Hardwood floors are highly desirable for most homeowners, but they come with their share of challenges when it comes to cleaning, maintenance, and repairs. After a few months or years of heavy use from kids playing with toys and chairs being shuffled around, you may wind up with scuffed hardwood floors and it may be time for some DIY fixes.

How to Fix Scratched Hardwood Floors

Hiding Scratches

If you’ve got a good eye for matching colors, you can actually use hardwood floor crayon or a marker or purchase wax sticks from the hardware store to fill-in scratches on your scuffed hardwood floors. Try to match the wood stain color on your floors, but don’t worry if isn’t an exact match for your wood surfaces. If the color is close, once the scratch is filled, it’ll look like a variation in the wood grain.

Polishing Floors

You can make a polish solution for your floors from household ingredients. Mix olive oil and vinegar in equal parts, pour it directly into scratches on wooden floor, and then wipe it off after 24 hours. It may take several applications, but this homemade polish will fill and hide scratches in hardwood floor. This is often a quick and easy method for hardwood floor scuff repair – where the scratches don’t run too deep and you just need a little shine to conceal them.

Clever Decor

It’s not a long-term solution, but sometimes the most painless way to fix scratches in your wood floor is to cover them with a rug or furniture arrangement.

Spot Sanding

For deeper scratches in hardwood flooring, you’ll need to spot sand with fine steel wool or sandpaper, use wood filler, and stain and seal the repaired area.

Call the Experts

If you’re really stuck and want to restore scratched wood floors, and you don’t think you’ll be able to fix it yourself, it’s time to call the experts. Ask friends for a good recommendation or try googling “hardwood floor repair san antonio” and do some research on those companies. There are a lot of good scratch repair companies out there and some are true miracle workers – we’ve seen wood floors we thought could never look good come back to life! (Many of them also can do wonders with wood furniture, so if you have a piece that needs a little help, ask them and see what they can do.) Or you could always just sell the home and buy a new custom home built by McNair Custom Homes! ;)

image courtesy of evening_tao on Freepik