they can wipe it away or sand it away and it doesn't work like that. If she soaked a cloth on vinegar and or hydrogen peroxide so that it stayed on the spot for a day and then repeated that for a cpl days then let it dry for 2WEEKS YES THAT LONG AS IT GETS WAY WAY WAY LIGHTER OVER TIME FROM DRYING OUT AFTER THIS PROCESS
I had water stains from potted plants on my hardwoods. They are the original thick hardwoods used back in the late 50's, early 60's. I used a drum sander and went below the stains.
urine is much harsher than water stains. I couldn't sand out the dug in pee. It was impossible. It was either bleach it or remove the boards altogether. And this was an experiment either way. I found removing floor boards (for my closet later on) was a super pain in the ass. I prefer bleaching spots, to be honest. Less tools. Less headache. Less effort.
I have been a wood flooring contractor for a long time its nice to know what works other than replacement or a dark stain over the entire floor. Thanks for the video cant wait to try it out.
You're welcome. Happy it can help. Also remember to treat the smell as well. The developer gets up the stain, not the smells.
actually, I DID remove the SURFACE stains. They are all gone. I'm not concerned about what is under the wood as you can't see under the wood. The smell is removed with Natures miracle odor remover. And my floor is perfectly level after this.
oh okay. Yea this was a lot of work with the sanding and bleaching, but I was so happy to get that yuck off my floor. :) Especially since a professional was trying to charge me 5k to strip, bleach and re-stain my floors.
el magico no they are crazy here. That was the price quoted for just 2 rooms. I was like wtf. No way, I'll do it myself.
ThatChickNYC You also figured out the key to it.. which is STEAM. You opened up the "pores" to the wood with the steam to allow the product to get in there and do its stuff. Very impressive. 🤗
I question I have (although I realize this is a pretty old post) - Do the floors need to be sanded first in order for this treatment to work?
This worked on my 100 year old floors and got me my deposit back! Want to note for others who may try leaving it on longer-- I was on a time crunch and had to leave in on for 8 hour chunks which did damage the wood a little i think and made it take stain unevenly. Still passable but could have turned out better if I hadstuck to the timeframe she suggests! Definitely take your time and do multiple shorter bleaching sessions for best result. Thank you for sharing!
Did you have to sand the entire floor or just the spots that were stained? I have one spot from a water stain. Should I just sand that one spot, get the stain out? Any tips are appreciated!
@@avanett1just sand the spot. I wanted to redo the floors. So I did the whole room
Nice! I’m at the 3% peroxide soaked heavy duty paper towels covered with a thick silicone mat that I put under her food and water. I had the same thought about the 40% but it’s late Christmas Eve and my back is killing me. Company tomorrow. Wish me luck!
GOOD JOB! I NEVER WOULD HAVE THOUGHT OF THE IRON-MY STAINS ARE ABOUT THE SAME AND YOU GIVE ME HOPE. THANK YOU. MY STAINS MEANING MY DOGS, NOT MINE PERSONALLY. THAT WOULD EAT THROUGH THE WOOD TO THE FLOOR BELOW, I AM SURE...)
Great choice using the iron steaming method, bc it is very effective in diminishing scratches and gouges on non-sealed wood. I use this on my guitar fretboard to remove scratches and dings, dont do on guitar body though..so if anyone by chance plays guitar, do this, wet towel over area, apply hot iron in short spurts, (will dry wood out tho, oil with linseed afterwards), works awesome. Sorry to intrude with that. Great job!
good to know. thanks. I just used the heat to accelerate the bleaching process.
You are the reason women should rule the world! Thank you for saving zillions of dollars and a ton of fails. I saw your video just as I was getting ready fix my tinkle areas the wrong way.
glad to help :)
I watched this and thought, what a crazy cat lady to do this! And then I remembered the 11 fosters I have in the house! LOL Thanks for the suggestions. It's actually my resident cats who have made dark stains on my lovely wood floors, not the fosters. Thanks for the great idea.
LMFAO. I actually have 4 cats now. And none of them pee on the floor. We have a Litter Robot, which self cleans. These were from my old cat who passed. She was sick and that is why she was peeing on the floor.
Great work! The weak (3%) hydrogen peroxide is okay for recent stains but may need to be repeated a time or two. For older, soaked in stains, you'd have to repeat it too much, so using the strong stuff, like you do, is the way to go! Gets rid of the urine smell as well! ...Everyone, be sure and wear protective gloves, 'cause the hydrogen peroxide will kill off layers of your skin, before you know it!
