Whilst the natural patination of well-aged real wood flooring is a beautiful sight to behold, it’s a sad fact of life that scuffs, scratches and stains will occur, no matter how hard you work to care for your flooring. In this guide, we will try to answer the frequently asked questions we hear from our customers on what options they have to restore the look and feel of their real wood floors.
Scratches And Scuffs
Scratches and scuffs are bound to occur over time, no matter how attentive you are in caring for your real wood floors. The choice of treatment really depends on the extent of the damage. Fine scratches and scuff marks are very easy to sand out before re-staining or varnishing for a brand new looking floor.
If the scratches are more deeper and pronounced, it may be that the best course of action is to consider replacing the damaged boards. Otherwise, there is a chance that you can sand too much of the good boards away whilst trying to get down far enough to sand a particularly deep scratch.
Dents
Often caused by high heeled shoes, heavy furniture or accidentally dropping a heavy item on your wooden floors, dents may not be as bad as you first think. As a dent is effectively a compression of the wood fibre, it is possible to repair or at least minimise the damage by applying a small amount of water to the area. Cover with a cloth and then gently iron over the dent. The water will expand the wood as the heat from the iron forces the water upwards, expanding the wood.
If the dent is deeper and/or more sizeable the only remaining options are to cover with a rug or furniture or replace the damaged board.
Water Damage
Water really is the kryptonite of wooden floors and can be the worst kind of damage to have to deal with. If the water damage is limited to surface staining, you may be able to treat it by sanding the top couple of millimetres and reapply your chosen treatment. In some cases, where the boards are severely warped, your only option may be to replace the damaged boards. This can lead to issues with the new boards being a slightly different colour to your original boards so this is an important topic to discuss with the company you select to do the remedial work for you.
Resurfacing And Refinishing
As mentioned previously, despite the most diligent care of a wooden floor, years of general wear and tear do take an inevitable toll on the look and feel of your floors. If you were present when they were first installed, or have pictures of the original floors, what they looked like then compared to what they look like now, may leave you wishing they retained more of their original beauty.
Sanding your wooden floors and reapplying surface treatments are often a lot cheaper than you would imagine and certainly cheaper than replacing your wood flooring. Depending on the type of wooden flooring and how long it has been laid, you will have choices on how best to bring your tired looking floors back to their original magnificence. A full treatment of sanding, staining and varnishing can be completed in just a couple of days.
If you have any questions regarding wooden floor restoration or would like to discuss your own wood flooring, please don’t hesitate to call us today on 087-6268100 or email us at info@rhwoodfloors.ie You can view our collection of 5-star reviews here and also watch some of our customer’s testimonial videos here. RH Wood Floors offer a free home visit to discuss your plans, measure up and provide a personalised quote just for you, all backed up by full certification from The National Wood Flooring Association. Thank you for considering RH Wood Floors.