Water and snow has damaged finish by front door

Q: My floor is beautiful. It’s approx. 10 years old. My problem is in front of my entrance door. Entering directly from outside and stepping onto the floor with water and snow has damaged the finish. I have some pitting and deep, dark spots in front of the door.

What is best, least expensive way to fix this 2′ x 2′ area?

A: If the dark areas indicate bare, exposed and now discoloured wood because the finish has so degraded, then the area may have to be sanded to bare wood and finished over.

If you can tape off and restrict this sanding to precisely the boards affected the end result will look less like a patch, though you may have to finally buff and re-coat the entire room to get a better blend.