@Savetime Mann did you try it yet? I am going to try a small area, but without the steam iron.
The developer is peroxide, just 4x stronger, (40 volume = 4x (10 volume or 3%) = 12%. The rest are thickeners, water and coloring agent optional
Can I be your bff? I left the saran wrap on over night and it worked like a charm! And then I re-stained it. I didn't do the heating it up. 💗💕💙💚💛
cool. I'm glad it worked for you :)
Cool, that was something I was wondering. Thx for the comment.
@@dreamingrightnow1174 have you attempted it??
@@MK-ih6wpIt's been a while, so I'm not sure which video this is, but I have tried bleaching and it didn't work for me. I think I'll have to take the old finish off and go from there. Not a task I look forward to.
OH GREAT Im nervous to do the saran wrap. I have the worst stains ever and am a bit lazy to do a few applications
Brilliant work thinking outside the box with developer
About to deal with a tenants mess they left behind after hiding it for 3 years! On top of the fact we had the floors done before they came!
We have approx the same amount of area to treat
Thanks! I tweeked your method and used baking soda to make the 40 developer paste. It worked!
cool
@What why how, regards using the hair developer and baking soda to remove stains from an oak floor... would you please clarify your comment? I am reading this that you used baking soda with the 40 developer (I guess in the same 1oz + 2 oz ratio) instead of the packet of bleaching powder used to lighten hair? Am I misreading this? Thanks.
Yes, please do tell the details! Thx!
I'm impressed by your determination. If you had purchased two part wood bleach, the results would have been a lot quicker. My brother had a floor refinishing company and we routinely would bleach out animal urine stains. There is a learning curve as far as how long to leave the bleach on, as it is a lot stronger than what you used, but after a while you kinda figure it out. Still, good job!!!!
It's all a learning curve I think. I was just kind of impatient. I would have had to order the wood bleach as no store around me carries it (annoying). Also the wood bleach is much harsher chemical-wise and needs something to neutralize it after it's application from what I understand. With this I could clean it up with soap and water. Which is a big bonus. For me it was about what I could get my hands on the fastest. :)
The wood bleach, I don't think, would have worked as well as your technique. I used some strong chemical mixtures and they did not do as well as your recipe.
Ken, It's wood bleach. That's what it's made for. Not hair bleach. Can't tell you how many hundreds of urine stains we bleached out with it. But it must be best left to professionals who know what they're doing.
Gary, I yield to your experience. I have done a lot of wood working but have never used wood bleach. Although I am not a professional floor guy, I do have experience in construction and engineering. If wood bleach will work faster than this technique, I will give it a go on my next repair.
Gary, I yield to your experience. I have done a lot of wood working but have never used wood bleach. Although I am not a professional floor guy, I do have experience in construction and engineering. If wood bleach will work faster than this technique, I will give it a go on my next repair.
That is very good.
I wonder If granulated swimming pool bleach would do that.
There is a bleach that is used for making paper probably work best.
Thanks so much. You saved me a lot of money. It makes sense hair developer is stronger than regular peroxide and stylists use it to lift the color off hair. 👌
You are so welcome!
This is pure genius ! Does it kick off the bad urine smell too ? Many thanks from France 🙏
I'm going to do this to my floor. You saved me several hundred dollars buying new floors. Where do I send the check? (just kidding). Thank you though.
Several hundred? I was told close to $900 for my kitchen floor!
You are fantastic. I have been looking for something like this forever...I appreciate your good, orderly, clear instructions...THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR POSTING...
Amazing! After you were finished bleaching the wood, did you seal the wood? If so, how did it look? Did it match the rest of the floor?
If you want to get your wood to match, you can use regular brown tea to stain the wood little by little until you get the color matched as close as possible. start with light and add more tea until you get the color you want. Or one viewer recommended a wood conditioner. I haven't gotten around to sealing my floor yet as I got side tracked with other things. But I plan to lightly re-sand and then totally bleach the floors a white-ash color before I stain them a light grey color and seal them. I did a lot of research and the best bet, if you want to avoid a significant color change, is to use a high traffic WATER based polyurethane sealant. Oil based sealers are more durable but tend to give the finished color a yellowish tone. I will be laying down 4 coats of a water based sealant. I will put up the video when done. Hope that helps.
Wow, you kicked it up a notch..I just use HP. But the hair developer is an improvement. BTW, I don't know if you have an accent but you have a lovely voice! I still love my cats.
I’m a Latina fromNYC 😂
I have to hand it to you; I'd have never thought of using a hair product... partly because I don't even know what hair developer is. I thought you were going to use oxalic acid, but no... you went for highlights. Good for you. :)
Excellent job! Good on you for thinking outside the box and discovering this creative solution!!
