Any Tips For Oil Stains??

[L15a]

I have a problem.

I've renovated an old house, and in one of the rooms I've put in a beautiful beech floor (quite early on). Unfortunately, while I've been getting on with the rest of the house, I used it as a storage area. During that time, some animal-grooming tea tree oil has spilled (I know, I know), and left quite a large stain... right in the middle (obviously it couldn't have been somewhere discreet!).

The trouble is, when I've finished the work in the room, I was just going to sand it and treat it with something that would maintain the pale natural colour. The mark is really dark, and I have no idea how deep it's soaked in. :confused:

I've had a couple of goes with some white spirit and wire wool, but it doesn't seem to be having any effect at all. I went with that as a guess, but I don't want to keep doing it too much, incase I create an even bigger problem. It does seem to be making the surrounding wood paler, and I realise I could end up making a right mess!!

Has anyone got any advice??

Lisa


Oops.... I've put this in the wrong bit... Doh! Any chance a mod could move it to the right bb please??

[Ashore]

Lisa Hi and welcome to the forum
If you check out the whole forum list there are catagories for just about everything including home renovation , but not to worry , i'm sure you will get heaps of advice , good , bad, and other from here

As to animal-grooming tea tree oil I have no idea, a light sand may indicate how deep the stain has gone into the wood
If worst comes to worse you may have to consider staining the whole floor , though it would be a pity to loose that natural colour

The trouble with life is there's no background music.



Russell

[AlexS]

Since you've already used white spirit it shouldn't hurt to try again with it. Brush some on the area that's affected, then cover it with Kitty Litter (Fullers earth). The idea is that the KL absorbs the mixture of white spirits and ti-tree oil. You may need to do it several times, or you may need a different solvent to mix wit the TT oil - don't know which would be the best.

[L15a]

I'll give the fullers earth a go, as I have some anyway.

Cheers
Lisa

[wombat47]

You might also try putting two or three sheets of paper towel or blotting paper over the stain and applying heat with an iron (on dry, not steam). This method removes oil from fabric - but will it work on timber?

At least you would have a wrinkle free patch.