Repairing Hardwood Floors
Hardwood floor is one of the factors that can influence the decision of a prospective real estate purchaser. People value such floors because they have many good properties. Hardwood floors make the homes look elegant. A very important property of such floor is that they are not cold like tile or cement floors. They also keep the house warm by retaining any heat that is generated in the room.
This does not mean that there are no wood floor problems. Hardwood floors require regular polishing and maintenance as they can become dusty or moldy. They can also develop scratches which destroys their beauty. Though wooden floors are treated and they pass through some contemporary processes for preventing borers, and termites apart from damage because of water, such floors do at times get damaged because of these reasons.
Hardwood is expensive. But people continue to fancy it. This is the reason thinner pieces of hardwood or laminates are now sold in the market. These are affordable. However, they can break at times. If this happens, it becomes difficult to find a wooden plank or piece that blends with the rest of the wooden planks in the room.
Repairing hardwood floors may therefore be necessary. Scratches may often be confined to the layers of polishing wax, and other cleaners. However, minor scratches that affect the hardwood can be camouflaged easily with some of the finishing products that are now available in the market. Buffing and polishing is another way to repair the hardwood damage. Such processes remove the dirt that may have accumulated and stuck to the polishing wax.
Hardwood floor problems can also be due to subfloor. Therefore, subfloor repair may have to be undertaken at times. Such problems are common in old hard floor floors that were based on tongue and groove system. Problems like cracks and gaps require filling. Filling is done with some wood filler.
This filler is used for stuffing, and pushed very hard using the putty knife. Thereafter it is evened by sanding it. The other process is to use strips of woods. By applying glue to the sides of these strips of wood, and then inserting them in the gaps, it is possible to close the gaps. Little bit of hammering, and sanding may also be required here.
The Hardwood floor scratches are common and inevitable. At some given point, scratches will surely happen. If home owners have hardwood flooring, it's very important that they learn how to do very simple scratch repairs themselves. However, before home owners start fixing any scratches, they need to learn how to differentiate between gouges and scratches on their hardwood floor. Check out repair squeaky hardwood floors, replacing wood floor, repair wood scratches
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A scratch is commonly a visible, but not too deep, marking on a hardwood floor's surface. Hardwood floor scratches can be obtained and caused by dragging furniture across the floor or even by glass that has fallen and cut the area or surface of the floor. On the other hand a gouge, is much deeper than a typical scratch. Think of a gouge as a flesh wound on a hardwood floor that could sustain.
Again, scratches are impossible to avoid, so the best thing a owner can do is learn how to deal with these scratches, like learning how to do very simple scratch repairs. It's pretty simple; owners don't have to hire a professional to do it for them. Follow these simple steps: Using a very fine sandpaper or steel wool, rough up the scratched area. Rub the entire length of the scratch. Cover both margins. Make sure to rub in the one direction of the wood grain, or rub in a fine circular motion to avoid damaging the floor and wood finish too much.
Dampen a very soft cloth with mineral spirits. Use the soft cotton cloth to wipe off any dust and wood particles on the scratched area of the floor. Let the chemical or solution dry up on the floor. Depending on how deep or big the scratch is, the scratch removal chemical or solution and how much of it will be use, drying time may take from several mins even up to a few hours.
Take a very fine paintbrush, and dip it in the finish originally used on the floor and spread and brush it across the scratched area. Wipe with some soft cloth. Be careful and gentle when brushing in the finish onto the scratch. Too little or too much and the area will look much different from the rest of the area of the hardwood floor. Brush in just exact or enough finish so that it looks almost the same as the rest of the are. Give the new finish some time to sink and dry. This may take between 30 minutes up to few hours.