This is the type of woman that you do not wanna cheat on 😂 #persistent
kmaezz 14 years. He hasn’t yet. 🤣
There's a type you do?
On the other hand, you sound like the kind of man who would make cheating very ... tempting 🤣
@elizabethmarielle2231 I'm not a man lol but ok
That turned out amazing! You should be proud of yourself!!👏
Did these chemicals cause any bonding issues when you refinished the wood with polyurethane? I have heard that can be a problem when using chemicals to try and remove these black spots.
That’s smart bc developer is peroxide, just stronger, right? Makes sense to me. I’m moving to a spot that I will have to lift stains on the old wood floors and I’m saying a prayer that I will be able to get them out. I will try this method for sure.
I found your video. I tried it and it worked like a charm.
cool. I'm happy for you :)
Thank you. I have one spot on my hardwood floors from the dog peeing. I had a case of bottled water sitting there and I did not know he had peed there, as it ran underneath the water. It turned the floor black. I will see if I can do this method.
THAT was a LOT of work! Thank you for the lessons
Girl, that’s what using! It’s worked, thank goodness. More stains to clean this weekend. 🙄🤣
I didn't think about bleaching my floors I used hair dye and died mine liquid smoke and they turned out beautiful.
It looks amazing I didn't think it would be possible but now I'm a believer it really looks so different after the different steps to remove the stains ,thanks for sharing this video I'm going to try it do you know where I could get the product from?
Hi, my mother-in law has cats and there are urine stains in spots on her hardwood floors. I can't stand her floors. Will this cleaning process work without sanding?
Thank you I was wondering what that black stain was I just moved into my apartment and found out the previous owners had a cat and a few dogs
Thank you so much. Finally I was able to get rid of the dark urine spots from my hardwood floor. 👍
Hi great video so impressive,could please tell me roughly how many hours did you have in just the stain removal process without any sanding time included. Thanks 🙏🏼
a few hours i cant remember how long
Thank you for this video, I'm having the same issue. I can across a similar video, which seem to be more effective and less costly. This required time & patience. First step is to pour hydrogen peroxide over the stain, then cover with a cloth or a towel that's soaked in hydrogen peroxide. This process may have to be repeated several times, before stain is removed. But it's very effective, without any muscle being used or machine.
I have 1954 house with hardwood floors. Appears to have lacquer or other finish. Does the urine go UNDER that finish, or how does that go? Same with peroxide? Thanks.
@@KindCountsDeb3773 I removed the sealer/polish before i did this i dont know how it would work with sealed floors.
Looks great now but what about 6 months from now when the roots start to grow out? hehe
Just buy a cleaner called "Bar Keeper's Friend". It is mostly oxalic acid which is the active ingredient that is doing the "Bleaching".
Wonderful video, thank you for sharing! Only one thing I would change. Use Skout's Honor for urine odor. I do cat rescue and it's really works!
Cracking up at the hair developer. I have that stockedddd 🤣 but seriously amazing job
what do you do if the urine soaked into the subfloor below? Is there a way to remove the odor from that? Assuming you remove the hardwood on top?
can this product be applied directly over unsanded hardwood flooring, or does the existing stained urethane need be sanded completely off?
i sanded my floors first. i would assume that the bleach may eat through the eurathane. try it on an inconspicuous spot maybe. perhaps inside a closet.
I’m thinking, if the urine got through the finish, why wouldn’t the peroxide? Let us know how it worked if you tried it w/o removing the finish. Thx.
Was it able to remove the odors by chance great video 👍🏼
Question? Is the stains actually holding the odor and when you remove the stains you remove the odor?
Completely wowed this is amazing thank you SO MUCH!!! My problem is from my elderly Jack Russell but hoping it will work as well for us 🤞
I’ll try to edit and let everyone know!
did ti work?
This worked really well on my floor, THANKS for posting this!
you're welcome
You mentioned oxalic acid. There is a lot of it in Rhubarb leaves. Perhaps a "tea" made with Rhubarb leaves would give you a solution containing enough it it. (Not sure if using hot water is better or cold water for longer periods).
Oxalic acid is a main active ingredient in Barkeeper's Friend metal scrubbing powder.
I've never been so intrigued to watch the removal of urine lol. Week done 👌🏽
lo. thanks.
ThatChickNYC Maybe you should consider putting out a shingle and charging for your services. I just spent over $1k to remove wood floor ruined by cats. You could make $ while saving folks $
:) well now you know how to save money the next time it happens ;)
I came after reading your comment,
that was intense :) nicely done!
