old hardwood floors

maureend said:

Hi,

I have a house built in the 50's I don't know to much about. We have ripped up the floor in one room and found what we think is nice hardwood floors. I don't know how to tell what type of wood it is so, thats one question. Also, under the "sticky" tile there was some kind of tar undercoating. Most of that is off but there are still many, many small dots of this stuff on the floor. From what I read I would need to scrape this up but since I don't know anything about wood I'm concerned I will damage the wood. Can't I just use a fine gritt sandpaper? Also I believe the wood is a lighter color...I would prefer darker. Again from what I read most people discourage from staining the wood...why?

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