Fir and Redwood are not good for floor. I spect that's maple but it doesn't matter. It appears floor has been stained and varnished without sanding away old finish first. No way to gently ,harshly are otherwise clean that. Full bore sand and refinish and they will stand tall.

Nope. Anything you try to do today is going to hamper any chance you have of refinishing this tomorrow. The finish is DONE. It is already peeling. It is at the 'non-functional' level. This is the flooring equivalent of a hole in your roof.

These floors should be TOP OF MIND. The only thing that should 'top' these floors would be a FOUNTAIN of water erupting out of your basement or crashing down from your roof.

Your floors need emergency work. Don't put it off. The one thing you can do to find out if these are refinishable: Find the TOTAL thickness of the wood and see how thick they are. Then CHECK to see how DEEP the 'face nails' are into the wood. If they are sitting 'proud' (too high) the floors are probably not salvageable and you can beat the snot of out these knowing full well you will rip them out anyway.

Then call a local flooring company and ask some basic questions. The 'stripping' will come down to what the finish is. And then it will be based on what is CAUSING the build up.

Do the floors before you move all of your furniture in because you will be moving it all out when you decide to do the floors. It's not a lot of money to refinish floors.

Notice all the answers you have gotten are from men...
Agree they are not fir nor redwood....and likely maple. What part of the world do you live in?
I would buy or rent one of those floor polisher/scrubbers with the 2 circular brushes and put on the pads that are like a scotch brite scrubber and get a spray bottle filled with a solution of a detergent, spray and scrub and have someone follow you with a dry towel....or several rolls of paper towels, you don't want water sitting on the floor.
Another alternative would be mineral spirits on your hands and knees with all the windows open and lots of paper towels. Being very aware how flammable the fumes are.
You just want to get the guck off for now....I get it!

If, refinishing is not in the budget. You can hire someone like a Bona certified craftsman to come in and do a deep clean. You can do a deep clean with a power scrubber or restore, which involves a wet sand, rinse and re-coat with Traffic HD. The restore will clean up the gray and seal it with a protective coating.

If you do decide to re-finish those beautiful floors, please consider a penetrating oil finish like Waterlox. I first noticed oiled floors when I had a long layover at the airport in Copenhagen, Denmark. I was jet-lagged and kept staring at the beautiful wood floor that was getting constant traffic. When we installed oak flooring in our home, about 10 years ago, we specified a medium-gloss Waterlox finish. Even on the constantly used stairs there are no visible scratches.

I wish op would return but that's not likly, I'm not trying to start a fight,just open to learn and share experience. I see what looks to be a typical wear pattern complete with random scratches through origional clear coat and to raw wood. I think previous owner cleaned floor with soap and water then applied stain and clear coat after floor dried. The places where there was no clear absorbed ever bit of stain that touched it because wood was water popped during cleaning,wasn't sanded nor sealed before stain. Majority of stain wipped off areas with clear coat leaving worn spots much darker. The surface look's clean and I don't see anything gray. Linda do you think what I'm seeing as scratches underneath clear coat is guck on top of clear coat? G&S Floor, is the gray you mention at the center and both corners on left of picture? I'm calling it light refection because it disappear's when screen is rocked back and viewed from an angle instead of straight on. It would be simple for op to clean a single spot to answer this but I would think she tried that before seeking help.

The gray is in the middle of photo. It is the same water damaged spots you described.

There are some deep scratches on the floor, but the dark spots are old finish/wax that can be scraped off. I’ve done some gentle scraping, but I want to be careful not to gouge and was hoping there’d be an easier way to get it clean. Sounds like most people think the best way is to refinish, which obviously we hope to do in the near future. Major foundation and plumbing concerns come first though. Thanks all for your time!

Ok if you have been able to scrap it off I stand corrected on the need for refinishing. Here's the answer you are looking for. In an inconspicos place,lay 3 folded pieces of cloth ( 1 wet with meneral sperites,1 wet with acetone and 1 wet with denatured alcohol} on floor for 1 minute,as you pick each up,test floor finish with finger nail to see if is easily scratched off. Do not use any that desolved finish. If none desolved finish start with meneral sperits on 000 steel wool to lightly scrub guck. If guck doesn't easily come off,try acetone. If acetone work's well,it can be extended by mixing with water or mineral sperites. If acetone doesn't work,try denatured alcohol. If alcohol works you must work fast or you can mix with water to slow evaporation rate. When all guck is removed,floor can be waxed. If non of those work,try liquid sander. Liquid sander will dull the finish but can be wax out. If liquid sander doesn't take it off nothing short of sand paper will. So that we might all learn,come back and post results. Since I was so adimate on it being under finish,thereby not cleanable,I'm keenly interested in how this turn's out.

G & S Floor Service "The gray is in the middle of photo. It is the same water damaged spots you described."

G&S,it's abundently clear you are not talking about the same thing as the rest of us. licia said "There are some deep scratches on the floor, but the dark spots are old finish/wax that can be scraped off."

Thanks! I’ll keep you posted. This is all slow going since we have a lot of sanding and painting in other areas of the house, as well as caring for 2 young children and holding down full time jobs.

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