The Ultimate Guide on How to Fix Scratches on Wood Floor

Got your hardwood floor scratched? Don’t worry! We got you covered! Getting a scratch on your precious wooden floor can disturbing especially when you just moved in and everything is brand new.

Here’s several common causes for floor scratches – dragging heavy furniture across the floor, pet’s nails, walking on high heels or in other hard soled shoes, dropping hardware tools such as hammer onto the wooden floor and not putting floor protectors onto the legs of the furniture.

By knowing these causes, you could potentially take precautionary steps to prevent any scratches in the future. Do let us know in the comments if there’s other reason why your floor is scratched. We would like to know! Now, let’s get into the methods of wood floor scratch repair!

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Clean The Scratch Area

First thing to do is to clean the area surrounding the scratches in hardwood floor. Remove the dust, debris, oil or other spills around the floor. That way you can see the scratch better and assess the damage.

You can use a soft rag to clean the floor up. Dampen it if you have to and clean the area until it is free of dirt or dust. For the case of dust and debris, use a soft brush and brush it into a dust pan.

Assess The Floor Damage

You have to employ different approaches to fix scratches in hardwood floor depending on the severity of the damage. Take a look on the scratch mark and see how deep it is.

If the floor has a minor scratch that basically just scraped off the floor’s finish then that’s easy to handle. If it has a crack, you might need to make sure that the crack area is clean and free of debris.

Fixing Minor Scratches On Wood Floor

a) Vinegar and Olive Oil

If you just have a minor scratch on the floor, you can use a simple DIY method of vinegar and olive oil. Mix one part of the vinegar (or apple cider vinegar) and two parts olive oil together and dab it on the scratch mark. You can also use canola oil as well.

Dip the soft rag into the mixture and rub it onto the scratch mark until it disappears. Alternately, you can also leave it for the entire day before rubbing it out to be more effective.

Just be careful to put a chair over the area so people don’t accidentally step on it! This is possibly the simplest hardwood floor scratch repair method that you need to try!

b) Wood Marker

Another way to get scratches out of wood floor is to use wood marker. This would require picking up the right color that matches exactly or similar your wooden floor.

Ideally, test the marker on a hidden surface. Once you found the right color, you can fill it across the scratch area. You can try it on a small spot first and see the result. If it works well, continue with the rest of the scratch marks.

Finish off the repair work by wiping it with a soft rag. Repeat until you’re satisfied. Wood floor scratch repair just gets way easier with a wood marker!

Get your wood marker here.

c) Walnut

Here’s an unexpected trick. Did you know that you can repair scratches on wooden floor with this food item? If you’re not into buying floor marker, another method is to use walnut.

However, this method only works for lighter wood color that is similar to the natural color of a walnut. You can also use other oily nut such as macadamia or pecan.

Break the walnut shell open. Rub the walnut onto the area several times in a circular motion across the length of the entire scratch mark. After that, use your fingers to rub the surface and make sure the walnut really gets in there. Then, wipe it with soft cloth and polish it with wood polish.

d) Wood Floor Restorer

Using wood floor restorer is perfect to get a wide area of scratches out of wood floor. It is designed to do three main things – repairing scratch in hardwood floor, restore the glossy appearance and protects the wooden floor.

You typically use it with a mop and just coat the entire floor area with it. This is particularly a good choice when you want to give the floor a good shine on top of removing scratches.

Get your wood floor restorer here.

Fixing Deep Scratches On Wood Floor

a) Sand the wooden floor

Things get a little bit tricky if you have deep scratches. Depending on the floor type, it will take a different approach respectively. For example, if your wooden floor consists of many small pieces of wooden tiles, then you remove that scratched wooden tile out and replace it with a new one.

However, if it’s a larger plank then the best option would be sanding it and refinish it again. Sanding will basically removes over a millimetre thick of your floor to buff out the damage. Floor sanding machine is usually used to ease the job. So, in this case it might be best to hire professionals to do the work. Once that is done, stain the wood.

b) Replace the wooden slat

For the case of cracked wooden flooring, you could pry out the cracked piece and replace it with a new one. Refinish it so it blends in with the rest of the floor.

This method has two challenges. One is to find supplier that is willing to sell low quantity piece of the wooden slats to you and another is the size of the wooden slat.

If it’s long, you might have to saw it to make the prying easier. And that involves having certain tools such as circular saw with a carbide-tooth blade. It’s probably best to put it in the hand of experts for such a hassle don’t you think?

c) Use wood filler

If the scratch goes very deep, you can fill the gap with wood filler. Use a putty knife for that. Apply the wood filler first before sanding the floor. Sanding will help the wood filler to take in the color of the wood. However, it’s best to apply wood stain after sanding so the wood filler color blends with your flooring.

The wood filler we recommend is Minwax High-Performance Wood Filler. It works well with wood stain of the same brand too!

Get your wood filler here.

Hope our guide here is able to help you understand on how to fix scratches on wood floor. Scratches on the floor carries history. Sometimes it’s fine to leave the scratch there just for the sake of memories and also because that itself has its own charm.

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