Water Popping Red Oak Floors

This step is applied to hardwood flooring that is going to receive a stain.
Water popping red oak floors. It isn t a good idea to wet mop and if you do you should dry the floor immediately after mopping. It darkens the stain color by allowing the grain to absorb more of the pigment. It helps remove any small remaining sanding marks that may have been missed. The drawbacks to doing a water pop are first and foremost it costs more.
Benefits of water popping it allows the stain to be applied more evenly across the floor it raises the wood fibers so the stain goes deep into the wood for a nice finish it helps create a professional look and feel without any sanding marks it makes the color stand out. I only pop my floors if its stained maple or the darker stains on oak. I don t have extensive use with oil penetrating finishes a couple a year but i have yet had to pop it to achieve the color. Water popping is an added step in the finishing process.
The water popping process has a number of benefits. Water can damage red oak and walnut flooring no matter how tough a finish it has. It s where a thin even layer of misted water is applied to freshly sanded hardwood before the stain is applied. It allows the stain to be applied more evenly across the floor.
Water popping may not be necessary as oak accepts color pretty good.