Q: Can you sand and refinish the floor in patches that have worn more than others (at entrance and exit doors) or does the whole floor have to be done?
A: Can do a wood floor patch repair, but regarding should: If you want the entire floor to look the same, then the entire floor would need to be sanded and finished.
Related Q: Can I refinish a small area without refinishing the entire room? The wheels on my office chair have worn the finish off my hardwood floor, but I don’t want to move my huge desk and hutch. Also, before we had a trash can installed in a cabinet, the old trash can sitting on the floor scuffed that area pretty badly. The flooring is 5 years old and looks pretty good everywhere else.
A: You can, but it likely won’t look pristine. For the best possible look you will have to hand sand with fine abrasive from one wall to another. It will look less noticeable if you coat along the edge of the boards (entire row, wall to wall) than if you tried to stop in the middle, cross grain. So, try and do an entire section and it will look less like a patch.
Related Q: I just had my floors redone and noticed a dark line where the floor sander looks like it stopped. They came back in and sanded the line, restained and sealed, but now the two spots do not blend, especially where the new sealer meets the old sealer. What can be done to make these two spots blend?
A: I don’t like to say this but the only way to fix this is to do the job over.