Part of caring for your hardwood floors is refinishing them periodically. This process begins with a deep clean followed by sanding and buffing. The floor is then stained to the desired color and sealed to minimize future damage. Refinishing can also fix small damages, like the following, so that your floors look new again. 

1. Pet Damage 

Pets can be hard on wood flooring. Their nails can scratch the wood, but fortunately refinishing will remove nail scratches relatively easily. Urine stains can also be a problem, particularly in homes with older pets. If the stains don't penetrate too deeply they can be sanded out during refinishing then the area will be sealed to prevent any odor from escaping.

2. Traffic Wear

Normal wear and tear from daily traffic can literally wear a path in hardwood flooring. Finish wear and dirt stains will be most common in these high-traffic areas. The wood may also wear down slightly, leading to an uneven surface. Sanding during refinishing will level out the floors and remove the wear spots so the floor can be restained to its original glory.

3. Scratch Marks

Scratches and shallow gouges come from a variety of surfaces from dirt tracked in and dropped items to furniture moved across the floor. Most scratches don't go very deep, so the basic sanding and buffing in normal refinishing will remove them. For deeper gouges, your contractor may first fill them in with wood putty before proceeding with refinishing. 

4. Sun Fading

Sunlight can fade and dry out hardwood floorboards near sunny windows. The sun-damaged boards aren't just lighter, they may have small surface cracks thanks to being dried out by heat and UV exposure. Sanding down the bleached wood will also remove any superficial cracking. Then the area can be treated with a wood conditioner to add back moisture before refinishing is completed. 

5. Surface Stains

A variety of surface stains can make your flooring look in worse shape than it is. Dripped paint from the walls is common, as are marker and crayon stains in homes with children. Food and water can leave behind stains. As long as the stains haven't damaged the wood fibers, they are repairable. Refinishing sands off much of the stain, and the final sealant or wood stain will even out any discoloration that remains. 

Contact a wood floor refinishing contractor if you have flooring in need of restoration.