I currently rent a home and noticed that my kids have left some dings in the hard wood floor when they were rolling my office chair around the office area. The landlord is very particular about the floors and will have a fit if he sees this. We will have to pay for the repair so I want to know if there is something I can do to lift the ding out without furthur damaging the wood surface.Replacing the boards will be expensive. Please help.
I currently rent a home and noticed that my kids have left some dings in the brand new hard wood floor when they were rolling my office chair around the office area. The landlord is very particular about the floors and will have a fit if he sees this. We will have to pay for the repair so I want to know if there is something I can do to lift the ding out without furthur damaging the wood surface.Replacing the boards will be expensive.My landlord woudl insist on replacing the board if he sees a dent which would be costly because manu other boards would have to be removed and re installed to replace one or two boards. Please help.
On 01.29.10, In Q&A, By Admin
First try to use a scratch removal to make it not noticable.
You can buy a bag of shelled walnuts or pecans and take them and rub them into the scratch. It will make it invisable. Then spray it with hairspray or a light lacqer to seal it.
If there is an small indentation and no scratch, if you seal it over with lacqer it will be invisable. That is the trick to hardwood floors, just make it shine real good and you cant see imperfections.
If it is a huge dent, you need a professional or you will make it worse whatever you do.
Here’s a nice trick. If the wood is only dented, get a sponge, some water and an iron. Get the iron nice and hot. Then, go to the dent in the wood. Pat it with the wet sponge, the take the tip of the hot iron and gently evaporate the water….when the wood starts drying, the dent will fill in.
The Iron sounds like the best alternative for a small dent. For a large dent or gouge they make a bunghole cutter. You could drill a perfect hole and glue in the bung, making sure to align the grain and sand down and refinish. I would use this method if all else fails, short of replacing the bad board.
For dents steam is the best option. A damp towel and an iron over the area. The steam expands the wood fibers and removes the dent.
Cutting bungs was suggested, I don’t think that is a good idea for several reasons. You would need to find wood that is an exact match to the current flooring, sand, stain and refinish the area. Not really a job for a novice. Get a chair mat so this doesn’t happen in the future.