Q: My pets urinated on my hardwoods. Should I redo or replace the floors?

A: That’s a hard question to answer without knowing more specifics: Is it a single area or many? What degree of perfection do you want — and what can you afford?

If you are on a tight budget, perhaps you can hide the stain with an area rug. Or try faux paint. Ask at a paint store how to duplicate the look of the wood you have. Seal the stained area first with shellac. Then paint on the base color, let that dry and apply gel stain with a tool that creates the look of wood grain, such as the Plaid Wood Grainer ($7.16 from amazon.com). When the stain dries, brush on several coats of clear floor finish.

Another DIY option is to try bleaching the dark areas. Some people suggest using hydrogen peroxide, especially in the higher concentration sold as hair bleach. But Rusty Swindoll, technical adviser for the National Wood Flooring Association, said the trade association recommends using oxalic acid, a wood bleach often used to prepare decks for refinishing. (Behr All-in-One Wood Cleaner, which has oxalic acid as its sole listed ingredient, is $9.98 a gallon at Home Depot.) Be sure to read the label for safety precautions, and protect your eyes and skin.

With either type of bleach, lightly sand the stained areas first to remove enough finish so the hydrogen peroxide or oxalic acid can sink in. You might want to tape off the areas so you don’t damage surrounding wood. Sand whole boards to get the most even results, but limit the bleach to just the stained areas. You might need to apply the bleach several times.

The spots you treat will probably wind up lighter than the surrounding wood. Stain them to match the surrounding wood. And when that dries, brush on a couple of coats of clear finish. The finish will probably look glossier than the surrounding floor, but you can scuff it up with a little steel wool or just wait for footsteps to even out the gloss over time.