How to Remove Scratches From Vinyl Flooring

Did you accidentally leave scratch marks on your luxury vinyl floor while moving furniture? A minor scratch may not be very noticeable, but a deep scratch leaves an unsightly blemish on vinyl or laminate flooring. Discover how to remove scratches from vinyl flooring with various home remedies.

Vinyl flooring is made of several layers of materials sandwiched together, such as polyvinyl chloride resin, pigments, and plasticizers. Luxury vinyl tile, sheet vinyl, and luxury vinyl plank are the three types of vinyl flooring. They come in many styles, from realistic wood to ceramic tile.

Modern vinyl flooring has a surface coating, which makes it scratch-resistant. Nonetheless, this doesn’t protect the floor from all scuffs and scratches, especially if you don’t maintain the floor or care for it daily.

Ways to Remove Scratches From Vinyl Floors

Luckily, fixing a scratch mark on a vinyl floor is more straightforward than on a hardwood floor. Your method depends on whether it’s a light scratch or a deep scuff mark. For example, a touch-up marker is excellent for concealing minor scratches, and a repair kit fixes a deep gash.

While tossing a rug over a floor scratch or scuff hides the blemish, it’s just a temporary fix. Find out how to clean and buff engineered wood floor planks and restore your floor’s beautiful appearance without replacing the entire flooring.

What Causes Vinyl Floor Scratches?

There are many reasons for scratches on vinyl plank flooring. Some are obvious, like when you pull a chair across the floor, and others seem to come out of nowhere. They also occur more often in high-traffic areas.

Vinyl Floor Scratching

Scraping sharp objects across the floor is the most common cause of vinyl wood floor scratches. The floor has a coating that protects it from everyday wear and tear. Yet, the excessive force from an item like furniture breaks through the protective layer, leaving scratches.

Other reasons for floor marks are shoes and dirt. Footwear sometimes leaves a scuff mark on the floor if you bump or drag your foot. Excess dirt on the vinyl leaves minute scratches and dulling as you walk over the surface.

How to Get Scratches Out of a Luxury Vinyl Plank Floor

There are many techniques for removing scratches from vinyl flooring, and it’s a good idea to understand their differences to ensure you pick the proper one for your vinyl tile or plank scratch. What works to remove minor scuffs doesn’t always work for removing deep scratches.

The simplest ways to remove minor vinyl scratches are nail polish, a repair pen, or a wax stick. These quick-fix items remove small scratch marks from the vinyl.

On the other hand, deep scratches require more aggressive methods. Sandpaper and a vinyl repair kit are often your best options for removing imperfections and restoring the floor surface.

Removing Scratches From Vinyl Flooring With Nail Polish

Fingernail polish is excellent for fixing minor scratches. It comes in a vast array of colors, and you’re bound to find one that matches the color of your flooring. Find out how to get scratches out of a luxury vinyl plank floor with fingernail polish.

Nail Polish Scratch Repair

Try covering the mark with nail polish if the vinyl scratch is tiny and in an inconspicuous area. Browse the cosmetic section at your local store, and choose a color that matches your floor.

Shake the nail polish bottle well to mix the pigments, and apply the polish to the scratch with the included brush. Apply a little at a time until you cover the stain. Avoid getting the polish on clean areas of the floor, and let it dry completely.

Erasing Small Scratches From Vinyl Floors

It may be possible to remove the vinyl plank floor scratch with an eraser if the mark is small. As strange as it sounds, a pencil eraser gently removes tiny scratches and scuffs from the vinyl surface, restoring its original look.

Erasing Vinyl Scratches

Rub a pencil eraser over the vinyl scratch with a gentle back-and-forth motion. Don’t press too hard to prevent scuff marks; only rub on the scratch. Continue rubbing the spot and wiping bits of the eraser away until you remove the scratch from the floor.

Wax Sticks Remove Minor Vinyl Floor Scratches

Use wax sticks to buff light scratches off vinyl plank floors. Wax is a great alternative if an eraser doesn’t fix scratch marks on the floor. It fills the scratch and leaves a clean finish.

Wax Scratch Removal

Follow the instructions for your wax product to ensure you apply it correctly. Place the wax stick over the scratch and use enough pressure to smear it over the blemish.

It’s necessary to buff the floor after covering the mark with wax. Use a soft cloth or towel to rub the area with circular motions until the surface is flat and smooth.

How to Remove Scratches From Vinyl Flooring

A scratch repair pen or marker is excellent for getting deep scratches off vinyl flooring. These pens come in different colors, making them easy to match your floor style, and you can find them online or at many home improvement stores.

Various vinyl touch-up marker types, from the Pu Repair Pen to the Rejuvenate Exact Match Pens, are available. Which one you choose depends on your preference. The key is to determine which pen color has the closest match to your vinyl flooring.

Make sure the floor is free from dust and dirt by sweeping the area with a broom. Follow the directions for your pen and use it to draw directly across the scratch to fill it with color. Wipe the area with a paper towel to remove residue, and clean it with a damp cloth.

