Repairing Hardwood Scratches

Inspecting your Hardwood Floor

The depth of the scratches in your Ottawa home’s hardwood floor determines the approach you use to rectify the issues surrounding their manifestation and the methods used to repair your floor.

Use Steel wool for Repairing light scratches

This technique is similar to sanding wood. This means that you must go with the grain of the wood. It is best to use long strokes in a single direction, as opposed to rubbing back and forth, which can create further damage to your Ottawa home’s hardwood floor.

When to use Sandpaper on your Hardwood floor

Sandpaper comes in many grit sizes that translate into how ruff or course it is on a given surface. The way to tell how fine or course sandpaper is, is by the grit number. Sandpaper with a grit number of P400 is finer than one with a grit of P16. Depending on the amount of surface area planned for removal the lower the grit. When deeper scratches are present, using fine grit sandpaper, (P150), is in order. You can find sandpaper at any of the many hardware stores located in and around the Ottawa area.

Treating the Sanded area

After minimizing or removing the scratches, you can rub the area with mineral oil to help restore the wood and remove dust particles from the surrounding area.

Use Wood Filler to fill in the depth of the scratch

Once you have sanded the area and applied mineral oil allow the spot to dry. Next using a putty knife, (preferably made of plastic), apply a premixed wood filler. This will fill the depth of the scratch, bringing it even with the surrounding area. Using a metal putty knife will create more scratches.

Rework to Scratched area

Once the putty has dried, you can use the same fine grit sandpaper, (P150), to re-sand the area and again uses a light touch of mineral oil to clean up the excess dust.

Lastly, re-sealing the area with a similar coating as the original, if not discolouration will occur. Therefore, using a varnish, a polyurethane coating will work as long as it matches the original sealant. The best applicator is a lamb’s wool roller brush. This will result in a smooth application of the sealant on your Ottawa home’s hardwood floor.