Trouble Shooting Common Dog Damage to Your Hardwood Floors

Posted on: 9 June 2015

Sadly, a dog can wreck havoc on hardwood floors. Don't panic though – there is a solution for almost every dog problem. From the inexpensive and easy to the more complicated, here's how you should troubleshoot common dog issues in your hardwood floors:

1. Any scratches or stains

If your dog has left a few scratches or stains on your hardwood floors and you don't have any money for repairs, simply cover the stains or scratches with a rug or move the furniture. Forgive your dog and move on. In most cases, you can fix the damage when you have a spot of cash with one of the following methods.

2. Thin scratches

If your dog has just left a few thin scratches in your floor, you just need a bit of stain to get those scratches to blend in and not be noticeable. You can put a little stain on a rag and rub it on the scratches, or you can buy a stain marker and put that on your scratches.

3. Deep scratches

Unfortunately, stain won't hide deep scratches, but you can hide them relatively cheaply with a bit of fake wood and some stain. Fake wood or wood filler comes in a little plastic container, and you simply spread a bit onto your deep scratches.

Let it dry, and then, sand it off. When the fill is level with your floors, apply a bit of stain. Stain applied with a rag works better than markers for this job. Start with a stain slightly lighter than your floors and get darker as needed.

4. Large area of scratches

If the scratches cover a large area, you may want a more effective solution than stain or wood filler. Instead, consider having your floor professional sanded. Floor sanding, through a company like Floor Craft, can remove the top layer of sealant as well as a tiny bit of the wood to make it appear new, clean and level. Once the floor sanding is complete, stain and seal your floors.

5. Light stains

Sanding can also work for light urine stains. If the urine has only penetrated the top layer of the board, sanding followed by restaining and sealing can remove it. However, for deeper stains you need a different solution.

6. Dark stains

If you have dark urine stains in your wood floor and floor sanding won't remove them, consider replacing those floorboards. A flooring professional can cut out the stained sections and easily replace them with a wood that matches your original floor relatively well.

 

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Your flooring is arguably the most important part of any room. It soothes your aching feet or makes them hurt more. It pulls together your furniture or makes it clash. It makes your room look inviting or old and ugly. Hi, my name is Rachel, and I love to decorate. I especially love playing with different types of flooring. In my home, I have deep plush carpet, hardwood floors, durable vinyl, throw rugs, stone tile and a couple of other types of flooring. I pick each room carefully so that the flooring meets my objectives for the room but also looks amazing and inviting. If you want to read about flooring, please explore this blog.