Thanks. I watched your video a while back and tried the peroxide on my floors based on your success but it didn't work on my floors, even after I let it soak overnight. There was no change. :( So I had to improvise. I think cat urine stains might be harder to get out... or it might be the type of wood I have. I'm just glad this worked. It took a while, but it was pretty effective, so I'm happy. :)
I was impressed with the perseverance. most would've given up and put carpet over it.
LMFAO. Ughhh, I hate carpet. It's so gross and with 2 toddlers, a dog and 3 cats, that would be a BAD idea. :)
This is fantastic! Thank you for sharing your genius. I have a question about the floor sander - you rented all you needed from HD. Did they tell you how to use it? Was the floor sander fairly easy to use? Did you have to plastic off the doorways, or was it easy enough to just sweep or vacuum the floors after sanding the room?
They did tell me how to use it. Since I am fairly petite 5ft 5in and 100 lbs I was worried about it dragging me around. And When you first turn the machine on it gives a little kick, but other than that it was pretty easy to use. I had no problems with it. It is repetitive though and you can expect your body (arms and back--from the swinging back and forth and side to side) to be tired after a few hours on the machine. I do recommend taping things off as much as you can. The dust literally gets everywhere. it's unavoidable as the vaccum bag that comes with the machine can only catch so much dust. To rent the machine, You have to bring ID and put a deposit down (on a credit card) for the machine, which you get back when you return the machine. I also paid a delivery charge because I live in the city wasn't willing to carry the machine up the stairs. If you have space in your vehicle and a strong man around you can avoid the delivery charges. It was $60 for drop off and delivery. Rental charges vary according to how many hours/days you need to keep the machine.Hope that helps.
How did it effect the smell? I'm concerned with it continuing to smell bad.
I rent so I really appreciate your youtube video. I admit I was disappointed after first try with bleach But you kept going. Im glad I kept watching now I can skip sanding. Thank you, Thank you.
Rick Hosea you’re welcome
@ThatChickNYC- what automatic cat litter box do you own? I noticed you posted a comment about having one that is fairly simple to manage for your three cats on another video's thread. What brand is it? Thanks in advance! Much appreciated!!!
I have a Litter Robot. with 4 cats. (1 is a foster) And it is AWESOME. It costs $500, but you can get it on a payment plan with PayPal. It's kinda big so I have it in my kitchen pantry closet. I LOVE this thing. I never have to scoop litter out. They also have a 30 or 90 day return policy (can't remember which since I never returned it). And an 18 month warranty where they will repair/replace a defective part/machine. I have had 2 over the past 7 years. And I can't emphasize how much I DESPISE scooping litter, so that I can honestly say it is worth the price to me. Also you save on litter because it uses less than regular scooping. Put "Litter Robot' in the search engine and you should find a video on YT about it. Basically it has a timer that goes off when a cat climbs in and then 7 minutes later spins around and dumps the poop and pee in a tray. which you line with a bag and then toss out when it's full. Just make sure you leave it off for a few days if you get it, so your cats can acclimate to it without the noise. it isn't loud per se, but scary to cats when they first hear it. I forgot to do this and scared the F--ck out of one of my cats and she refused to go in for at least a week.
THANK YOU SO MUCH! I will look into this ASAP!! I am down to pay whatever if I don't have to scoop and there is odor control!!! :)
Yea, if you clean the inside regularly (about once a month) with baby wipes, the odor is minimal because it drops the waste into the bottom. So long as you use a good clumping litter it's great. I love this thing and will never go back to a regular litter box again.
I mean... It worked. But I could have just tore that out and installed new oak in 4 hours. Now that side of the floor has the opposite problem. It's lighter than the rest. Definitely interesting that you got it to work though. I have seen people try many things and most of the time they just make it worse.
AAAAHH this is pure genius!! I have the exact same problem, and I am so grateful that you posted this video! I have a question though - did you find that using Nature's Miracle on the sanded floor got rid of the smell?
I have used it on bedding and mattresses in the past and it worked like a charm. I used vinegar and baking soda on my floors... but the vinegar did stain the wood a grey color, so I had to bleach it twice. So in the future I would use natures miracle.
ThatChickNYC Thank you for the reply!! I will plan on using that then
also try getting the smells out first, then the stains.
