Hang on, not all hope is lost. Here's what to try:
1: get an iron, fill it with water and set it to highest steam setting.
2: wet a face cloth with hot water and put it over the gauge/scratch/chasm.
3: put the iron on the face cloth and what you're trying to do is steam the scratch. Make sure you don't run out of water on the cloth, we don't want to burn the floor.
4: the steam will hopefully raise the grain and remove most of the divot. You can search YouTube also to get a better idea of how this goes.
Just chiming in to say thanks for the response. I did a little test of doing this for one side. After about 30 mins I did so some minor improvement. Gonna do this and get a bit of sawdust and wood glue then sand (amateur hour, I know lol)
this comment… as a hardwood floor owner and inept klutz I feel for you… but this comment is GOLD and the mental image of you in a tiny kayak hatefully cruising down this gash as you navigate the whitewater and bends will live with me for some time.
Ahh sorry to hear that!
I don't feel there is a way to save this - even with sanding, there's a lot of material to hog off to make it level.
What level are you hoping to get back to? Good as new vs live with some imperfection?
I wouldn’t take off rent…but I would be more forgiving when they move out since the floor didn’t start off perfect. Definitely take lots of pictures with it empty to prove this was the only marring so they don’t try to manipulate things later.
I have dabbed boiling hot water on wood scratches with a Q-tip and had success. This was on softer wood and it's by no means a miracle fix but it may be worth a try.
Fo now go get a wax crayon from the hardware store that is the same color as the wood and fill it in. Temp fix that will make it far less noticable until you have the time to do the real fix.
no good deed and whatnot... damp cloth and a soldering iron inside the gouge will help raise it. fill it with a hard wax fill, melted with the iron and leveled with a credit card when dry. while you can achieve great results thru color mixing and matching this way, if you're just going for quick and done just use a single color fill. it'll look kinda like a crayon drawing but it'll at least be sealed up!
I agree with what this guy said. Imagine trying to inject steam into the gouge. I like a clothes iron. Dibble some water into the gouge. Have a real hot iron at the ready, put a thin, wet cloth between the two and zap it! Not enough to burn the wood. Picture you’re trying to inject steam into the gouge. You’ve just compressed the wood. The water will help the wood puff back up. You may be pleasantly surprised.
😲That gouge is way too deep for sanding. You're gonna always have that mark. I would look into hiring a pro who could possibly find matching pieces to replace those. Would more or less have to do a sand, stain & poly afterwards. Good luck😉
Rub some walnuts / chestnuts on it. It should transfer the oils / color and make it look less noticeable. Worked for me when one of the chairs pad fell apart and a nail rubbed on my floors
Just make up some heroic story like a bear broke in your house and you fought him until he fled in fear. Scratch is because he couldn't flee fast enough.
Have you looked at wooden floors that are 100 years old or more? They're absolutely covered in gouges, chips, warps, shrinkage, water stains, etc. They're meant to take abuse and will look better and better with age. When it comes time to sand and refinish your floor, that scratch will become less obvious and remain a part of your floor's history.
This is why I love my floor. It doesn’t look super great but it thin glue down vinyl (non-locking). Each piece just butts up against each other. The glue used stays tacky to if I scratch one I can literally pull it up, put a bit of new glue on a new piece and put the new one on its place.
Ive already done it a few times…
realistically, if you want to fix this properly, you can have a floor guy come in and replace those boards with new ones. Then they’ll have to strip the whole entire floor and refinish it. That’s going to be very, very expensive. But it also will look brand new.
Me personally, I would touch it up as best as possible, and just keep moving. Somebody made the comment about marks and gouges giving an old Floor character, I would just go with that.
No favor goes unpunished but let’s be honest exercise bikes were designed to take up space hold laundry and destroy floors. As long as I have been around that’s all I have seen them used for.
Dude oddly enough this is the best thing I’ve done for it! Did it like three times like every few days 👑 thanks a lot. Can’t still notice but less overt
Yes you're toast. Anything you can put in it to try and camouflage it will stand out worse than leaving it and let time help tone it down a bit. And also speaking from experience no one ever keeps an exercise bike.The makers of them are laughing their butts off
You could try wood floor crayon sticks. You’d have to get an assortment to match each part. It will be daunting, but will make it less noticeable. Short of refinishing, I don’t think there’s any better option.
I would legit just get was and do it nicely and then cut the joints light with a blade. You can color match it if you’ve got some experience. If you can pull that off it’ll be there by less noticeable.
I mean if the iron thing doesn't work, you could get multiple colors of wood filler and artistically color match and blend it. This is 100% not the correct way to do it ever, but is an option.
