I love timber floors-they're warm and create a great atmosphere in a home. But, as with anything natural, you have to look after them:
Make sure you replace any missing rubber chair tips on metal chairs or stools. Add felt pads to the bottom of wooden chairs or nail-on nylon skids; you'll find these at any hardware store, they'll not only help protect your floor but make the chairs more stable.
Felt Furniture Pads
Put a doormat at the front and back door so grit, sand and other abrasive substances aren't walked through the house.
For protection from staining and abrasion on oil-finished floors, applying floor wax is also worthwhile; it'll help make the floor less slippery. On the other hand, floors that have been polyurethaned should not be waxed but cleaned more regularly as they can actually become slippery with wax.
Fixing scratches Oiled Floors:
Wax your floor. If you're not up for a complete refinishing job, buffing the floor with a coat of wax will disguise scratches.
Scratch Fix Pen
If you have slightly deeper scratches in your floor, revealing the lighter colour of the timber below, a Scratch Fix pen may be the answer. These pens can be purchased from many antique dealers or furniture restoration suppliers and are like felt tip markers charged with wood stain rather than ink. Make sure you choose a colour that's lighter than your floor, and then build the colour up with several applications. Finish the repair with wax or polyurethane, depending on the floor finish.
Polyurethaned Floors
Small scratches on polyurethaned floors can be touched up with more polyurethane after cleaning. Carefully apply some polyurethane to the scratches and then wipe over the repaired area with a rag lightly dampened with turpentine to remove the excess poly from the surface, leaving only what's sitting in the scratches.
Heavier Scratches
For heavier scratches, the entire board or boards should be lightly sanded and then coated. if the new finish is a bit too glossy, cut it back a bit with some fine steel wool. If you don't want to re-polish the whole floor and want to try fixing only the affected patches, you may find that over the years the colour of the original finish will have darkened with exposure to sunlight. You'll need to stain the floor or the polyurethane, to match the existing colour before you apply the poly.
Applying/Removing Beeswax
I'd highly recommend applying a wax to an oiled timber floor as the wax that will add shine while protecting the finish below from scuffing, minor scratches and staining. The wax can be stripped back periodically and reapplied to -lake your floor look like new again. The best kind of beeswax to us 3 on floors to cover up scratches is Dark Stain beeswax, as it will help to hide the scratches well. Apply with a soft cloth and then buff off. If you're interested in waxing your entire floor there are speciality floor waxes. Gilly Stephenson make a really good floor wax which is available from hardware stores.
It you want to remove wax from a floor I'd recommend a mix of one-third gum turpentine, one-third meth and one third vinegar (shake well before and during use). This also acts as a good general cleaner for polished timber work. Store any leftovers of this blend in a cool place, as it can become a bit volatile if it overheats.