Repairing Laminate Floors - Buckling, Scratching And Replacing

You slide your sofa to clean underneath. You push away from the table without felt pads on the chair legs. Your dog’s toy hits the floor in the wrong way.

No matter how your floors get damaged, scratched laminate floors can look worn, old, and ugly.

When these damages happen, you have a few options to repair the blemishes and hide the scratches.

Use a wax pencil.

Filling in minor scratches with a wax pencil is as easy as coloring on your floors. Find a wax pencil that matches the colors of your floors (these can usually be found at any home improvement store). Then, as you color in the scratch, rub the wax pencil back and forth in the opposite direction of the scratch. Use small, short strokes to keep the repair close to the scratch.

When you’re finished, rub a soft, dry cloth over the area where you colored. This will buff out the obvious coloring marks, blending your cosmetic repair.

Try repair putty.

If your scratch is too deep for a wax pencil repair, you will need to use repair putty. The manufacturer of your floors probably sell kits, or you can find them at a home improvement store.

Again, match the color of your floors as closely as possible. Then, use a putty knife to spread the putty into the scratch. Using the side of the knife, gently press the putty into the gouged area. Move in multiple directions to make sure you get every nook and cranny filled. Level the putty and let it dry for 24 hours.

Replace the Scratched Boards.

Sometimes, putty and wax is not enough. If your scratches are too deep, or you have several of them on one plank, you might need to replace the damaged boards.

Laminate flooring uses a glueless and nail-free system. That means that it’s easy to replace small portions of flooring when necessary. It is always recommended to store an extra box of flooring just for this reason!

• Remove the molding or baseboards.
• Remove the flooring plank by plank until you reach the damaged area.
• Replace the damaged plank with a new plank.
• Replace the flooring you removed to complete your floor again.
• Replace the molding or baseboards.

The process of unlocking the planks can be some work, but in the end, it is worth the effort. Remember to begin from the closest wall so  you can work efficiently. Once you have unlocked the necessary laminate planks, you can replace the damaged laminate plank correctly and re-install the moldings. If you follow the guide provided, we advise you to take every safety precaution possible for you and your floor. Do your research and be sure to ask for the opinion of an installation expert.

If your flooring plank is in the middle of the room, it can be a challenge to remove half a room of flooring. In this case, you can try to repair just the plank in the middle of the room. We would recommend consulting a professional for this fix, but you can try the DIY way in this guide.