Question:
Our hardwood floors are 4 years old. Something caught fire in our house and small parts of the floor got burned. A well meaning guest sanded the burn out leaving spots where the finish is gone. The wood is undamaged. How do I get rid of those sanded spots?
Answer:
Dear Jane
You don’t get rid of them, you apply some finish to the spots. Contact your floor company who did the floor 4 years ago. They should have a touch up kit that they can sell you even if this is a prefinished floor. You didn’t say but if the floor is stained, you will need to match the stain first before you re-coat the spot. Don’t expect the floor finish (if it’s polyurethane, again you again didn’t say) to blend in well. But if you re-coat the spot with several coats of the matching finish, and then re-coat the whole board or group of boards, it will be passable.
It should look OK until the whole floor needs recoating then it will certainly blend in quite well. All wood floors need re-coating every 5-10 years, read about this in the article available in the search box at the top of this web page, the maintenance article. Or if it’s a prefinished floor (half of you out there have them) you could actually replace the burned boards with ones that exactly match your floor. If you want to do the repair yourself, read my article available in the search box at the top of this web page.
Oh, and if plan on touching up only, make sure the spot have been sanded smooth and level. Use 80 grit sandpaper to remove the burn and level the spot. And then 100-120 grit to take those marks out. Then attempt the touch up. I cannot tell you exactly what finish to use because I don’t know what’s on your floor. I can’t see it from my desk here.