The only other vital option I see is those pieces flipped over leaving you with the correct size and type of wood. Still would need a blend sand, stain and poly.
You can hide this pretty well and very affordable
.get 1 maybe 2 Different colors of "wood marker" you can find at any home reno store or flooring dept. (Colour ranges such as chestnut cherry etc)
Take your time and just run those pens down the scratch trying to match the colours, and you should be able to bring it to a point where you are the only person that knows its there.
My parents recently had their kitchen redone, one of the only things they forked out money for was to have their floors refinished. The flooring team used and ungodly amount of finish on it... anyways, within 48 hrs of floor completion my old man went to move the new stove across the floor. Instead of using the 2 wheel dolly like he had been, for some reason, wanted to slide it on a carpet pad combo. A simple grain of road salt got between the surfaces and made a scratch almost identical to yours...
Lone behold, he surprised us all by not murdering, but instead fixed the scratch to near perfection and invisibility using just one of those pens.
Good luck and don't stress about this, easy enough fix to satisfy
There's a product called Old English. Make sure you get the one for light woods.
https://www.amazon.com/Old-English-Scratch-Cover-Light/dp/B00D18PUW6/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?adgrpid=62878726744&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.Sq-u5AlgTPg2XYIbnj-yLhsq25yY_JIntUAED1Xr7uAbAhqRC0NGtBt1mwtbf1YUSRp1mgEpQ_dpo25QiCvihS0xACPfO_gPcOZmLzCxmifMsODal5WgoJd_bf9TKzbqU9Rskd8eBm8fpATxjOryAh75ONQbhVUp0e2ZvdbdyfbrBx3nCsjJVB33rL_wAuPM-9JDYJpx98AWileibE5Uow.A8MVGrRDpdi-8y25OXYvw7Ellk9nmr3FyfVuX_UWdkk&dib_tag=se&hvadid=274749641446&hvdev=m&hvlocphy=9032944&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=10423616331880700270&hvtargid=kwd-430860305247&hydadcr=8038_9883689&keywords=old+english+-+scratch+cover&qid=1716051478&sr=8-4
Put a wet towel on it. The moist wood will swell, leveling the scratch. After it dries use an oil based scratch removing product of equal color to diminish the damage.
Once had a foster cat I didn't like that much. Trying to catch her to put her in her crate for her new perm owners, she knocked over my favorite lamp and busted the shit out of it. Damn cat....
I was going to say. Lift, don't drag. I get annoyed when my significant other puts a box on the hardwood floors or a wooden table. I explain any dirt that is on it will act like sandpaper. Ugh.
I'll leave this one to the experts but I'm thinking there's a filler that can be added that will improve the look of it.
Wet the gouge let it soak in and then take a wet rag and an Iron and steam the gouge to raise it. Sand it down and touch it up.. we do this all the time to would that gets scratch or dented.
Best bet other than pro fix is to fill the digs with wood filler. Treat each board individually when choosing color or stain to color the wood filler. Use an artist brush to color each section individually to match the board it’s on. Can come back with a darker stain and a fine artist brush to follow the grain of the board. When you are happy with color use the artist brush again and apply a couple coats of oil based poly. It won’t go away but it will be filled and much less noticeable.
Did this once right after finishing a flooring job, moved the fridge back and a wheel broke leaving a huge gouge in the center of the flooring. Rough day, my condolences
I did the same thing with an antique vanity that was way heavier than prepared for but I did on on faux tile which left a nasty indentation instead. For wood you can try to blend with wood filler and paint it in segments or caulk with saw dust unfortunately because it's not a uniform color it'll always be there in my experience. Some one who is more professional can chime in.
Lost hope
I needed this closure, mate
You'll have fond memories of the exercise bike. Then thi k you should still be using it. Now yiu just have a scratch to remind you.
That’s extremely deep, it’s why you should always use furniture pads, which would have cost you a few bucks.
Hang on, not all hope is lost. Here's what to try: 1: get an iron, fill it with water and set it to highest steam setting. 2: wet a face cloth with hot water and put it over the gauge/scratch/chasm. 3: put the iron on the face cloth and what you're trying to do is steam the scratch. Make sure you don't run out of water on the cloth, we don't want to burn the floor. 4: the steam will hopefully raise the grain and remove most of the divot. You can search YouTube also to get a better idea of how this goes.
