Floorboard advice - How to remove ingrained scuffs

[Joeninho]

Hi guys,

Looking for more flooring/sanding advice.

I am preparing our floorboards before applying some Osmo.

It has been some mission. I have sanded using a drum sander and edger. My wife's parents (helpfully...) called over and vacuumed the house when we were out. We hadn't moved in at this point. The vacuum cleaner has left ingrained plastic scores all over my newly sanded floor.

I have spent around 20 hours sanding the entire floor with an orbital sander. A titanic battle resulted in me removing the swirls from the drum sander, although I just cannot remove the scores and scuffs from the vacuum cleaner. They are grey/black in colour.

I have tried going back to 60 grit and still they remain. It even seems to buff them out to make them more noticeable!

Does anyone have any tips and tricks for removing them? Photographs attached.

Do I just need to go with a more coarse grit? You will understand my reluctance, as I will then have to redo with the finer grits again.

Or do I just go for the less stressful option and buy a new house?

Cheers,

Joe.

[dewaltdisney]

Sadly, as soon as you varnish the marks will stand out more. You would need to sand the scratches down to their depth and even then you could have legacy marks showing. Personally I have never liked floorboards, especially softwood boards, as well as giving a poor finish they are drafty through the joint gaps which get worse as the house warms and they shrink. I would forget it and carpet which is warmer, conserves heat and is comfortable under foot. Alternatively lay a Karndean type floor over a ply substrate. It is strange that in the 1960s exposed floorboards in a house were seen as abject poverty and even though wooden floor effects are seen as en vogue these days I cannot get over the social stigma of those times. You could pull up the boards and reverse them if you are determined.

DWD

[big-all]

try a damp cloth and a steam iron to steam and loosen the wood fibres let fully dry before sanding
it probaly wont make much difference but will reduce the sanding needed for the best compromize