Top Tips to Repair Scratched Wood Flooring

One of the most sought-after features in a modern residential home is, without a doubt, hardwood flooring. When you imagine your dream home, chances are high it has hardwood floors in most rooms. If not, then you’ll make it right. You’ll undergo home improvement projects to install hardwood flooring in the living room, bedrooms, and maybe even in the kitchen and Repair Scratched Wood Flooring. It’s up to you!

Over time, like most delightful things in life, hardwood flooring is bound to take a beating. As children race around dropping toys, and pets frantically vie for your attention, it’s your hardwood floors that become scuffed and scratched. How do you repair scratched wood flooring? It’s simple!

Know Your Floor’s Finish

First, it’s important to know the type of finish on your hardwood flooring. There are a few standard options:

• Wax
• Varnish
• Stain
• Water-based polyurethane
• Aluminum oxide coating

Repairing Superficial Scratches in Hardwood Flooring

If you’re lucky, the scratch in your hardwood flooring is superficial. What does this mean for you? Well, a superficial scratch only affects the floor’s finish. It’s an easy fix.

•    Clean the surface area using a soft rag and a little hardwood floor cleaner. You want to remove as much dust and dirt as possible.

•    Rinse off the hardwood floor cleaner with a damp rag. Then, let it dry naturally.

•    Using a little wax, fill in the scratch. You may need a putty knife to force the wax in deep and to smooth the surface. If you do use a knife, do so carefully to avoid any additional surface scratches.

•    Buff out the scratch using a clean, soft cloth and rub the area vigorously. The wax will smooth over, pulling up any excess, and restoring the attractive shine you’re after.

Repairing Deep Scratches in Your Hardwood Floors

While superficial scratches are ideal, what if you’re not that lucky? What if your hardwood floor has a few seriously deep scratches or gouges?

Well, repairing deep scratches in hardwood flooring requires far more complex and time-consuming work. It’s essential to sand, repair, and refinish the entire floor. You have two options:

•    Refinish the Entire Floor — You may wish to sand, repair, and refinish the whole wood floor for a smooth shine. The thing is, at least for an engineered wood floor, you need to ensure it was never sanded previously. An engineered wood floor can only endure one or two sanding jobs before the real wood comes up.

•    Refinish Parts of the Floor — Your other option — the more straightforward solution — is to refinish portions of the floor where the scratches are at their worst. For this, you’ll need a scouring pad, wood putty, the proper sandpaper, and the right finish for the job.

Eli Rodriguez, owner of Lightning Carpet Care in Orlando, Florida, told us that they are often asked to clean and repair not just carpets, but also tile and grout, upholstery, laminate flooring, and wood floors. “It is amazing the difference a professional service can make, and it is more affordable than you think,” explained Rodriguez.

All-in-all, it’s easier to hire a professional hardwood flooring repair service to refinish or even polish your home’s floors for deep scratches, especially because it is easy to make an irreversible mistake during DIY wood floor repair and leave your floors looking haggard.