floorrepair
How can I repair this big gash in kitchen floor (I can see wood)
I was cleaning my kitchen floor, and moved the fridge out of the way. Problem is we have our microwave on it with a short cord. Microwave fell and left a big gash in the kitchen floor of our rental apartment. I was wondering what our options would be for repair?
A dab of caulking might do it. Look for your color at your local hardware store.
Oxalic acid, either in crystal form or as part of a pressure treated deck cleaner/brightner will chemically dissolve the stain. If you use the crystals, use all normal precautions for acids (eye, hand, clothing). You can sparingly apply with a small nylon artists brush. Try 5 min increments (5 on, wipe off, 10 on, wipe off) until the stain starts to disappear.
Once stain disappears, neutralize wood with borax diluted in water or bicarbonate of soda in water.
Replace color with dyes or pigment stains. I like Transtint for its ability to be blended and mixed with either water or alcohol. If you don't like the color direction, you can use bleach and start over.
Once happy with the color, seal it in with a dewaxed shellac. Then top coat with your favorite polyurethane. You may be able to blend the areas by shooting spray poly through a circular mask (5" hole in a 12x12 piece of cardboard, held 5-10 inches away from the floor) which will give you a graduated spray. Practice first.
Best Answer
You cannot "fix" it without replacing the floorboard, but you can patch it to look close.
That looks like IKEA's pressboard laminate - that's not wood you're seeing, that's paper. You can check their stock for some extra boards if there's one near by - sometimes they might have some extras in returns.
So - get yourself some dark stained wood filler and a 2" putty knife, and a small "wood stain marker" that matches the color more exactly. You can find all of these in among the paint aisles in any big box hardware store. You'll also want some 100 grit and 220 grit sandpaper.
Fill the hole with filler and smooth with the knife. Let it dry and sand smooth first with the 100 grit then the 220 grit.
Finally, stain the filler to match, and let dry.