How To Repair Scratches On Lvt Flooring

The popularity of laminate floor rests on its affordability and durability. Since it is less expensive than 18-carat hardwood flooring to purchase, install and maintain, laminate floor has become an affordable alternative since Pergo introduced it decades ago.

On the downside, laminate flooring can scratch and scrape easily, especially compared to flooring made of material like tile or hardwood. The surface of laminate flooring cannot be sanded, and then scratched or scraped laminate floor has to exist repaired with wax or putty. It may fifty-fifty need to be replaced.

Pro Tip: Buy an extra box of laminate for replacing damaged planks that cannot be repaired.

Before starting laminate flooring repair, vacuum, sweep, and mop the floor with warm h2o and mild detergent. Look for the floor to dry or dry out it with a make clean material for a faster start.

Pro Tip: Dry the floor with the clean textile under your foot to save wearable and tear on your back.

Place the type of damage on the surface of your laminate floor and so follow the relevant guide below:

Minor Scratch Repair

"Minor" scratches characteristically are shallow, cover little surface area and are few in number. Use wax pencils to fill the scratches, advisedly matching the color of the floor. Deeper filler makes a darker repair, then utilise the filler sparingly at first. When the scratches seem to be filled with enough wax, alloy the remaining wax into the surface of the laminate with the tip of the wax pencil. Apply a soft fabric to gently buff the edges of the repair and smooth out the wax filler.

To exist certain all scratches are entirely filled, rub the tip of the wax pencil across the scratch at different angles; short strokes forth the scratches also work well. Then wipe upwards the excess beyond the edges of the repair.

Small Scrape Repair

"Minor" scrapes are broader than scratches and don't penetrate through to the blueprint layer – the photographic image. If you have a broad and deep scrape, you lot likely demand a new plank (See Major Scrape Repair below)

Wax pencils don't contain plenty cloth to repair scrapes, so floor repair putty is used.

Match the color of the putty to the colour of the laminate floor according to repair kit instructions. Be sure to add together putty dye only a few drops at a time. Don't worry, the kit you lot purchase will fully explicate this step.

Spread the color-matched putty beyond the scrapes with a putty pocketknife or similar tool. Press the putty across the scrapes at several unlike angles to make certain the scrapes are completely filled. Scrape a clean edge of the putty pocketknife across the flooring repair and the surface area around information technology to remove excess putty and create an fifty-fifty repair. If yous've repaired drywall dings and dents with spackling, then the technique is the same.

Pro Tip: It will have a day for the putty to harden into a permanent repair.

Major Scrape Repair

A laminate flooring has "major" scrapes if the laminate floorboard is extremely scratched, perchance over large portions of the floor, or has scrapes that completely penetrate the peak surface of the laminate floor. Wax and putty are inadequate to repair major scrapes. The damaged laminate floorboard must be replaced.

Buy a matching laminate floorboard, if yous don't have a spare. Using a prybar, remove the baseboard at the wall closest to the floorboard being replaced. Pull floorboards upwards until the damaged floorboard is exposed. Remove the damaged floorboard, and replace it with the new one. Replace undamaged floorboards. Replace the baseboard.

Pro Tip: Number or photo the baseboard pieces for piece of cake and accurate replacement.

Color Matching

Laminate flooring with visible repairs is not much of an improvement. Repairs should exist unnoticeable, so an important part of whatever laminate floor scratch repair is to match the color of the laminate floor with the repair material.

Laminate flooring manufacturers brand flooring repair kits. Getting the right kit from the manufacturer makes specific color matching reliable. Laminate flooring repair kits commonly include wax pencils, colored putty, a putty knife or similar tool, and detailed color-matching instructions.

If you lot don't know what manufacturer made the floor, accept a sample plank portion to the hardware store; purchase a laminate flooring Practice It Yourself (DIY) repair kit matching the sample color equally closely as possible. Then go gear up to mix custom putty colors.

Pro Tip: Wax pencils and flooring repair putty are often used on wood and laminate. If you can't find a laminate-specific product, bank check for ones produced for forest.

Follow all repair kit instructions advisedly.

Summary of Supplies

If yous are post-obit our step by step instructions above and so you will need some or all of these supplies to fix scratches on laminate flooring.

A – Vacuum, broom, dustpan, mop/bucket/detergent

B – Commercial repair kit

C – Wax pencils (or markers)

D – Putty

E – Putty knife

F – Soft cloth

G – Prybar

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