Scratch in Hardwood floor

Hello everyone,

I recently moved into a new home and some time during the process a 4 foot long scratch happened. I originally tied to cover up the scratch with a stain pen of a similar color and that did not look good. i then took it a step further and sanded the area down , where i can now no longer see the scratch, i then attempted to stain over the sanded area and it looks like an eraser smear along the area where the stain has now dried. i did not treat the area with polyurathane, because i wanted to see if the stain matched somewhat which it really doesn't.

My question is, I know based on what i am hearing from various wood floor shops that it will not match 100% unless the exact same stain is used which i do not have nor know what stain was used as it was done prior to me moving in and there is no old stain cans in the basement. Is it possible for me to get the floor back to presentable shape where the wood texture is even. Or is it just impossible to refinish an "area" of wood floors without it looking horrible. All the places I have called have advised i need to sand and refinish the entire floor with adjoining rooms for it to look good, I just can't justify spending the money to accomplish that now when the rest of the flooring is perfectly fine. If this is a situation where I need to re-sand and re-do this, I originally sanded by hand using 150 grit then 180 grit sandpaper, I am guessing maybe i didn't sand it down enough. For this type of issue would I use an orbital or belt sander, and are those grits of sandpaper sufficient.

Any insight anyone can provide would be appreciated and thanks in advance.

 

Welcome to the forums!

Did you sand down to raw wood? For the most part stain isn't effective unless it's applied to raw wood. If you just sanded the poly you shouldn't need stain. How deep was the scratch? How big of an area did you sand? just individual boards?

pics might be helpful - http://www.doityourself.com/forum/el...-pictures.html

 

Thanks for the reply. Thats the thing i am not sure i sanded down far enough, thats why i believe I may need to redo the job. I have inserted an image of what it looks like now, after hand sanding and re-staining only.

 

It doesn't look like you sanded down into the stain or raw wood I'd take a rag and some mineral spirits and scrub off the stain you applied and then look at the floor while it's still wet with thinner. If it's anywhere near acceptable looking before the thinner evaporates I'd wax and buff it. It would be difficult to just touch up the stain/poly over that size of an area.

 

Really appreciate the feedback, being that i am completely new to this, when i go to lowes to get the products, I would ask for mineral spirits, and as far as wax what type should i use? Then buff by hand or do i need a machine to do the buffing? In regards to the original sanding some areas of that line i am sure I sanded lower than others as I did see really light colored wood, but again i may not have been at the raw wood part.

Some place quote 350 to "attempt" this repair but if i can probably achieve the same results myself, i'll definitely try what you suggested. My biggest concern is obviously not making it any worse than it already is.

Thanks again for taking the time to respond.

 

Mineral spirits, sometimes called paint thinner will be on one of the paint aisles at Lowes. I like Johnson's Paste Wax but most any floor wax will bring back the sheen if you haven't sanded thru the finish [it doesn't look like you did] The only downside to using wax is if/when you refinish the floor it has to be completely removed. I'd buff it by hand, if that does a decent job and I wanted it a little better - I'd buff/wax the entire floor.

 

Ok, I used the paint thinner:



While the thinner was still wet, I could still see the stain as being darker than the other wood. I am thinking at this point, i'll really need to sand it properly, and find a closer matching stain color. With that being said, would the process be sand to raw wood with 150 then 180 grit paper (still not sure if i should use belt or orbital sander), once complete stain with a closer match and let fully dry. The last step I would then use the polyurathane (the rest of the floor is not shiny, so I am not 100% on the type of poly I would need). Once the poly is added would i then wax and buff as well?

Or if i am way off base feel free to let me know that too . Again I know it won't match 100%, I just want the wood to appear the same shade as the rest of the wood, and not like an eraser mark on the floor like it currently looks.

Thanks again for the assistance.

 

I was hoping the stain would have come off better did you scrub it, or just wipe?

It would be better to use an orbital sander, too easy to mess up with a belt sander! Once you get the that area looking right [with stain and poly] you'll need to lightly sand the entire floor and recoat it all.

 

So i got an orbital sander, and sanded down to bare wood. Found the closest stain I could to what was originally down, and here is the end result still wet:



The concern are the edges as they are darker, guessing there is really nothing further i can do here?

 

That's not going to cut it. It can be real difficult to touch up stain, especially on a floor which is why all the pros you contacted suggested redoing the entire floor. You might try sanding to the edge of individual boards - not overlapping to the next board. If you can get the stain close to right that way, you'd only have to poly those boards then scuff sand and recoat the whole floor. Only other option is too sand and refinish the entire floor.