Laminate Floor Repairs - Fixing Minor Damages

Laminate is a highly versatile alternative to real hardwood flooring but is not necessarily better. It can mimic the appearance of many different natural materials but a more careful look will reveal it is not the real thing. It is easy to maintain as long as it's regularly cleaned. Laminate can be installed almost everywhere and the fitting process is very easy to perform. In addition, to the above, laminate flooring is highly resistant and more durable than real hardwood. Also unlike hardwood, it only takes a few days to acclimate, while the latter needs a few weeks.

The positive sides of the laminate are balanced by some drawbacks as well. One of the things that keep most customers away is the fact that laminate can’t be refinished. Minor damage like scratches can be dealt with, but floor sanding is a big no. This means that most laminate floors actually have shorter lifespans than hardwood flooring which can be sanded repeatedly multiple times. Also, there is the fact that while more durable, a laminate will still warp after prolonged exposure to water. Warped laminate is beyond repairs.

Dealing with Minor Laminate Scratching

When we talk laminate the first name that comes to mind is Quick-Step. Products like the Quickstep Repair Kit are excellent options if you want to fix minor scratching on your laminate floor. The repair kit contains a melting knife, a cleaning comb and seven wax blocks to cover all floor colours. The process is easy to do.

• Remove any loose particles left from scratch and choose which mix of colours will best fit your floor’s theme.
• Activate the melting knife and apply the colours of choice to scratch.
• Begin to fill with lighter shades and turn to darker ones later on.
• After getting the right colour, clean the melting knife and use the special filler applicator to strip excess material.
• Clean the grooves afterwards and apply a darker tint if you deem it necessary.
• Restore the grain with the appropriate colour and use the grey pad in the repair kit to degrease the surface.
• Part of the cleaning comb is a white/green pad. The white side is used to reduce the sheen level and the green side is for polishing.

Laminate Floorboard Repairs

We are often asked to sand or repair a damaged laminate floor. Both are services we cannot provide first because laminate floors cannot be sanded and second because laminate floorboard repair is not a service we offer. It is, however, entirely possible to replace the damaged part of your laminate as a part of a DIY project. Here we will explain how.

Using a ruler and pencil draw a rectangle around the damaged floorboard. The space between the walls of the damaged floorboard and those of the rectangle should be no less than 5cm. You should also make a 2cm relief hole in each corner of the rectangle and proceed to cut each of its sides with a circular saw. Begin from the middle and move to the corners. Repeat until all of the rectangle’s walls are cut and pulled. Now the damaged laminate plank is removed but the tongue and groove used to keep it in place are still there. The relief holes were made for that very reason. The uncut parts can be removed with a chisel.

The replacement board still has a way to go, though. The groove from the bottom and one of the board’s sides should be cut with a utility knife as well as the tongue on top. What is left is just a single tongue on the edge of the board. Glue the tongues of the adjacent boards on the floor and then put the replacement in the vacant spot. Give it time to dry up. It is done and the best part is that you managed to do it yourself!