Scratch marks on wooden floors

[milly]

Children's cycles, sharp toys, dropping cutlery - all leave scratch marks on wooden floors. How can I repair these? One or two are quite deep and a few are just scratches.

 

[wayne1]

For light scratches Milly I sand these out around every 2-3 years when I do my regular maintainence work on the floors. They are re wax ed as well to bring the wood back to a good condition. For larger scratches the only long term option is to try a wood filler or perhaps disguise the area with a mat or stand.

 

[jeepmuddin2005]

Try a wood filler. I know that Minwax, and I'm sure several other stain companies, offer wood fillers in several colors that you may find will match your floor stain. Your other options are a stainable wood filler, but that will be much more work.

 

[Fryar]

I was complaining the other night about scratches in our hardwood floors. We have a few rooms with newer flooring and older ones with older scratches and other wear. It's odd, though. The newer floors show the scratches more than do the older ones.

 

[JenP]

Has anyone tried the wood filler? How do you know it will match the color of the hard wood that you have? We have a couple of scratches in our living room floor (hard wood). Right now I just have a small rug covering them up.

 

[Fryar]

I don't know how scratches can happen so fast. The kids do some of it, but in our house, the adults do, too. I am so particular about my hardwood floors, but all it takes is one person to come along to scrape a chair across it. The cleaning crew moved a piano and made a large gash across the front dining room. I could have strangled them.

 

[fixerupper]

I agree some wood filler or a rug is probably your only option for big scratches unless you want to sand your entire floor and re-stain it. We had to do this once and I would never want to do it again.

 

[TMulhern]

Scratches in the polyurethane coating on hardware floors are easy to fix. Rub fine steel wool gently over the scratch, which should disappear. Clean away any dirt or dust. Buy the same polyurethane -- water or oil based -- you used originally, then brush on a coat. Let dry for at least 24 hours.
OR
You can also make use of sand paper to remove the scratch part of your wooden flooring or furniture and then replace it by using varnish on it.

 

[Smart Red]

Thank you for the help, @TMulhern.

 

[Daliajoy]

I have natural wood flooring and with time it's got quite a few scratches. Someone came and scraped it and then he polished it with wood wax. It looks brand new and shiny and it didn't cost that much.