The Complete Wood Repair Kit for New Homeowners (What You Actually Need)

A complete wood repair kit for a new home needs five things: touch-up markers in three to four wood tones, a wax filler for chips and gouges, a plastic leveling tool, a stack of lint-free cloths, and a mild cleaner for surface prep. Markers fix surface scratches on floors, furniture, and trim. Wax filler handles chips and deeper gouges that color alone won't hide. Together they cover most of the cosmetic wood damage you'll hit in your first year. Below is what goes in the kit, what each piece does, and how to use it with zero prior experience.

Why does every new homeowner need a wood repair kit?

New homeowners hit most of their first repairs inside the first 90 days. A sofa leg drags across the floor on moving day. A cabinet edge chips while you unpack the kitchen. A baseboard picks up a scuff from a box cart in the hallway. None of these are disasters. They're the normal cost of moving in. But they're also the exact moment the right tools turn a problem into a three-minute fix instead of an item on a growing list.

Wood takes damage differently from other surfaces. Tile either cracks or looks untouched. Painted drywall touches up with the original can of paint. Wood collects scratches, chips, and wear that build up in plain sight and get harder to hide the longer they sit.

Timing is the whole game. A small scratch on a hardwood floor left for six months collects grit in the groove and picks up new marks around it, so the fix gets harder. The same scratch caught in week one takes about three minutes and disappears.

The move-in window is also the highest-damage stretch a home goes through. Furniture gets shoved through doorways. Boxes lean on trim. Things land on surfaces before anyone thinks to protect them. Keeping the kit within reach during those weeks means you handle damage as it happens instead of building a backlog you'll dread later.

What should a complete wood repair kit include?

A kit built for a new home covers the three jobs that show up most: surface scratches, chips, and trim scuffs. Five components handle all three.

Touch-up markers in multiple wood tones. The TUS Touch-Up Marker Set in three to four shades covers the main color families: natural or light oak, medium walnut, dark walnut or espresso, and a neutral or off-white for painted trim. Multiple shades let you blend to the actual wood in your home instead of settling for one color that's close but slightly off. Fine-tip markers handle grain-line detail. A layerable pigment, one that builds color gradually instead of saturating in a single pass, is the formula that lets a beginner correct mid-repair instead of starting over.

Wax filler for chips and gouges. The TUS Wood Repair Wax Kit in a warm mid-brown and a dark tone fills structural damage that markers can't touch: chipped cabinet doors, deep scratches, broken edges. Skip the filler and a chip job just drops color into a hollow, so the dent stays visible even after you color it.

A plastic leveling tool. For smoothing wax fills flush without scratching the finish around them. This is the piece most DIYers miss. It either ships inside the kit, or you have to buy it separately, and most first-timers don't know to. Plastic matters here. A metal blade gouges the surrounding surface.

Lint-free cloths. For cleaning before the work, blotting marker edges, and buffing at the end. Ten to fifteen cloths is a sensible count for a home kit.

A mild cleaner or small spray bottle. For prep. Every fix starts on a clean surface, so the marker bonds to wood and not to grease or polish residue.

Buying these as one kit beats buying the pieces one at a time. You get matched shades, a filler that works with the markers, and the leveling tool that loose purchases usually leave out.

What wood damage is most common in a new home (and how do you fix it)?

Floor scratches from moving furniture. These run long and directional, left by furniture that got slid instead of lifted. Drag a fingernail across the scratch. If it glides over, it's surface-level and the marker alone fixes it. If it catches, the cut went deeper and needs filler first, then marker. For a surface scratch: clean the area, pick the floor's base tone, apply in short strokes along the grain, blot the edges, buff. Five minutes, no trace. (For deeper floor damage, our step-by-step guide to repairing wood walks through the filler stage in more detail.)

Chips on cabinet edges near handles. The most predictable kitchen damage there is. Press wax filler into the chip, level it with the plastic tool, give it 15 to 20 minutes to harden, then lay down two marker passes using edge shading: slightly darker at the outer edge, lighter toward the face. Seven to ten minutes a chip.