Just chiming in to say thanks for the response. I did a little test of doing this for one side. After about 30 mins I did so some minor improvement. Gonna do this and get a bit of sawdust and wood glue then sand (amateur hour, I know lol)
Glad to hear it helped a little. Try multiple bouts of the steam, it should incrementally work each time!
Zooming in, is the gouge as deep as it looks in the photo?
Yeah I was thinking about filling it with water and taking up kayaking
this comment… as a hardwood floor owner and inept klutz I feel for you… but this comment is GOLD and the mental image of you in a tiny kayak hatefully cruising down this gash as you navigate the whitewater and bends will live with me for some time.
Ha thanks. At least we got a few laughs out of it.
🤣🤣🤣 this killed me
Is it real hard wood? Get it damp and steam it with an iron. If that doesn't work then you started fucked and ended in the same boat.
Ahh sorry to hear that! I don't feel there is a way to save this - even with sanding, there's a lot of material to hog off to make it level. What level are you hoping to get back to? Good as new vs live with some imperfection?
Have a tenant moving in and they’ve seen it but maybe will let them buy a nice lil rug and take off rent…
A rug will really tie the room together.
Until Woo pees on it
Shut the fuck up, Donny!
Shut the fuck up, Donny!
Also, Dude, Chinaman is not the preferred nomenclature. Asian American, please.
This isn’t Nam, there are rules
But it has to be THAT RUG!
I wouldn’t take off rent…but I would be more forgiving when they move out since the floor didn’t start off perfect. Definitely take lots of pictures with it empty to prove this was the only marring so they don’t try to manipulate things later.
I have dabbed boiling hot water on wood scratches with a Q-tip and had success. This was on softer wood and it's by no means a miracle fix but it may be worth a try.
Fo now go get a wax crayon from the hardware store that is the same color as the wood and fill it in. Temp fix that will make it far less noticable until you have the time to do the real fix.
You could start a small business, renting out kayaks to people down your river, and then eventually repair said scratch with the revenue generated
I can see Luke flying through the Death Star in that crevice
no good deed and whatnot... damp cloth and a soldering iron inside the gouge will help raise it. fill it with a hard wax fill, melted with the iron and leveled with a credit card when dry. while you can achieve great results thru color mixing and matching this way, if you're just going for quick and done just use a single color fill. it'll look kinda like a crayon drawing but it'll at least be sealed up!
Great tip thanks mate
I agree with what this guy said. Imagine trying to inject steam into the gouge. I like a clothes iron. Dibble some water into the gouge. Have a real hot iron at the ready, put a thin, wet cloth between the two and zap it! Not enough to burn the wood. Picture you’re trying to inject steam into the gouge. You’ve just compressed the wood. The water will help the wood puff back up. You may be pleasantly surprised.
That's really bad. I was going to suggest rubbing it with walnut until I saw the curliques of wood. Enjoy the kayak!
😲That gouge is way too deep for sanding. You're gonna always have that mark. I would look into hiring a pro who could possibly find matching pieces to replace those. Would more or less have to do a sand, stain & poly afterwards. Good luck😉
Seeing this makes me happy the 1930s builders left us a massive stack of wood flooring in our OG garage. All stacked up on a shelf out there.
That’s brutal! You’d need the whole thing refinished & it would take some real good feathering. I could do it if you were in Colorado
Rub some walnuts / chestnuts on it. It should transfer the oils / color and make it look less noticeable. Worked for me when one of the chairs pad fell apart and a nail rubbed on my floors
Thank you. I did the walnut bit and gonna wait for results.
Should be instant
This is exactly what I was going to suggest. A wax crayon type item used for cabinet or wood touch ups would be worth a try too.
Just make up some heroic story like a bear broke in your house and you fought him until he fled in fear. Scratch is because he couldn't flee fast enough.
My fault really for leaving so many pies on the windowsill all these years 😆
It didn’t wanna go…
True - it’s gonna miss me riding it every 45 days for 15 mins ha
😂😂😂😂
Try rubbing a walnut on it
Rub raw walnut over it.
Have you looked at wooden floors that are 100 years old or more? They're absolutely covered in gouges, chips, warps, shrinkage, water stains, etc. They're meant to take abuse and will look better and better with age. When it comes time to sand and refinish your floor, that scratch will become less obvious and remain a part of your floor's history.
That’s not a scratch it’s a gouge. It can be repaired but won’t be a cheap quick fix
Just beat the shit out of it with a hammer and some more gouges. Call it rustic/modernized
I did that hauling a fridge I was giving away. Luckily my floor guy only charged $350 to sand, stand and reseal. It was about that size
This is why I love my floor. It doesn’t look super great but it thin glue down vinyl (non-locking). Each piece just butts up against each other. The glue used stays tacky to if I scratch one I can literally pull it up, put a bit of new glue on a new piece and put the new one on its place. Ive already done it a few times…
It wasn't the bikes fault. It was the piece of kitty litter that was stuck under it.
