There’s nothing worse than coming across a scratch on your beautifully laid hardwood floor.
Although both solid and engineered wood floors are remarkably resilient against scratches and scuffs, they can fall victim to the occasional accident.
We have of course covered how to get rid of scratches and scuffs very briefly in one of our earlier blogs, but here we are going to go into a little bit more detail for wood flooring.
Scratches that only penetrate protective coating
As you probably know, protective coating is there to add a layer of defence against impacts and scuffs, and sometimes you’ll find that scratches only penetrate the top surface of a floor.
When they do however, the good news is that surface scratches can be easily sorted.
To get rid of a surface scratch you’ll need soft cloths, water, floor cleaner, and protective coating (preferably one recommended by the floor manufacturer).
The first thing you’ll need to do is clean the affected area with a soft cloth and floor cleaner, ensuring that all dirt and dust has been removed.
Once that the floor is completely dry, gently apply a new layer of protective coating, which can be a shellac, sealant, or other finish.
Allow the surface to dry overnight.
Scratches that do penetrate the protective coating
Occasionally you will get a scratch that will penetrate the protective covering of a plank, but as before, this isn’t something to worry about, as it can easily be fixed.
To sort this kind of scratch you’ll want to have at hand soft cloths, water, a floor cleaner, steel wool, or fine-grade sandpapers, and a wax wood repair stick/pencil.
Like before, you’ll need to clean around the scratch, ridding it of any dust or other traces of dirt.
Gently use the steel wool or sand paper to rub over the scratched area, remembering to rub with the grain of the wood.
To help the affected area blend in, lightly rub the edges of the scratch and buff lightly around the surrounding surface.
Next, you’ll need to very carefully rub the wax stick over the scratched area, filling in the void.
After allowing it to sit for ten minutes, use a soft cloth to buff over the area and finish by cleaning it with a clean cloth.
Scratches on a polyurethane coated floor
Ensure you have mineral spirits, a scouring pad, and polyurethane at hand.
Firstly, you’ll need to remove the scratches from the coating of the floor with a moistened scouring pad that’s been dipped in mineral spirits.
Very gently rub the moistened pad over the affected area and wipe with a clean cloth and allow the area to dry.
From there you’ll be able to recover the area with polyurethane, but do not use wax sticks on a floor coated with polyurethane, or apply any wax coating at all.
If you do this, it means that you will not be able to refinish it in the future.
You can buy polyurethane and other adhesives from our store.
If you have any questions about scuffs on scratches on any kind of flooring, contact us on 0113 831 4138 to see if we can help and advise.
