I live in Central New Jersey and have a 150 sq ft screened in gazebo shaped porch with wood flooring (not sure about type, it might be redwood, cedar or pressure treated pine.) The wood is approximately 30 years old in excellent condition. When we purchased the house 30 years ago we painted the floor boards, which resulted in repeated peeling. Approximately 12 years ago we sanded the floor boards and stained them using an oil based product. We have not had any problems with the stain. Keep in mind, this floor does not receive much direct sunlight and is not really exposed to elements. It has not faded, peeled or weathered. We clean the floor annually using water and Lysol deodorizing cleaner with a mop, sometimes we use a hose. This year we are having the entire gazebo repainted and decide to re-stain the floor boards. Our contractor cleaned the floor, and used a semi-transparent oil based stain. His application left lap marks in lines all over the floor. We asked him to fix it, and he now says that the problem is that the stain is not penetrating the wood and adding another coat will not correct the problem. He suggested we call a flooring person to sand the floor, and he can then apply either a latex or oil-based stain.

Can someone please explain to me if I need to sand the floor, or if there is another product that will adequately fix this problem? Would a solid stain cover the lap marks and make them disappear? We keep a table and chairs in the gazebo, which are often moved around when guests sit down, we don't want the chairs to scratch the surface and cause it to deteriorate and peel. Our previous stain was fine.

Thanks for your help.

Amy