How do I fix scratches in laminate flooring?

Laminate is a printed layer under a wear coat. Once the wear layer is breached, you are colouring a hole rather than repairing a surface.

What you'll need

• Laminate repair wax sticks or a touch-up pen
• A soft cloth and a plastic scraper
• A spare board, if replacement is needed

Step by step

1. Establish how deep it is.Run a fingernail across it. If it catches, the wear layer is breached and any repair will be a cosmetic fill rather than a restoration.
2. Clean the area first.Repair products will not adhere over dust or floor polish. A damp cloth and let it dry fully.
3. Try a touch-up marker for fine scratches.Matched to the floor colour, applied along the scratch and wiped back. It works well on hairline marks and takes seconds.
4. Use a wax repair kit for deeper marks.Coloured hard wax melted or rubbed into the scratch, then levelled with a plastic scraper and buffed. Kits include several shades to blend.
5. Blend rather than match a single colour.Laminate has a printed grain with several tones. Using two or three shades and following the grain direction is what makes a repair disappear.
6. Work in daylight.Colour matching under artificial light almost always looks wrong the next morning.
7. Do not sand or refinish laminate.Unlike real timber, there is no depth to sand into. Sanding removes the printed layer and leaves a pale patch.
8. Replace the board for serious damage.A board can be replaced mid-floor by cutting it out and gluing a trimmed replacement in, or by unclicking from the nearest wall if access allows.
9. Keep spare boards from the original job.Ranges are discontinued constantly. Two or three spare boards in the loft is the difference between a neat repair and a visible mismatch.
10. Prevent the next one.Felt pads under furniture, a doormat at every entrance, and lifting rather than dragging. Grit tracked in is what causes most laminate scratching.

Tips

• Fingernail test — if it catches, the wear layer is gone and it can only be filled, not repaired.
• Blend two or three wax shades along the grain rather than using one flat colour.
• Never sand laminate. There is nothing underneath but printed paper.

Common mistakes

• Sanding a scratch out of laminate — The decorative surface is a printed layer only a fraction of a millimetre thick. Sanding goes straight through it and leaves a pale patch far more visible than the scratch.
• Using a single flat colour to fill — Laminate has a printed grain with multiple tones, so a single colour reads as an obvious block. Blending shades along the grain direction is what hides a repair.

If it doesn't work

Questions people ask