Magically Erase Scuff Marks off a Vinyl Floor

A Magic Eraser or melamine sponge cleans various stains and marks, including mild scuff marks on luxury vinyl flooring. It is denser than regular sponges and has minuscule pores that gently scrub away tiny scratches.

Get the corner of a melamine sponge wet with warm water and wring out the excess moisture. Rub the sponge on the vinyl scratch with moderate pressure until the mark is gone, and buff the floor dry with a soft towel.

Remove Vinyl Scratches With Scratch Concealer

While a scratch concealer doesn’t fill a gouge or dent, it’s perfect for removing minor scratches from a vinyl floor. In addition, it creates a permanent seal that doesn’t wash away with everyday floor cleaning.

Since the concealer also seals the floor scratch, it’s vital to sweep and mop the area beforehand to prevent trapping dust and debris in the scratch.

Once the floor is clean, rub the concealer over the scratch with a soft cloth. Use a circular motion and mild pressure as you rub until all the residue is gone. Let the area cure for four hours before allowing traffic.

Use a Repair Kit to Remove Deep Vinyl Floor Scratches

It’s time to use a vinyl repair kit if other techniques fail at removing scratches from vinyl flooring. There are many types of repair kits, and they generally come with scrubbing pads, scratch repair spray, wood filler, and a repair pen.

Repairing Deep Scratches

Vinyl repair kits may vary by brand, and following the directions for your product of choice is essential. Generally, you use the included pad to sand down old wooden flooring carefully. The aim is to even out the mark without causing more damage.

Use a soft cloth to remove residue from the scuffing, and lightly spray the scratch from top to bottom with the repair liquid. Thoroughly coat the mark, wait ten minutes, and apply a second coat if necessary until the scratch is gone.

Sanding Scratches off Vinyl Flooring

You may have to resort to stronger methods if the floor suffers from deep scratches. Learn how to get scratches out of a luxury vinyl plank floor by sanding and waxing. Sandpaper effectively buffs stubborn scratch marks, and a wax treatment restores the floor’s shine.

Make sure the vinyl floor is completely clean before sanding scratches. Start with fine-grit sandpaper and rub the paper back and forth over the scratch mark. Don’t press too hard, and avoid sanding unaffected areas of the floor.

Once you remove the top layer of the scratch, use a medium-coarse sandpaper to sand the area down until it’s smooth. Clean with vinegar floor cleaner for vinyl and apply wax to give it a finished look.

Ways to Remove Scuff Marks off Vinyl Floors

You may notice dark brown or black smudge marks on the floor if it’s in an area with heavy traffic. These marks are probably scuffs from hard-soled shoes and are relatively simple to remove from vinyl wood flooring.

A pencil eraser is the quickest way to remove scuff marks from vinyl flooring. Simply rub the eraser back and forth over the scuff until it’s gone.

Another way to get scuffs off vinyl is with alcohol. Apply a small amount of rubbing alcohol or hand sanitizer on a soft cloth and rub it over the affected area. Hair spray is a good alternative if you don’t have alcohol or sanitizer.

If the eraser or alcohol doesn’t work, remove the scuffs with baking soda or white toothpaste. Combine just enough warm water with baking soda to form a putty substance.

Smear the baking soda paste or toothpaste over the scuff. Use a clean cloth to rub the mark with a small, circular motion until the stain is gone, and remove the powder with clean water.

Ways to Prevent Scratches on Vinyl Flooring

Floors aren’t cheap; replacing them is a costly, time-consuming task we’d all rather avoid. Learn ways to protect your vinyl floor from scratches, scuffs, and other damage and keep it looking its best.

Place floor protectors beneath furniture and avoid dragging chairs and other heavy items across the floor. Set area rugs in high-traffic areas, like in front of the kitchen sink and stove, to reduce floor friction and food spills. You may even want to place large rugs beneath heavy furniture to ensure they don’t leave marks on the vinyl.

Set a doormat in front of each entryway to your home’s interior and insist that everyone in the house remove their shoes before entering. This reduces the amount of floor cleaning and eliminates vinyl floor scratches.

Daily dirt accumulates on the floor as you walk across it, and those tiny dirt particles cause scratching on the vinyl. The slight scratches eventually leave the floor with an overall dull appearance. Clean your floor regularly by sweeping and mopping, and use a non-scratch broom to lessen the chance of scratches.

Keep an eraser or touch-up pen handy for repairing tiny vinyl scratches. Minor marks are much easier to remove than large scrapes, and promptly removing the scratches keeps them from worsening.

Luxury vinyl plank flooring adds beauty and appeal to a space. It comes in varying styles, and its durability makes it ideal for any room in the house. Nevertheless, accidents happen, and sometimes the floor experiences scuffs and scratches.

Fortunately, removing a vinyl plank scratch is possible, even if it’s deep. All you need is the proper tools for the job and a little bit of patience.

We hope that learning how to remove scratches from vinyl flooring keeps your floor in tip-top shape, and we’d love it if you’d share our guide for removing vinyl plank scratch marks with your family and friends on Pinterest and Facebook.