Flooring repair

[yetloh]

I have bamboo flooring which is pre-finished with a satin lacquer, in our new kitchen. This is great except that the builder and plumber managed to drag the new cooker across it without first ensuring that the rollers were properly down. The result is qute a deep scratch about 18 inches long. I have tried to repair this with water based finish without much success because dirt is now getting into it making it even more visible. I could scrape it out to get rid of the dirt and finish but the question is, how can I fill it so that it is level and unobtrusive? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Jim

 

[Anonymous]

Well you could be a real git and get it changed out and claim against the builder/plumber. Not sure why you have to repair your floor when the damage isn't your fault??

 

[soulboy]

Hi, you won't get an invisible repair without some extremely delicate filling, colouring and finishing.
You may have your own reasons for not following Mark's suggestion so have you thought about taking out the damaged board(s)?
If taking the floor up is not feasible, it is possible to rout out T&G boards (I assume they are engineered wood) then glue new ones back in.
HTH chris

 

[yetloh]

I can't really blame the builder - he just happened to be around and offered to give the plumber a hand. The mistake (a rare one) was the plumber's but he is a personal friend of long standing, who is now is now in poor health and struggling to scratch a living on the much reduced hours he is now capable of, so going after him is not something I want to do.

Yes, the bamboo is engineered and T&G, so taking up nine boards in the middle of the floor would be seriously difficult, hence my search for an alternative.

Jim

 

[Anonymous]

We have bamboo in our bathroom, something similar happened, I managed to lift the scratch enough Using a damp cloth and an iron to be able to sand it out. I finished with a 320 grit sand paper. Then I applied a 2 part lacquer by hand. Denibbed this with 320grit then another coat 3 times in all. Then when cured I polished it with a polishing pad.

My apologies for my original post but hopefully I have helped you somehow this time.

 

[Setch]

Whilst I have no experience with flooring repair, I have done a few patches and repairs to guitars, and the problems you will encounter are the same. Any fill you do will stick out like crazy as you change position - what appears invisible from one angle will become very obvious from another.

If the scratch is really a long thin dent, then steaming it out may work, or at least make it much shallower. If fibres have been broken across the grain then steaming will be less successful. If the mark is shallow, you may be able to fill with a clear material, CA (aka super) glue or epoxy works well.

If it was my floor, I'd be looking at the option of routing away the top layer and replacing with an offcut. Use a good router with a precise depth stop, and get a nice level section routed away, then carefully square the corners with a chisel. Thickness an off cut so that it is a perfect fit, ideally preserving the finish so you have no touchup to do, and after you've dry fitted to get a perfect fit, glue it down with a heavy weight as a clamp.

 

[MickCheese]

Could you cut and thickness a slice of a new board and route out a panel over the scratch then glue it in like a veneer?

You would need to be very accurate but it would mean you didn't have to raise any boards already down.

Mick

Edit - Beaten to it, must type faster!

 

[yetloh]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone.

Taking out a section is unfortunately not an option because, as sods law dictates, the damage runs across the boards rather than along the line of them. This has also ensured that there are plenty of broken fibres so I don't think steaming will help. I hadn't thought of filling with epoxy or CA but think I might try it, perhaps combined with some refinishing. Mark, what kind of two part finish did you use on your floor, please? I have used some of the left-over flooring to make a rubbish bin cum bog roll holder for the bathroom where we also have bamboo. I tried water borne finish on that but it had the usual WB finish problem of a lack of warmth and transparency. In the end I used pre-cat melamine lacquer for that but would need something more hard wearing for a floor.

Jim

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone.

Taking out a section is unfortunately not an option because, as sods law dictates, the damage runs across the boards rather than along the line of them. This has also ensured that there are plenty of broken fibres so I don't think steaming will help. I hadn't thought of filling with epoxy or CA but think I might try it, perhaps combined with some refinishing. Mark, what kind of two part finish did you use on your floor, please? I have used some of the left-over flooring to make a rubbish bin cum bog roll holder for the bathroom where we also have bamboo. I tried water borne finish on that but it had the usual WB finish problem of a lack of warmth and transparency. In the end I used pre-cat melamine lacquer for that but would need something more hard wearing for a floor.

Jim

It was a 2 pack ac lacquer worked well as we don't wear shoes in the house.

 

[waveman2010]

What an interesting discussion, I have some builder related damage to an oak parquet floor, I've been trying not to look at it for a couple of years now but the urge to try some repair is getting overwhelming. I'm not sure whether it would be best to try and cut out the damaged blocks and replace them or try some sort of router inlay. Does anyone have any experience of this?