After years of use some damage was done with a battery left there which leaked a bit and created a round imprint. A water bottle spray was left for a few days and created a stain. While examining the surface I noticed some areas were just worn off, so no surprise if even a little water would damage it.
So, I decided to remove the varnish, remove stains and re-varnish. I read many treads on Internet and decided to use a chemical stripper. This part went surprisingly well and fast.
Removing stains was a long and painful process and I couldn't perfectly remove them. I tried salt and lemon with no success. Tooth paste helped somewhat. Then chlorine bleach, but I was afraid to leave more stains. Chlorine can leave greenish stains. Then with oxalic acid by using Bartender's Friend. It was discoloring the wood around but would not completely remove stains. It has attenuated them at least. Then I used some peroxide and q-tips on the darkest parts. This helped a bit more. It looks like the wood itself was releasing some grey color that would create more stains.
You have to be really patient with stain removing and also accept wood will never be perfect. If you want perfection then may be select dark stain or just paint the wood as it was at my parents' house.
Staining clearer spots wasn't easy. I didn't want to saturate the color and get a dark result, but just match the previous stain.
After staining, I applied 4 layers of polyurethane (in the past only 2 were applied). The most difficult was removing latex caulking. I then reapplied the caulk, not easy to do a good job, but I applied tape to contain caulk and it helped a lot, but I still couldn't make a perfect job.
All in all it looks much better than before. However if we are to redo the floors, I would prefer installing new hardwood rather than refinish. This smaller work gave me idea on how messy it can be on a larger surface an much more difficult to control. Using chemicals is easy but the smell gave me headache, although everyone agreed it didn't smell much, as the window was opened and the room well aerated.
Last layer of varnish was more difficult to apply as it dries fast and I was afraid it would cause some sweating or drops on surface, but in the end it was just fine. On a small surface I had time to rectify, but on a floor I couldn't have done it. In any case we have installed a new floor in one of the rooms and have a compressor and all tools, and it looks gorgeous. It was fast and clean also.
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