LESLIE: Claire in Connecticut needs some help cleaning a hardwood floor. What can we do for you?
CLAIRE: I’d like to know how you can get grease off a hardwood floor.
LESLIE: Like cooking grease?
CLAIRE: Yeah.
TOM: Hmm. Has it soaked in, Claire?
CLAIRE: Yeah.
TOM: Yeah. (groans)
LESLIE: (groans) Is the floor unfinished?
CLAIRE: No.
TOM: But you think it’s soaked through the finish?
CLAIRE: Yes.
TOM: Alright, well listen. If it’s soaked through the finish then you’re not going to be able to get it back out again. You’re going to have to sand the finish down to the wood or at least sand the upper layers of the finish off. I would attack this in stages. I would consider lightly sanding the wood surface to see if I can get some of that staining removed. If it tends to even out, then you could probably just do one coat of finish and you’ll be good to go; if not, you’re going to have it sanded down through to the wood so that you could actually get down to where that oil has resided and then do a new set of – new finish on top of that. You know, once it gets into the wood grain, you’ve really got to get down to the level that it’s at in order to be able to remove it and start again.
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