Help me, FL!

[fredericks]

*sigh*

Say, hypothetically, that you step on your newly polished and poly'd hardwood floor, and you mess up a small (say, 3" by 2") area. The stain is okay, but the poly is dirty, smudged, and otherwise shot. How would you go about repairing the damage short of calling up the floor company and asking them to do a last-second fix-it job on your dime?

I should add that I figured I'd just have to fine-sand off the dirty poly and put another coat on the area (carefully, of course), but everywhere I turn online I'm reading that it's nigh impossible to repair poly. Again, help!

Comments

[joymaro.livejournal.com]

Put the couch over it!

no idea, never have had hardwood floors.

[fredericks.livejournal.com]

I would, but I'm pretty sure we're not going to go that route.

[captainschlumpy.livejournal.com]

I don't know if this will work for the dirt but if it's just scratches you can get really fine grit paper at an auto parts store (1500 or 1000) and sand very carefully (use a respirator!) then buff and re-poly. actually, sanding would probably take off the dirt too. get as fine a grain paper as you can and work your way to smooth. It's the same principal as taking scratches off one of my dolls. good luck!

[fredericks.livejournal.com]

Can I sand by hand, or do I have to use a sander? And will that ruin the polish underneath?

[sometimesdee.livejournal.com]

Then get a rug!

[xioley.livejournal.com]

Honestly, I have no idea. I can sort of say I feel your pain (as in when I was shampooing the carpet awhile ago, Dan stepped in the house without taking off his shoes and tracked in some mud--and I insisted we shampoo the entire area again.) Have you tried posting to hipdomestics? See my user info for the community.

[captainschlumpy.livejournal.com]

I would do it by hand. That way you can go super duper slow and check your progress. If you use really fine paper and go very slow you shouldn't ruin the polish. Also, if the floor guy did it properly there should be more than one coat of poly on the floor. My guess is that you just damaged the top layer because it didn't set quite long enough. So you'll basically just be taking off the top layer with the paper and not even reaching the polish.