Hardwood flooring is vital in preserving your home and presenting a beautiful aesthetic. But how can you fix scratches on your hardwood floors? No matter how glossy or pristine your floorboards are, they’ll succumb to scratches.
The natural wood in your floorboards is vulnerable to water stains, gouges, bruises, and more. Therefore, preventive measures are imperative to preserving the longevity of the floorboards. In addition, these preventative measures will mitigate the chances of deep scratches like footsteps and pet nails.
However, you must act fast to prevent further damage once you start noticing prominent blemishes. Thus, you’ll have to attend to repair scratches on wood floors immediately before they escalate.
So, without much further ado, let’s dive into how you can fix scratches on your hardwood floor.
Tips on Fixing Scratches on Hardwood Floors
You can quickly repair scratches in wood flooring by DIY through these simple tips. These tips will serve you in the long run and reduce the chances of significant damage and save you money for the long run.
Minimize Shoes and Pet Walks on Surface
Before you even begin to fix any scratches, you can significantly reduce the number of blemishes that will manifest. Therefore, as you enter your home, cultivate the habit of leaving your shoes by the doorstep.
You may not need to regularly fix scratches on your hardwood floor if there’s barely any abrasion. Hence, you can employ the use of soft cotton slippers for navigating throughout your home.
Additionally, you’ll have to trim their nails regularly if you have indoor pets. These pets will inevitably walk all over your hardwood floor, so it’s best to clip their nails to minimize scratches.
Moving Furniture with Blankets and Installing Rugs
You’ll often need to move furniture around your home. Thus, the frequent pulling and pushing action can lead to scrapes on the hardwood. However, you can decrease the need for wood flooring repairs by placing rugs underneath the location of each piece of furniture.
Rugs will cushion the placement of chairs or tables. Therefore, when next you need to drag out a chair, it will glide softly over the carpet. The presence of the rugs will soften any drag and keep your wood floors spotless.
Additionally, if you need to move heavy furniture from one place to the other, you should use moving blankets. The moving blankets insulate the sharp and rigid corners of the table, which keeps the hardwood floors looking new and shiny.
Sand Down Obvious Scratches and Reapply Finish
Once you notice any glaring discolouration, you can use sandpaper to buff out the blemish. Sandpaper fixes hardwood floors’ scratches by smoothening the scratch, allowing you to reapply the finish to restore the wood floor.
However, we advise you to carry out a patch test for the wood stain from an obscure area of your room like a closet. Once you determine the right wood stain, you can try out different urethane finishes.
The reapplication of a urethane finish is one of the best ways to fix scratches on hardwood floors. So, there are two main types of urethane finish, which are water-based and oil-based.
The water-based urethane finish dries fast and offers a clear result. However, depending on the age of the wood floor, the hardwood may have a significantly darker tone. Hence, the dark tone may contrast the water-based urethane finish. Nonetheless, the water-based finish will work best for new floorboards.
Meanwhile, the oil-based urethane finish has a strong odour and dries with a yellow colouration over time. However, the yellow colouration may suit older hardwood floorboards with a darker hue. Therefore, now you know how to fix scratches on older hardwood floors.
Related Articles: How to Refinish Hardwood Floors
Clean your Hardwood Floors with Care
Dirt particles pose a significant threat to the surface of your hardwood floors. Hence, you need to be careful when cleaning the surface of your floorboards. For example, refrain from using brooms or strong brushes for your hardwood. The sharp bristles and loose particles can cause abrasions.
Furthermore, you can keep your hardwood floors looking new by avoiding soaking the floorboards or using a wet mop across its surface. The wetness can lead to spot stains on the surface of the hardwood.
Therefore, your best DIY option is a liquid wash solution. For example, you can create your floor washer by combining three drops of liquid wash with a litre of water inside a spray bottle. Next, squirt the solution onto the hardwood surface, which you spread with a microfiber mop. Then, repeat the process with only fresh water to rinse the soap away and wipe with a dry, soft cloth.
Consequently, adhering to this cleaning process will significantly reduce the odds of repairing scratches on your wood floors. Hence, your floorboards will shine without relying on expensive cleaning products.
Smear Scratches with a Walnut
As odd as an option as this may sound for fixing scratches on your hardwood floor regardless, rubbing a walnut does wonders. Walnuts contain a natural brown dye that can repair and mask scratches and smudges.
Therefore, you must warm up the walnut by rubbing it between your palms to wake up the oils. Next, rub the worn-out area of the floorboard in circular motions. Then, allow the oil to rest on the surface for a while before wiping it down with a soft cloth.
Apply Wax to the Bruised Surface
Another handy wood flooring repair tactic is the application of melted wax to the desired spot. First, get a wax that matches the colour of your floorboard. Next, use a blow dryer to melt the wax and apply it to the scratch. Once you fill-up the scratch, use a clean rag to buff the surface.
Prevention is better than a Cure
You’ve seen multiple ways of dealing with scratches in your hardwood. However, you also need to note when buying hardwood floor planks. First, always ensure that the hardwood planks you buy are top quality. A premium hardwood floor possesses an excellent natural resistance to scratches, and you can quickly fix blemishes on their surfaces.
Related Article: How To Clean Hardwood Floors
Final Thoughts
As you can see, you don’t have to break your bank to fix scratches on hardwood floors. You can quickly try any of these DIY methods for most small to medium blemishes. However, if you experience deep scratches that are beyond these DIY fixes, give us a call.
We at LV Flooring provide quality floor refinishing services using state-of-the-art refinishing tools to renew your floorboards. Our finishing will restore any hardwood to its former glory and lustre. We are only a phone call away, so dial that number and get a quote today.
