Wood filler too light - possible to stain?

KnittingAmy

Hi everyone,

We're in the process of sanding down floorboards. We've discovered (to our horror) that the wood filler we so carefully applied to the many many holes, now looks much lighter than the sanded wood, which we were hoping to varnish clear. A bit of googling leads me to think that we could apply stain over the filler areas, but I'm wondering whether anyone has any experience or advice on how to deal with this situation.

Thanks in advance!

stuart45

Some fillers are stainable, some won't take the stain.

deannagone

I wonder if adding tea liquid would be worth experimenting with to minimise expense to see if the filler will take a colour?  If the filler will stain, you could try adding more until the colour is right.

If you are sanding the flooring, one suggestion is to mix the wood dust with pvc and use that to fill holes.  Obviously you will need to add wood dust that is clean, not from the surface of the wood (which might be dirty and not match the colour of the finished floor).

KnittingAmy

Thanks, the tea suggestion is an interesting one (and one that doesn't involve waiting for the shops to open at 10!) The filler does say it can take stain and I think that the colour could be quite a good match. Thanks again and have a good day!

badger09

In addition to tea, you could try coffee or gravy browning. I've used the former to disguise small amounts of filler on ceramic floor tiles, and the latter on a wooden bedhead damaged by removal men. Both looked better than the damage, so worth experimenting?  

KnittingAmy

Thanks for the handy tips. The tea did make it a little darker, though I didn't try the coffee/gravy browning. In the end we were lucky that we were able to remove the filler leaving just a little residue. I'll keep the tips in mind for the future. We've only just started doing up our house so I'm sure there'll be plenty more opportunities to use them 😂

twopenny

Try a little thin layer of varnish on the least visible area, filler and wood. 
It does mean waiting for it to dry throughly but better than having to take off the whole floor if it's too obvious.
Water/moisture can cause wood filler to stain irregularly. 
You'll have worked long and hard .on. It. Don't rush the last bit.