Clean (food) oil stain from wooden floor

Question

My question is pretty related to:

How to diminish the appearance of a stain on hardwood floor? & How do I remove (food) oil stain from a wood table?

But not exactly the same. The problem is I've spilled food oil on the wooden floor several times. I'm pretty clumsy when it comes to cooking, and recently I spilled some oil from a rather high distance and it spread on several parts of the floor. So I have this big spot and other smaller ones all around.

The moment I had these accidents, I got a sponge with water and detergent and started rubbing the oil stains. It made it better, but not quite removed the stains. I've also used a wood cleaner product which improved just a little, but the stains as you can see on the attached pictures are still pretty noticeable.

I'm renting the apartment, so I should return it in a good condition. Any new ideas on how to clean these stains? Should I replace the wood?

Answer 1

Fisrt, DON'T REPLACE THE FLOOR, that would lead to a lot of headaches and is probably un-nessassary. That floor shouldn't absorb oil that quickly if it had been sealed properly. My guess is that the floor either wasn't sealed correctly or it's been so long since it has been that it's all been worn off.

Try getting a wood oil soap (like Murphy's or Old English) these soaps have oils in them that are meant to be absorbed into wood. This won't take out the oil, but it might help to make it blend in. I don't think that stain is comming out, even if you sanded the floor, the stain would have absorbed into the wood too deeply.

It's important to remember that wood is pourous and the natural oils that are in it are evaporated over time and have to be replaced, or else the wood becomes discolored and brittle, which is probably the case here. I wash all my wood floors twice a year with an oil soap to help keep them hydrated.