I have a feeling that something was applied that made the wood shiny and anything that moves across it scratches it. Also, it is starting to wear away so that you can see patchy areas if you look closely. So it does sound like polyurethane or perhaps someone put a coat of something like "Brite" on it. Since I rent here, I guess what I am wanting to know is what can be reapplied to hide scratches- both existing ones and new ones- on a daily maintenance basis? The Swiffer wood cleaning product seems to be causing the other stuff to come up quicker leaving a duller area when it dries, or it could simply be that whoever lived here before scratched up the floor and coated it with something to brighten and cover up the scratches. That is what it looks like.