Dublin Carpet

  • Home
  • About
    • Blog
  • Hardwood
  • Laminate
  • Carpet
  • Other Flooring
    • Luxury Vinyl Tile
    • Tile
    • Vinyl
    • Area Rugs
    • Residential Flooring
    • Commercial Flooring
  • Contact Us
  • (925) 833-0165
Dublin Carpet

The Pros and Cons of “Water Popping”

The Pros and Cons of “Water Popping”

by Dublin Carpet / Friday, 10 April 2020 / Published in Flooring, Hardwood
Tracy Laminate

Have you heard of water popping? If you’re interested in the treatment and maintenance of wood floors, this might be a term you’ve come across. It describes the process of adding water to sanded wood floors before adding a stain. This method of pre-treating the wood can offer many benefits to the appearance of your flooring. Because wood is sensitive to water, this process can also come with some risks. Read on to learn about the pros and cons of this method!

List of Contents

The Process

Seasoned flooring professionals use various methods of water popping. The addition of water can be made manually with a bucket and rag, with a T-bar (which is like a window squeegee), or by running a buffer with a soaked carpet pad over the flooring. Our flooring experts can recommend the best method for your wood floors. 

What Does Water Popping Do?

You’ve probably heard that water is not good for wood floors. While this is generally true, wood popping is a controlled application of water to the wood grain for a specific purpose. When water is carefully added after sanding, it structurally alters the wood grain and allows for a deeper, richer, and more even application of stain to facilitate a more finished and beautiful result.

The Pros 

  • Water popping wood flooring increases the porousness of the wood, which allows the stain to penetrate more deeply. This makes the finished stain color appear richer and darker. 
  •  Because wood is a natural material, it holds water and swells slightly with water popping. This temporarily expands the wood grain, increasing the surface area of the wood. An increase in the surface area lets added stain penetrate further and more evenly, allowing for a clean, uniform application

The process also removes any lingering sanding marks.

The Cons

  • Immediately after water popping, wood flooring will be delicate and especially susceptible to scratches. People and pets should refrain from walking on freshly popped flooring.
  • Adding too much water will result in a botchy stain application. Because of this, it’s a process best done by an experienced technician.
  • Water must be allowed to dry completely before the stain is applied. 

Our Showroom

Because wood floors are very sensitive to water, it’s important to leave water popping to a seasoned professional. If you’re interested in hardwood options, our team at Dublin Carpet can help you select flooring you’ll love! Contact us at (925) 833-0165.

  • Tweet
Tagged under: Hardwood Flooring
Avatar for Dublin Carpet

About Dublin Carpet

What you can read next

Pleasanton Hardwood
How To Choose The Right Flooring
Hardwood Floor Finish
Natural Finish Vs. Stained Finish: Which Is Better for Hardwood Floors?
San Ramon Carpet
5 Amazing Benefits of Luxury Vinyl Flooring

Recent Posts

  • living area flooring. image of a double doorway that leads into living room with wood flooring.

    How to Choose the Perfect Living Area Flooring for Your Home

Archives

  • April 2025
  • March 2025
  • February 2025
  • January 2025
  • December 2024
  • November 2024
  • October 2024
  • September 2024
  • August 2024
  • July 2024
  • June 2024
  • May 2024
  • April 2024
  • March 2024
  • February 2024
  • January 2024
  • December 2023
  • November 2023
  • October 2023
  • September 2023
  • August 2023
  • July 2023
  • June 2023
  • May 2023
  • April 2023
  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017

Categories

  • Carpet
  • Flooring
  • Hardwood
  • Home
  • Installation
  • Kitchen
  • Laminate
  • Maintenance
  • Remodeling
  • Tile
  • Uncategorized
  • Vinyl
  • Waterproof

HOURS

Mon. - Fri. 10-5
Sat. 10-3
Closed Sundays

dublin carpet

© Dublin Carpet | All rights reserved.

CONTACT US

7078 Village Parkway
Dublin, CA 94568
(925) 833-0165 office
(925) 833-8059 fax
[email protected]


Terms & Conditions | Privacy Policy

CA License #610743 | Sitemap Page

FOLLOW US

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest

Serving the San Francisco Bay Tri-Valley including but not limited to the following cities: Dublin, Pleasanton, Hayward, Walnut Creek, Livermore, San Ramon, Sunol, Castro Valley, San Leandro, Danville, Fremont, Blackhawk, Alamo, and Tracy.

© 2015. All rights reserved. Buy Kallyas Theme.

TOP