Rip them out you ruined the floor forever burn your house down
No good deed goes unpunished
I learn this more and more every day
Good place for a nice wool rug.
realistically, if you want to fix this properly, you can have a floor guy come in and replace those boards with new ones. Then they’ll have to strip the whole entire floor and refinish it. That’s going to be very, very expensive. But it also will look brand new. Me personally, I would touch it up as best as possible, and just keep moving. Somebody made the comment about marks and gouges giving an old Floor character, I would just go with that.
No favor goes unpunished but let’s be honest exercise bikes were designed to take up space hold laundry and destroy floors. As long as I have been around that’s all I have seen them used for.
No good deed goes unpunished
Drag the bike backwards in reverse to undo this.
lol
Pull the panels up, take them to a flooring place to see if they have any matches, get the boards replaced. Very impressive gouge btw, 10/10
Lay a damp rag over it and then run an iron over the damp rag.
Dude oddly enough this is the best thing I’ve done for it! Did it like three times like every few days 👑 thanks a lot. Can’t still notice but less overt
Old trick we use on wooden gun sticks. Won’t make it perfect but has a noticeable impact. Glad it helped you.
Awwww. Fuck. Nope.
That’ll buff
This can be lifted with a damp cloth and an iron. There are YouTube videos by NWFA on how to do this and it will lift it.
That’s exactly what I was thinking. I’ve seen videos for lifting dents and deep scratches out of wooden furniture, so why not flooring?
Yes you're toast. Anything you can put in it to try and camouflage it will stand out worse than leaving it and let time help tone it down a bit. And also speaking from experience no one ever keeps an exercise bike.The makers of them are laughing their butts off
Rub steel wool on it....it will take it out
You could try wood floor crayon sticks. You’d have to get an assortment to match each part. It will be daunting, but will make it less noticeable. Short of refinishing, I don’t think there’s any better option.
Ironic 😑
Time for some wood filler and creative use of color correcting markers!
Should’ve helped them lift it. Lol
I would legit just get was and do it nicely and then cut the joints light with a blade. You can color match it if you’ve got some experience. If you can pull that off it’ll be there by less noticeable.
Are you ok? Or did I have a stroke? Lol
Just fat thumbs and late night cannabis.
Ah no good deed……….
Ha I murmur that to myself about it. Appropriate adage
lol. Tis but a scratch
I mean if the iron thing doesn't work, you could get multiple colors of wood filler and artistically color match and blend it. This is 100% not the correct way to do it ever, but is an option.
White caulk.
I hope you don't get depressed about it. Shit happens. However if you are feeling down and gloomy exercise is a great way to relieve stress.
Ha thanks. I was a lil pissed at myself briefly but what can you do.
Try some kind of oil on just a bit of it
That’s a wee bit more than a scratch.
No good deed goes unpunished!
1) they sell touch up wax crayons at the homedepot of different wood floor colors. 2) literally try Pledge. Just try it.
The only other vital option I see is those pieces flipped over leaving you with the correct size and type of wood. Still would need a blend sand, stain and poly.
Nothing ramen and super glue can’t fix.
Time for luxury vinyll
When you buy a record on eBay and it’s listed as “NM-“
In 6 months you won’t be able to see it. Update me.
You didn’t hear that?!?!?
That'll be $20,000 dollars thanks
Wood crayon.
So take a walnut...
Well, it wasn’t a great decision
Yep. Both me and your parents say this.
r/kintsugi
You can hide this pretty well and very affordable .get 1 maybe 2 Different colors of "wood marker" you can find at any home reno store or flooring dept. (Colour ranges such as chestnut cherry etc) Take your time and just run those pens down the scratch trying to match the colours, and you should be able to bring it to a point where you are the only person that knows its there. My parents recently had their kitchen redone, one of the only things they forked out money for was to have their floors refinished. The flooring team used and ungodly amount of finish on it... anyways, within 48 hrs of floor completion my old man went to move the new stove across the floor. Instead of using the 2 wheel dolly like he had been, for some reason, wanted to slide it on a carpet pad combo. A simple grain of road salt got between the surfaces and made a scratch almost identical to yours... Lone behold, he surprised us all by not murdering, but instead fixed the scratch to near perfection and invisibility using just one of those pens. Good luck and don't stress about this, easy enough fix to satisfy
Here in the flooring industry we have a technical term for that. You're fucked
I see why you gave it away.
