Quick flooring finish fix

[Andrew Seemann]

Hi,
Question for the experts. I have a section in my wood floor that the finish has worn off from my office chair rolling on it. The flooring is some 90s vintage wood laminate. Based on what I saw from removing it from our entryway, it basically looks like 1/8" of red oak glued to 3/8" of CDX plywood and made into 8" wide tongue and groove boards and covered with some factory applied gad awful golden oak finish.

I'd like to do a repair on the spot so it looks nice for a graduation in about 10 days. Here is the thing, I'm not concerned about long term durability, I just want it to look nicer for a little while. I'm planning on replacing the entire floor either this fall or next year (the wife and I both hate it), so I don't care if it scratches all up in a month. Also, the area is maybe 3 feet in diameter, so I don't want to buy a whole gallon of something for it.

The main properties I'm looking for are something that would dry quickly and not have a lot of oder, since it is 95F+ here for the next week and I can't open the windows much. Surface prep is going to just be quickly hitting it with a random orbit sander to get get under the grey layer of wood. I'll likely only do one or two coats at max. I had considered brushing on some GF high performance topcoat I have, or even two coats of SealCoat. Neither is a ideal color match, but they are much better than the current dirty grey raw wood.

[Jim Becker]

I tend to use the Minwax Oil Modified Polyurethane waterborne. You can do two coats per day no problem and it has a "warm" oil based tone/appearance. It's actually pretty durable.

[John TenEyck]

How about a rug?

John

[Andrew Seemann]

How about a rug?

John

That would be the obvious solution but it won't work for the spot (location/traffic/aesthetics), and I'm pretty sure the wife would veto it in a second.

[Bennett Ostroff]

I’m wondering if one coat of some oil would bring a little life back and restore the color to that area. Lots of oil finishes out there…Odie’s oil, cutting board oil/mineral oil. You could feather it into the better looking area. No odor and useable right away. You could even try adding a tiny bit of stain to help color match. (Not sure if it would dilute in mineral oil?)

You could add a hard wax over it if you wanted to add some protection. You might this try before using your sander on it, as that could create an even greater contrast with the good area.