Refurbishing floor - best course of action

[StoatOfManyColours]

We have a maple (I think, it was here when we bought the house) finger joint style engineered floor. It's in bad condition with some deep scratches. We won't be able to afford to replace it for a few years and I'm considering our options.

1. sand it and oil it (I don't know if it's oil or lacquer at the moment) and hope that the sanding minimises the worst of the scratches.

2. sand it and paint it

I'm thinking we'd pay someone to sand it, so we get the best surface possible. We will also be decorating that room, so it seems sensible to do the floor last, but won't sanding it mean the skirting boards will need to be redone?

Anyone...?

I would sand it and see what it is like. Once sanded you should be able to tell if it is varnished or waxed as varnish will sand off easily but wax won't. Osmo oil is what we used on ours. It is very hard wearing and was a nice colour.

Could you post s photo of it?

Thanks for the replies, I’ll upload photos when I get home tonight.
It’s in the hall, so lots of foot traffic. The house is about 12 years old, so if it’s painted it would need to wear really well, as the shabby chic look would look awful!

Genetics, when you say the oil was a nice colour, did you get a tinted one? Everything I’ve read warns against staining but I wonder if a tinted oil is different.

Here are a couple of photos, with the obligatory coin in for scale.
Excuse the filth.

I bet that floor will come up beautifully! A few imperfections in a floor can give it character so if it comes out nicely after sanding I'd definitely oil it.

Engineered floor can usually be sanded at least once before the veneer is compromised. I think sanding and oiling will greatly help - or buy a rug!

Yes, agree, sand and oil. Painted would be a pain to keep clean and would scratch easily in a hall. I would sand before I decorated and just try to make sure that the decorators cover it properly. Sanding creates a lot of dust.

You’ve made me feel a lot better!

A rug isn’t practical as it’s an area of about 22 square metres, and the worst damage isn’t is the areas where a rug would make sense.

I agree, characterful marks on a wood floor look nice, but I suppose I hadn’t thought this was a ‘character’ floor to begin with due to its style.

On the first pic that patch has gone right through the veneer I think, so I guess that would be a patch of beautifully oiled MDF.