Said It Here

Unexplained floor discoloration near the entryway

Stains or discolored patches often appear on flooring right where an entryway meets the main room, even in areas that seem completely dry. Manual cleaning with floor cleaner, dish soap, or scrubbing does not remove these marks, leaving residents confused about whether they are dealing with water damage or burns.

What people tried

Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.

  1. 1
    Scrubbing the discolored area with a toothbrush using floor cleaner
  2. 2
    Scrubbing the area with dish soap
  3. 3
    Replacing the flooring
  4. 4
    Contacting the landlord to fix it
  5. 5
    Using solvents like mineral spirits, rubbing alcohol, or acetone

In their words

Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.

r/Flooring1 person · September 2026

“Just moved into a house and there is this stain/burnt mark?? On the floor”source ↗

“Any recommendation on how to get rid of it”source ↗

funnynona · r/Flooring · 4 upvotes
r/CleaningTips1 person · September 2026

“The area where you come into the main room from the entryway has been discolored. I tried scrubbing with a toothbrush with floor cleaner and also tried again with dish soap.”source ↗

“It looks like water damage but I’m a bit confused because it’s in a completely dry area and it’s just that little part there.”source ↗

clang24 · r/CleaningTips · 3 upvotes

Where this came up

People with this problem also raised