Baseboard and door-frame scuffs. Light marker work in the trim color. Most painted trim takes the neutral or off-white shade. Use thin passes and feather the edges. Two to three minutes a section.

Everyday furniture scratches. Dining tables, nightstands, and coffee tables collect marks from normal use. Marker only for surface scratches. On tables with visible grain, add two or three fine grain-line strokes after the base coat so the repair reads as wood, not a filled-in line. Five to ten minutes.

How do you use a wood repair kit, step by step?

Four steps cover nearly every common fix.

Step 1. Clean the surface. Wipe the damaged area with a damp cloth and let it dry for about 15 minutes. Grease or polish residue blocks the marker from bonding. This is the step most people skip, and it's why most first attempts don't hold.

Step 2. Test the shade in a hidden spot. Stroke the marker on the underside of the furniture, inside a closet, or somewhere out of sight. Let it dry five minutes and compare it to the visible surface under the room's normal light. Adjust before you touch the real damage.

Step 3. Apply product to the damage. Surface scratches: marker in the grain direction, light strokes, blot the edges right away, let it dry. Chips and deeper gouges: filler first, pressed in and leveled flush, 15 to 20 minutes to harden, then two marker passes over the fill.

Step 4. Buff for sheen. Once it's dry, buff the spot gently with a dry cloth. That evens out the dried marker and pulls down any sheen difference between the repair and the finish around it.

Keep the kit somewhere you'll actually reach for it. A utility drawer, a kitchen cabinet, a maintenance shelf. The habit that keeps a home looking cared for is catching damage early, and that only happens when the tools aren't buried in the garage.

How do you choose the right kit as a beginner?

Three questions point to the right kit.

What wood surfaces does the home actually have? Medium oak floors with white painted cabinets call for oak-range shades plus a light neutral. Dark walnut furniture over light maple floors calls for a dark shade and a light one. Match the shade range to your surfaces, not to a generic "wood" tone.

How much repair experience do you have? A first-timer wants layerable pigment (hard to overdo on the first pass), a plastic leveling tool in the box, and clear illustrated steps. A saturating formula with no instructions is a harder starting point.

One-time fix or ongoing upkeep? If you want to fix one thing and move on, a mid-range kit that handles the immediate damage is enough. If you plan to maintain the place over years, pick a kit you can restock by individual shade instead of rebuying the whole thing when one color runs out.

For most new homeowners the answer is a mid-range kit that covers both scratch and chip repair, in shades matched to the home's main wood tones, with every tool included.

Is a wood repair kit a good housewarming gift?

Yes, and it's one of the few gifts that fills a guaranteed need without guessing at someone's taste. Every home with wood floors, cabinets, or furniture runs into cosmetic damage in year one. A single kit covers floors, furniture, cabinets, and trim, so the recipient isn't buying a separate product for each surface. Pair the TUS Touch-Up Marker Set with the TUS Wood Repair Wax Kit and you've covered both scratches and chips in one box.

Wood repair kit FAQ

Can a touch-up marker fix a deep scratch on its own?

No. A marker adds color but no material. If your fingernail catches in the scratch, fill it with wax first, level it flush, then color over the top.

How long does a marker repair last?

On a surface that doesn't take heavy wear, years. High-traffic floor repairs may want a quick refresh over time, which takes a minute with the same kit.

Will one shade match my floors?

Rarely an exact match. That's why a set with three to four tones works better. Lay down a base tone and adjust with a slightly darker or lighter pass.

Can I use the kit on laminate or engineered wood?

Yes, on the photographic top layer. Markers and wax work on the visible surface the same way they do on solid wood.

Do I need to seal the repair?

For most marker fixes, buffing is enough. For a chip filled with wax in a high-wear spot, a dab of clear finish over the top adds durability.

A repaired chip you can't find a week later is the whole point. Keep the kit in a drawer you open often, fix marks the day they happen, and the floors and cabinets you walked into on closing day still look that way years in.

→ Shop the TUS new homeowner repair kit at touchup.com