During the holidays we had some friends over for a dinner party. We served an extra hot meal that night and after everyone left and the dishes were cleared and the table linens removed, I discovered foggy white marks all over my beautiful new table. This one was the smallest, though brightest mark.
Before I had a chance to freak out too much, my husband did some googling and we discovered that on some pieces of furniture if moisture (usually from the steam condensation on a hot dish) gets under the finish, white splotches called heat marks will appear and will stick around until treated.
You’ll be surprised to learn, as I was, that to remedy heat marks, you apply… more heat and moisture! Weird, right? I just used two folded over clean white linen napkins and sprayed them down a little with water. You want there to be several layers of cloth between your iron and the table surface. Then I ironed over the napkins on top of the heat marks for about 15 seconds with the iron on a medium heat/steam setting. Don’t just set the iron down though – keep it moving.
I have no clue why my table looks so dark here. Must have messed up the camera settings.
It was like magic and the heat marks disappeared (though in these photos I can see I missed a spot that doesn’t show in person).
Anyway, random post today, but I thought maybe some of you might have had a similar issue with your wood furniture. Or if in the future you see these heat marks on a thrift store table, don’t pass on it – it’s an easy 15 second fix. I can remember one gorgeous coffee table that I didn’t buy because of it’s heat marks. I thought I would need to strip and refinish the whole thing! Who knew?
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THANK YOU!!! We bought a new house with beautiful wood floors, and I noticed a white mark at Christmas time. And another one appeared a little later. Then I figured it out when a HUGE one appeared yesterday. The culprit was the steam mop! I used the vinegar idea someone left; it didn’t work. I tried the try iron idea someone else left (with a strong warning against using steam or water). It didn’t work. Then I tried your idea! AWESOME! Thank you so much.
This worked beautifully! In 10 seconds the stain was gone! Thank you so much for that info!
Tried this on my Oak table I was amazed how it worked which I had my doubts. Thank you for your help. Am def going to pass it on.Have a good day.
Totally worked! I have before and after pictures and I’m so thankful I didn’t have to sand and restrain this hand me down!
Oh wow this just removed my white burn marks that happened last night from using paper plates with hot food on my oak table. Thank you so much for your handy hint, all sorted in 20 seconds ! Yea!
It really worked. I had 5 spots for over 10 years