Why Are My Prefinished Hardwood Floors Scratching So Easily

Plain sawn flooring has a flat grain.

Why are my prefinished hardwood floors scratching so easily.

The least durable flooring materials are softwoods and any flooring material is more scratch prone when finished on site with shellac oil or less than three coats of polyurethane. For example quarter sawn flooring which has an edge or vertical grain has an even grain so it stands up to traffic well and won t show scratches easily. The better the finish the more resistant to scratching. Traditionally hardwood flooring was always installed as unfinished planks that were then stained and finished with a protective surface layer right on the worksite.

The larger or sharper the worse or deeper the scratches. Drying is much faster so if allowed to dry overnight there is a low to no risk of adhesion issues. Insufficient drying equals delamination and easily scratched floor. A piece of grit on the bottom of a chair leg.

Sometimes the floors are just worn and it s time to refinish them or the pre finished floors just don t match the rest of the home. How many square feet was stained. Installers can inadvertently scratch boards while installing them and movers can scratch them when shifting furniture. In general the hardest flooring comes from the tropics as is prefinished at the factory with a baked on polyurethane or aluminum oxide finish.

But since the introduction of prefinished solid hardwood during the 1940s this newer form of flooring has become increasingly popular and today you may find that it s easier to find than traditional unfinished hardwood planks. So we naturally get the question can you refinish pre finished floors the answer is generally yes as long as the pre finished or site finished floors are solid hardwood. It could be something on the bottom of a shoe.