Scratched Hardwood Repair Looks Dull

Summary: Some hardwood floor scratches can be repaired, however, rarely are the scratches 100% unnoticeable. To make sure the repairs blends, make sure you use the exact same brand and style of finish.

Dear Rob: I touched up a scratch on my red oak hardwood floor using the same finish that the floor contractor used and it looks duller then the rest…… it was a oil based finish called Fabulon.

-Kim From Alabama

Dear Kim: I am sorry to hear about your scratched hardwood floor problem. Dull finish or mismatched finish is very common when blending scratch repairs on hardwood floors, and there could be several reasons for this:

1. You may not have stirred the polyurethane well enough before applying it.  If you only dipped your brush into the top of the finish, without stirring well, that may have led to your finish not being shiny.
2. You may have used the right material, but the wrong sheen.  If you didn’t use a can of polyurethane that was left over from your project, call whoever applied the finish to double check what sheen they used.
3. If you sanded the area around the scratch, you may not have applied enough polyurethane in the sanded area, resulting in a dull area because the finish is thinner in that area.

It’s tough to know for sure which of these possibilities applies to your situation, but hopefully they will get you started with solving your problem.

I recommend that you carefully outline with tape the adjacent boards along their edges and then gently scrape the area that you originally touched up with a hand held floor scraper that you can get from any big box home retailer.  That will take the finish back down to nearly bare wood, but do not go all they way down.

I would properly stir, not shake, the polyurethane.  Then carefully apply a thin coat of finish.  Let that coat dry and repeat. If all went well, your floor should be as good as new.

-Rob