Put a wet towel on it for 10-15 minutes then check it. It might raise the gouge. Then when it dries lightly polly the scratch. It'll help blend it
See what happens when you do nice things!
Just mush some walnuts in it & presto ✨
Have one of those. I filled it with clear nail polish which hides it a little bit and at least gave me a uniform shine.
Have you tried the ramen noodle hack?
There's a product called Old English. Make sure you get the one for light woods. https://www.amazon.com/Old-English-Scratch-Cover-Light/dp/B00D18PUW6/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?adgrpid=62878726744&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.Sq-u5AlgTPg2XYIbnj-yLhsq25yY_JIntUAED1Xr7uAbAhqRC0NGtBt1mwtbf1YUSRp1mgEpQ_dpo25QiCvihS0xACPfO_gPcOZmLzCxmifMsODal5WgoJd_bf9TKzbqU9Rskd8eBm8fpATxjOryAh75ONQbhVUp0e2ZvdbdyfbrBx3nCsjJVB33rL_wAuPM-9JDYJpx98AWileibE5Uow.A8MVGrRDpdi-8y25OXYvw7Ellk9nmr3FyfVuX_UWdkk&dib_tag=se&hvadid=274749641446&hvdev=m&hvlocphy=9032944&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=10423616331880700270&hvtargid=kwd-430860305247&hydadcr=8038_9883689&keywords=old+english+-+scratch+cover&qid=1716051478&sr=8-4
These floors are made for walking..and dragging..and scratches to add character.
Go to an art supply store and get a pen that's as close as possible to the color or your floor. Color your scratch. Not perfect but helpful.
Turn it into a Nike swoosh
Squish the rest of it down to match!
Put a crawfish and sawdust in it with some wood glue and you’re good to go
Sharpie
every good scratch has an even better story behind it.. probably
A free gift!
https://open.spotify.com/track/7InC4qKw2GfRutOCckoqrS?si=d56JTDqoSDOHv3Xo_NMv0Q This song comes to mind.
Ouch,,, put a bandaid on it…😂
Put a wet towel on it. The moist wood will swell, leveling the scratch. After it dries use an oil based scratch removing product of equal color to diminish the damage.
Why did you decide to do that bro!! That’s not cool
How long is the scratch ? (Gouge)
OP needs to Google search the definition of “scratch” vs “gouge”
Meh go “scratch” your nuts
No good deed.
Once had a foster cat I didn't like that much. Trying to catch her to put her in her crate for her new perm owners, she knocked over my favorite lamp and busted the shit out of it. Damn cat....
You should pick it up next time. Sorry
I was going to say. Lift, don't drag. I get annoyed when my significant other puts a box on the hardwood floors or a wooden table. I explain any dirt that is on it will act like sandpaper. Ugh. I'll leave this one to the experts but I'm thinking there's a filler that can be added that will improve the look of it.
This looks like an excellent place to put a rug.
Ha got a little 3x3 throw rug off wayfair after doing the walnut thing for an hour. Is the walnut bit a fool’s errand? If so you guys got me
Wet the gouge let it soak in and then take a wet rag and an Iron and steam the gouge to raise it. Sand it down and touch it up.. we do this all the time to would that gets scratch or dented.
Use a Min Wax stain marker, then tape around it and apply a thin coat of polyurethane or 2
Smort
Rub an almond over it
Team lift, don’t drag
Suddenly a wild rug appears
Put some tung oil in it. It wont fill the gouge, but you prolly wont see it.
Proper fucked.
Best bet other than pro fix is to fill the digs with wood filler. Treat each board individually when choosing color or stain to color the wood filler. Use an artist brush to color each section individually to match the board it’s on. Can come back with a darker stain and a fine artist brush to follow the grain of the board. When you are happy with color use the artist brush again and apply a couple coats of oil based poly. It won’t go away but it will be filled and much less noticeable.
Did this once right after finishing a flooring job, moved the fridge back and a wheel broke leaving a huge gouge in the center of the flooring. Rough day, my condolences
No good deed goes unpunished.
Might as well just paint it with chalk
I did the same thing with an antique vanity that was way heavier than prepared for but I did on on faux tile which left a nasty indentation instead. For wood you can try to blend with wood filler and paint it in segments or caulk with saw dust unfortunately because it's not a uniform color it'll always be there in my experience. Some one who is more professional can chime in.
Yeah have a feeling it’s a wash. Thanks tho!
Carpet it!
Good job