How To Remove Water Stains From Wood

June 22 by | 36 comments | Lifestyle | Tags:

As small as this hack is, it had to be posted. Something this simple for a problem that so many households try desperately to prevent, it’s worth adding to your cleaning how-to’s.

Place a cotton cloth directly over the stain and with a dry iron (NO STEAM!) press down for several seconds on the cloth. Remove and check the stain. Keep doing until the watermarks are completely gone. It could take a minute or two to get the stain out completely.

Make those rings disappear and say to yourself, “No more coasters!”

How To… Remove Water Stains From Wood – [ApartmentTherapy]

  • http://www.besttrainers.blogspot.com Starleads

    good one.

  • Pingback: Neoplace Blog » Remove water stains from wood with a dry iron

  • John

    Hi. I have wood floors and my wife is always getting water on them. When the water gets in the seams between the floorboards it soaks into the ends of the wood and leaves a nasty stain. I usually put down a paper towel and put a speaker or something heavy on top of it. Then I leave it for an hour and the stain is gone. For older stains it doesn’t work.

    I’d like to try this iron trick on older stains to see if it will work, but I doubt it.

  • J-Coll

    Mayonnaise works well too. Rub a little on with a cloth in a circular fashion and the water mark will come right out!

  • http://madaboutcleaning.blogspot.com/ kristalina

    Hi! Thank you for this tip. I have wood furniture and two little children’s, so your tip will help me.

  • vicky

    i would like to thank you sooo much for this tip-have an antique coffee table-had three water glass stain marks on table & have tried everything to get them out-used a cotton tea-towel and hot iron as you requested-worked like a charm-coffee table looks new again-was told might have to have top refinished-saved me time & money
    thank you so much again-vicky

  • http://www.safedinnerware.com wooden trays

    I’d like to try this iron trick on older stains to see if it will work, but I doubt it

  • Christy

    Brilliant!! I did this on some REALLY old bad water stains (at least 5 years old) and it worked like a charm! Looks like a new table!

  • Tina

    I heard that toothpaste (non-gel) will work too, although I’ve never tried it.

    • Chellek37

      I have used toothpaste and it did work.

  • http://lifehack bob

    the iron with the cloth didn’t work. all it did was to bubble the urethane finish

  • Jamesie P

    This is the greatest tip of all time. Worked wanders and it has saved my ass from the old man.

  • in trouble

    I agree with Bob; the iron didn’t work. I now have bubbles where there used to be a white mark! How can I fix the bubbles now?!

  • Robin

    actually works!!!! seriously…..dont disregard!!!! thank you so much.

  • Adam

    Yup. Worked like a charm. Took about 1-2 min per stain.

  • Cheers!

    THX FOR THE IRON TRICK!
    Took 10 min but the mark is completely gone. Saved me from getting my head hacked off by ex-gf.

    BTW, mayo was a failure.
    Cheers!

  • Kate

    The iron worked great for me. I bought a 25-yr-old dining room table with many large white water stains. The owner said the stains had been there for years. I was planning on refinishing, but thought I’d try some home remedies first. Wow! Easy as pie and it completely removed all the stains. Thanks! (BTW I tried mayo on the stains first and it didn’t work at all.)

    • Cheath6

       I just did this to a very expensive desk that had a water spot on it and it works.  Thank you!

  • jackie

    I did this and then washed the area with murpheys oil. after that i wiped some Rejuvenate floor protector & restorant on the spots …good as new. proof: http://tinypic.com/r/15ebukl/7

  • Anonymous

    These look just the job twinkling from trees, lighting garden paths or
    creating atmosphere on a table. Great value for such shining party
    animals.

    Office Furniture

  • Mhsgahks

     it worked!! Super! Thanks

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_RT4XY73WA3HIO6GHB2K6VQPQPM Jennifer

    Success!  I used about a 3 setting (Rayon) with a cotton dish towel.  It worked within minutes.  I have a mahogany table.  

  • Cookscove

    I tried the ashes ashes & mayonnaise and it didn’t work.  I was sceptical about the iron but tried it and it did work.  The table is not perfect but very good.  It is an old table, the whole top was spotted.  I left the iron sitting on one spot for 2-3 minutes at a low heat, a little hotter than rayon.  I would recommend trying this.

  • Dsatterleeross

    Well, this could probably leave iron marks if your iron is too hot.
     

    • Princesszoey

      You’ll be placing a towel between and keep some movement with the iron. No marks!!

  • Princesszoey

    WOW!! It really works. We just bought a new dining room set a month ago, my husband sat a pizza box on it and after i picked it up an hour later, there it was a HUGE moisture mark. This method removed it completely~!!!!!

  • Ams

    almost freaked out when husband left steam mop on wood floors in newly remodeled kitchen which left huge white stain. This worked!!!
    Thank you from VERY grateful homeowners. 

  • nana

    Omg it works…! I tried the toothpaste first is didn’t work, then I tried the iron it worked beautifully thanks so much for the tip  

  • guest

    Read quite a few reviews before trying this iron and tea towel method.  Unfortunately, I tried it myself on a veneer end table.  Now I have iron marks and more veneer and wood peeled off.  Of course, I don’t recommend this and won’t be doing it again myself!

  • Trudy

    Well I am gobb smacked to say the least.  We have a boardroom table, very expensive too I might add, and the staff have absolutely trashed it with wet cups and hot dishes leaving really bad white rings.  We tried this and IT WORKS!!  amazing – thank goodness for google.

  • LSK

    Water ring on newer oak table, 5 days old.  Tried baking soda/water paste didn’t work, but the iron WORKED GREAT!!!!  Set iron on a lower setting 3 out of 7 or a little less than 1/2 way.  No bubbling, I’m guessing too high a temp.  Don’t be in a hurry if you want it fixed – I kept iron moving all the time and lifted and rubbed surface with cloth often.  So happy with results!!!

    • Anonymous

      This totally worked for me.  It was important to have the iron on a dry heat (no steam) and keep moving the iron over the stain until it comes out.  A slow process, ironing in 20 sec intervals, 10-20 times before it came out.  Needed to get the table surface pretty hot.  Now that its out just went over with pledge and the table is beautiful again. Thanks so much!!

      • http://profiles.google.com/gilmeriken Gil Meriken

         Can’t believe it worked, thanks for the directions!

  • LDP

    Someone set a hot paper plate on our oak coffe table, it left a white spot.  I’ve tried many different things over the years, nothing worked.  I tried this and it really worked!  I”ve been trying for 5 yrs to get rid of it and now it’s gone!  Yeah!!  Thanks alot!

  • Anonymous

    It worked!!!  Thank you everyone for posting your results from using a hot iron.  This trick faded all the cloudy white stains left on my coffee table.  Ironic, since using my table as an ironing board is what caused the stains in the first place!  Even though I covered the table with a thick blanket, the steam from my iron caused water spots.  A dry iron removed them.  Logical, I guess.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_CJHTW7PEW7XMPNZH4VITMB6ZUE lawdy mamma

     I had a huge water stain on my dinning room butcher block table from steam ironing on a towel. When I lifted the hot damp towel up, there it was. about 2 ‘X 1′. I tried the baking soda and mayonnaise tip and neither one worked. I was thinking I would have to sand the table down and re-stain and seal. But something told me to research again and I found this tip And it worked very well. I used a linen dish towel and used the #3 setting and it really didn’t do much. So I kept turning the heat up a number at a time. I did have to use the highest setting and left the iron in place for a few seconds and moved it over to the next spot and continued this process for about a half hour but the water stain is completely gone. It took a little while but a whole lot less time than the alternative. So Thank You for sharing this tip:-)