Q: We are in the slow process of redoing rooms in our home. Our first two we went with cork flooring, the second two with bamboo, as we were told it a harder flooring than cork and would wear better. When moving an item we noticed an ugly scratch, so before we went any further, we applied felt feet to any furniture that touched the floor. What we didn’t do was any type of precaution with rolling chairs. (One of the rooms is serving as a study, and has 2 chairs that are somewhat mobile.)
What we found rather quickly was that anywhere the chairs rolled, it left pits in the floor. I called customer support, and they explained you aren’t supposed to do that, not much you can do about it now.
The floor turned our really great, and we found a bamboo carpet to put over the bulk of the area where the chairs do roll, but we are still hoping there is some way we can fix what pits and scratches we have?
Thanks for your time and assistance,
Sean & Anita
A: Bamboo’s durability is dependent on whether it is natural bamboo or carbonized bamboo. Due to the process of making carbonized bamboo, in which the bamboo is essentially cooked in steam baths to crystallize the sugars found inside bamboo (also referred to as caramelizing the bamboo), the bamboo becomes a bit more brittle and losses some of its durability.
As far as removing the pitting, this will not be possible in the bamboo; however, with scratches you can do a bit to lessen their appearance. Depending on how deep the scratch is will matter if something can be done. Scratches in the finish only, typically appearing white in color, will fade a bit in time and become less noticeable. Depending on the aluminum oxide content of the finished used on your bamboo, there is potential to use products such as Bona’s Refresher to renew the finish in problematic areas, but unless this is in dire need I would not suggest doing it. Higher contents of aluminum oxide in finishes make it hard to properly adhere most finishes to the floor, and the result is a dull or milky residue appearance as the new finish does not properly adhere.
Now if the scratch is actually gouged into the bamboo itself, you might want to look into a color matched acrylic filler. This will not look amazing as it will be visible upon inspection of the floor, but it will protect the floor from having any moisture get into the material and ruining the floor.
My guess here is that you are only dealing with finish level scratches, as these are much more common compared to actual gouging of the floor. I would suggest first ensuring that any of the scraped up finish is removed, typically normal vacuuming and cleaning will remove this, then give it a bit of time, as it will darken back up some and blend into the floor a bit. If these scratches still stand out quite a bit after a while, you can contact the manufacturer of your floor to see if they recommend any specific products, or try using Bona’s refresher. Again I stress that you give the floor a bit of time and if you decided to apply anything, contact your manufacturer for suggestions first.
