We have a white oak, 3/4" solid wood floor with beveled edges you could fall into! Well, not really, but they do seem pretty deep, especially since they catch so much dirt. I have to carry a scrub brush when I mop because the mopping doesn't even come close to getting the dirt up. The room (our kitchen) is 24' x 14', so I'm totally exhausted from mopping and scrubbing by the time I'm done. My question is: Is it possible to make these bevels more shallow by sanding the floor? I'd really like to eliminate them altogether but I'm not sure that's a possibility apart from totally replacing the floor. (It's only 5 years old.) Thank you so much for any advice you can offer!

Jan in NW PA

First things first. If you vacumm the floors first, the dirt will be vacummed out the the bevels. Also, "mopping" is not allowed. What you are doing is spreading dirty water around and it is going in the low spots and open grain, discoloring the flooring and bevels. As I said., the proper way is to vacumm first then SLIGHTLY damp mop with a hardwood floor cleaner such as Bona. I think once you get accustomed to cleaning the floors properly, you will not be bothered by the bevels. To restore the floors now, vacumm well. Then clean the bevels using the Bona cleaner, a soft brisle brush (toothbrush maybe) and a shop vac to suck up loose dirt and moisture from the cleaner. Once the bevels are really clean, then clean the floors surface with the Bona cleaner. You may want to consider a recoat at this time with Bona Traffic floor finish. Hire a pro to do this. If all else fails, yes, you can have the floors sanded and it will reduse the size of the bevels but without proper cleaning, you will have the same problems again.

http://www.hardwoodinstaller.com/hardwo ... orcare.htm

Gary hit it right on the nose, in my opinion. Why is so much soil in the house? Dogs, children, rural site?
Frequent maintenance is best. Keeping soil off the wood surface keeps scratching minimized and surface wear down.