Repairing Your Wooden Floors

By Adam Peters

Wooden floors can easily get various marks on them and that can make them look a little unsightly. So it is important to repair any damage wherever possible in order to make them look clean and new once again.

Wooden flooring is extremely popular these days though many people are finding out that without the proper care, their floors are quickly becoming damaged and ruined. It is something which many people do not take into account beforehand and it is something which does need serious thought before you do rush out and purchase any type of wooden flooring.

So what exactly do you do when your flooring becomes damaged? Do you have to replace it? Well the truth is, most problems can be repaired and it is not always as big a job as you might first imagine.

Repairing Wooden Floors

The main thing that you will have to keep in mind when you are thinking of repairing wooden flooring, is the fact that you need to be gentle and take it slowly. If you rush in and do something wrong then you could ruin the floor completely and make things potentially a lot worse. So take a little time to research what you are doing before you just rush in.

If your flooring has a finish on it such as a polyurethane finish, then what you basically need is more polyurethane finish which is as similar to the one you use as possible. Simply get a small paintbrush and dab a little of the polyurethane finish onto the scratched wood flooring. It is important to buff the scratch out before the polyurethane dries with a lint free cloth. This will ensure that when the polyurethane has dried the scratch marks will not be as visible and they will blend more into the rest of the flooring.

One problem which can be particularly tricky is gouges. For these you will need some putty in order to fill in the gouge and you want to make sure that it is latex based putty too. When applying the putty ensure that once the gouge has been filled, it is leveled off with a knife or a similar tool. You then need to leave the putty to dry completely before buffing it with sandpaper lightly. The final step is to finish it off with a little staining. Leave that to dry ideally overnight and then add a wood floor finish to the area.

Now the only time you would really need to spend a lot of work on your wooden flooring is if you have large scuff marks which cannot be hidden by simply doing a little bit of work. In this instance you would need to apply the finish to the whole floor.

About the Author: Adam Peters contributes editing long articles on decorating for http://www.home-decorating-reviews.com . Find more publications about wood furniture at his website.