ALL FLOORS DESIGN CENTRE

There is nothing quite so appealing as a high quality hardwood or laminate floor. That is, until someone scratches it. Whether it is a pet, a dropped knife or a stiletto shoe, the truth is that even the toughest hardwood or laminate floor will undoubtedly suffer a scratch or two in the end. The trick is to know how to repair it so you can get your much-loved top quality floor back to normal again.

Repairing scratched hardwood floors

If you find a scratch in your hardwood floor, don’t panic. Once you have looked at the extent of the damage you can set about repairing it in the best possible way.

The first step is to grab some steel wool or sandpaper – a fine grade is good for this job – so you can sand the area where the scratch has occurred. Don’t just sand the scratch – make sure you sand a small area around it too, as this will help it to blend in. Get a soft new brush and brush over the sanded area to ensure no dust remains before moving on to the next stage.

The next step is to find a wood filler that is the same color (or as close to it as you can get) as the floor. Carefully fill the scratched area with the filler, making sure you don’t create any more damage as you do so. This is one job it is worth taking your time with.

Once you have done this and the filler has dried fully (leave overnight or according to the instructions on the filler) you can seal the area to finish the job.

Repairing scratched laminate floors

The most common way to repair these scratches is to use wax crayons. Stores that sell laminate flooring generally sell repair kits that include the crayons in them. It is actually very difficult to completely repair a laminate floor once it has been scratched, so preventative actions are always better than the alternative. But with that said if you can match the color of your floor as closely as possible with one of the crayons, you can perform a very high quality repair.

Another technique you can use is to cover your repair with a small amount of wood varnish. Get a clear varnish that will seal the repair and still leave the color of the crayon you chose visible. In most cases this repair technique will vastly reduce the appearance of the scratches, even though they won’t disappear altogether.

You can see that no matter what type of floor you have or where the scratch has occurred, there is a solution that will give you back the floor you really wanted. The sooner you tackle the scratch and the more time you devote to doing a good job, the better the finished result will be. And that means you’ll soon have your hardwood or laminate floor back to normal so you can enjoy its beauty once again.