ThatChickNYC Thank you!! I absolutely will work on the smells first - that's really the part I'm most concerned about
I used just salon care 50 volume creme developer. I brushed it on and then sprinkled baking soda on top of it and let it sit over night.It does work. You will need to clean areas with water; let dry; Then treat with Nature's Miracle to eliminate the odor. let dry; re-sand; then use a pre-stain conditioner before you stain the whole floor. This will even out the stain penetration. Otherwise the areas you bleach will show differently. Time consuming but it does work.
did you try the developer based on my video?
Yes and no. I tried several different things from a few videos. I still ended up with a couple of spots that just would not bleach out. I did not use your method on these spots so I can not say that your way did not work for me. I mostly used just the developer alone but, I also mixed it 50/50 with Behr, (no 64), finish stripper. Both of these methods had limited success. As I said, I was still left with a couple small spots that just would not lighten. I will post a clip of floor over the weekend showing before and after.
I experimented a little more, and found that using the powder/developer and steaming the towel with no saran wrap the 2nd time (you still need to do one saran wrap steam) lightens the stains a LOT faster, and it pretty much got my blackest spots out. I added that to the description later.
Ok, I posted a video on our adventure with refinishing this one room. We used your technique at the end and I have to say it worked quite well. I should have tried it first. (Don't say it)
I have at least one more room with bad spots in it and when I do that room I will use your method and film it.
Back in the 80s we used to make homemade and effective hair bleach using ammonia, peroxide and soap. making your own might save money?
just no
@@abbylane521 lol!
Thank you for sharing this video! You worked very hard to get everything cleaned up. Great job!
Good Job. Is hair developer basically bleach or peroxide?
The first ingredient on the bottle of developer is listed as peroxide, so I assume it's just a concentrated form of peroxide. I assume the powder lightener is the actual bleaching agent. Together they are a powerful mix.
Just sold my house floors went from detriment to major selling point.
Did it remove the smell as well?
@@11219tt who cares. Just sell that house
@@11219ttenzyme cleaner for the smells
Can't wait to try this!
It’s great to learn I’m not the only one with a “broken back”. I tried the bleach no heat it did not work which means I need to use it . Meanwhile I used Simple Green recommended by Home Depot employees and wow I could not believe my eyes It does take some elbow grease He also recommended a rectangular scrub brush that I could screw into a pole to do the edges and corners. Love it. No problem with minor stains The very dark ones like yours did lighten up some. My dilemma is do I experiment further with Simple Green inexpensive by the grow gallon - concentrate -biodegradable and non toxic. I used it mixed as told to clean walls and my deck outstanding (non paid ad). Maybe I’ll try a bit more if not I’m going back to the bleach and heat. That thanks to you. I should have known because I’ve bleached my hair all my life and used heat for faster development 😩now my question is the areas I hand sanded. I’ll used the ☕️ tea thanks but to paint over it before I paint do I need to do Any thing else to it??any thoughts any one? Thanks and God bless. Keep safe and VOTE
someone recommended using a wood conditioner to help even the color out
I'm going to try this tomorrow! Quick question if you dont mind, is there a reason why you used the iron instead of a hair dryer? I would think a hair dryer can heat it up faster and evenly. I also have a steamer, wonderign if that will work too!
because it's flat and can cover more space. I assume a steamer can work as well.
ThatChickNYC thank you! I tried it and it lightened up the stains really well! Thanks so much for sharing your method. Have you had a chance to refinish your floor, either stainning or top coat it? Just wondering if the bleach interferes at all with the finish.
I haven't because I'm still renovating. lol. but once the bleach is cleaned up it shouldn't interfere with the stain.
I just want to happily report back that we finished the stain and poly last night and the floor looks like new! Your method is just amazingly creative and effective. My husband now knows all about hair developer and how to mix it and apply it properly haha. I washed the bleach off like you said and to be extra careful we used pre-stain conditioner. After staining, you can slightly tell which spots were bleached because they turned out a little lighter, but then you would have to look really closely. Then once the poly was on, everything evened out and it's like nothing ever happened on the floor!
I'm so glad it worked for you!!
Great video! I only have two black spots to clean but I’ll use your method
Try using Comet with a scrubby sponge. Disgusting brown sludge will quickly plug the scrub pad so rinse and repeat. It will take a few scrubs and rinses but works really quickly and after 24 hrs or so of drying you will be able to see how well it worked. You WILL need to use polyurethane because this will probably remove the finish but that's a small price to pay. Do a test spot first to see if it's going to work for your particular case but it worked for me.
Good luck.
guess missed it. What do you mean by clean developer off completely? Is this with soap & water? Great work. thanks
GIS GRL soap and water yes.
Thank you for this great suggestion. I am going to try it.