Solid Hardwood, Engineered and Laminate Flooring - Cat scratches on HW finish

I have thousands of tiny cat scratch marks on my 2 yr old stained hardwood flooring. The flooring has three layers of semi-gloss urethane and the scratch depth is likely only to the first urethane level.

I'm wondering if anyone has heard of a product that can be polished or buffed into the surface to fill these scratches.

Barring that has anyone had success screening the floor and re-applying a uretrhane coat or would I have to use a pad sander with a 100 grid square to prep for a urethane recoat?

Alternate suggestions are most welcome.

Thanks

Unfortunately that is a "quality" of semi-glass poly. It shows scratches pretty easily. I have 2 big greyhounds (a breed with VERY long nails) and I used satin finish on the floors. There are about 5 billion scratches on the floor but the ONLY way you see them is if the light is hitting it JUST right and you look for them. I would suggest screening the floor and going over it with a satin finish. Just double check with the poly's manufactor that this is ok. If you screen it and go over with Semi-gloss then you are going to be back where you are now. Good luck.

What Evan said, but keep in mind that different manufacturers have different definitions of satin. I personally prefer a mixture of matte and satin in the Street Shoe line. The satin is too shiny alone for my tastes. I just read in the floor magazine that low-lustre is the trend now. In europe, they are using as low as 0% sheen. It is nice, seems to give more body to a stain color.

Actually the top coat was a mix of semi-gloss and satin 50/50 just to tone it down a little but your advise is well taken. I hoped someone might have heard of a buffing product that could be applied but that would probably be just too easy :)

Thanks for the info people.

Hi,
I just had the same issue with my hardwood floors (I have a german shepherd so the scratches are much worse) Anyways, the hardware flooring guy said that likely buffing wouldn't work or restore the finish (I still think for your situation it'd be worth trying since cat scratches are smaller) They told me I'd likely need to sand/refinish... which is a big/pricey job. I ended up just buying some hardwood floor light liquid wax and applied that AFTER thoroughly cleaning he floor. It came out pretty good and it's been 3wks now. In certain light I still see the grooves, but the shine has an overall gleam now. I hope it lasts but I'm sure in high traffic areas it'll wear.
Good luck.
deb

Hi,
I ended up just buying some hardwood floor light liquid wax and applied that AFTER thoroughly cleaning he floor. It came out pretty good and it's been 3wks now. In certain light I still see the grooves, but the shine has an overall gleam now. I hope it lasts but I'm sure in high traffic areas it'll wear.
Good luck.
deb

That is about the worst thing he could. He will most likely not be able to successfully apply more finish when he discovers that that bandaid is not meeting his needs. Never, never, ever apply a wax base product to your polyurethane finish. It is a sure ticket to a complete floor refinish before it should need it.

Yes wax solutions can have some drawbacks but I appreciate the suggestion none-the-less. I had thought that a urethane repair/filler product might be available. Just didn't want to through the screening/light sanding and re-application process since doing just the traffic areas would require a blending (existing finish to new finish interface) technique that I haven't aquired. Oh well if it was easy everyone would be doing it :)

You probably won't notice a change between where you screen and coat and the transition to another section of flooring. The screening is to rough up the surface a bit for the clear poly to adhere. You are not really removing any finish when you screen thes the color should remain pretty much the same. Of course I would do a test area first in an inconspicuous spot.