Matching Hardwood

[flamesrule_kipper34]

Hey all,

I'm in a home where my dog unfortunately scratched up some of the hardwood.

There was/is no replacement hardwood (leftover boxes) so I'm doing my best to find a match, but struggling to do so.

It's solid hardwood and not engineered (looks to be 3.5"), it looks like it could be maple (or even exotic like Jatoba) judging by the grain markings and it's a very bright cherry read (actual maple cherry doesn't come close enough to this colour).

I've attached some pictures for viewing, any ideas on how I can match this? I've gone to 5-6 local (I'm in Toronto) hardwood stores plus Home Depot and Rona and haven't been able to find a match (too brown).

Also open to other ideas that people may have (e.g. staining another piece of hardwood to this colour, but not sure how to go about that).

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. And before anyone asks/comments, I'm not looking to replace the entire floor's hardwood to a new kind to forgo this problem and this is a rented property so I'm fixing this before I move out for the landlord.

[Fuzz]

I'd try to sand down that spot and re-finish. That looks like veneered wood, not a solid hardwood. And the wood itself is not red, just the stain is, otherwise the scratches wouldn't appear so light. You should be able to find a closely matching stain.

[Wormius]

I think there are some coloured waxes available for that purpose that you could rub in that would mask the scratches, at least enough that your eyes wouldn't be drawn to it.

[speede5]

You should easily be able to sand/stain/varnish that spot with little issue. The floor has enough variations that you would barely notice.

Judging by the gaps in the floor they can't be too picky.

If a person absolutely had to replace that board I would take on out of a closet or from under a cabinet or appliance and scab in a non matching one out of site.

[81MC]

Sand the damaged area, avoid the edge of the board as much as practically possible.
Looks like a cabarnet red. Mix with a bit of rose if the colour is too dark. Use an almost dry cloth to apply the stain in several coats, avoiding the unrepaired areas edges until the last coat to blend. It’ll look fine.

Also, oil stains can be mixed to create different shades, as can water stains (just don’t mix the two types).

[81MC]

X2

[Bigtime]

That's a solid hardwood, the 3-1/2" width makes me think it is an import (Chinese) product. I'd also lean towards it being a maple or possibly birch. That combination of factors has it most likely coming in via container loads, so it could quite possibly be long gone from any retailer.

Best bet may be getting a putty pencil/colour filler product for it. Finding an exact match is going to be tough.

Edit: Some of the ideas of sanding off the affected area and trying to stain may work too. There is a stain product out there called Saman that has a lot of different colours available.

[Reaper]

Me? I'd get a bigger rug.

[flamesrule_kipper34]

You guys are awesome, thanks so much for the great suggestions.

I'm going to look into a few of these things:

Coloured Waxes
Putty Pencil/Colour Filler
And if the above two fail then sanding down the area to try and match the colour by staining and such.

Thanks guys, I've just never had to do this before so learning on the fly, much appreciated on everyone's suggestions thus far though!

[81MC]

Also, that looks more like Oak than maple to me.

[sa226]

Definitely looks like a solid maple hardwood. Oak grain is much tighter and more pronounced.

If it were me, I would try to sand and refinish. You have that small piece, you can bring it in and have the color matched. Those touch up kits are great for smaller scratches and gouges. But your dog went to town on that spot. You will likely hate how it looks and forever be annoyed if you try to touch that big of a spot up. Just my opinion though.

I like the closet idea too. But its difficult to pry up an already nailed down piece and keep it intact.

[Fuzz]

You guys sure it is solid hardwood? That first picture looks like a veneer glued onto pine or some other softwood. Not that it matters much for this repair, as long as you don't sand to deep.

[OMG!WTF!]

I don't think you can fill and sand that big of a scratch. It will for sure be noticeable. Even the tiny little scratches cross over the natural grain of the wood and stick out like a sore thumb. The fill job you could do here would just look like a bunch of scratches filled and stained.

The best plan is if, like speede said, you can get a piece from a closet to replace the damaged piece and then replace that piece with a close filler. You'll probably need a hardwood person to do that sort of repair. Actually, you might want to get a hardwood person to look at it anyway because they often know where to find the exact wood you might need. I'm not sure about Ontario but in Alberta this is beyond wear and tear and the landlord would be reasonably allowed to repair it which could mean sanding and refinishing the whole floor.

[speede5]

Originally Posted by OMG!WTF!

I'm not sure about Ontario but in Alberta this is beyond wear and tear and the landlord would be reasonably allowed to repair it which could mean sanding and refinishing the whole floor.

If it comes to that it would be cheaper to fly me out to replace the board!

[FlamesKickAss]

There's a company called new creations that may be able to repair that spot

[flamesrule_kipper34]

Originally Posted by FlamesKickAss

There's a company called new creations that may be able to repair that spot

Thanks, I've actually filled out a form on their website now and contacted them, thanks for the suggestion .

[topfiverecords]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

You guys sure it is solid hardwood? That first picture looks like a veneer glued onto pine or some other softwood. Not that it matters much for this repair, as long as you don't sand to deep.

I think it's just the way the stain is on the bevelled edge of the board that makes it look like a layer with some thickness. It's definitely solid maple.

[speede5]

That is solid maple from what I can see, I thought veneer at first glance too but its because they cut the tang off partially to fit the register.

I have oak but it looks very similar, chinese hardwood. A lot of it gets imported and sold at flooring auctions. Pretty good product, very durable, but not very many long strips. From what I hear even NA hardwood products are mostly short pieces now too.

I paid less than $2 a sqft at an auction about 10 years ago and it's still in great shape.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ejz3B7ik07Q

A circular saw can be used with care, or if you have an oscillating tool it very easy to do this. I had to patch some 100 yrs old maple that had water damage and my only issue was the boards had inconsistent widths due to age, quality control and shrinkage. You wouldn't have that issue.

[flamesrule_kipper34]

Hey guys,

So I went down the path of trying to sand it down and using filler and such to cover the scratches up and while it certainly helped it did not cover it up enough in a way that I'd be happy if this were my own home.

I've also struggled with finding matching hardwood so I took someone else's suggestion and contacted New Creations and they're going to come in to repair it.

I've been asked if my wood is Maple or Pine...I've been going under the assumption this whole time that it's Maple. A few others on the thread commented on a couple of others (none Pine I believe)...any ability for me to find out more definitively?

Thanks.

[Wormius]

Kind of curious how the previous approaches turned out. Any pics?