How to Replace Damaged Boards in Hardwood Flooring in Santa Cruz, CA

April 25, 2019 2:04 am Published by Leave your thoughts

If you’ve noticed you have a few damaged boards in your hardwood flooring in Santa Cruz, CA, you might be wondering about the best approach to making those repairs. The good news is that you won’t have to worry about replacing the entire floor—there are steps you can take to replace a strip or plank of flooring even without having to completely refinish the floor.

The majority of floors use a tongue-and-groove style for connecting strips, which can add some challenges to your repairs, but doesn’t make it impossible to accomplish. Before you focus on replacing the boards at all, go along and find any nails in the damaged board and drive them down as far as you can with a hammer and nail set. Once you’ve done this task, you’re ready to start removing the boards and installing new ones. Here’s a quick overview of that process:

  • Mark the area: Using a carpenter’s square and pencil, mark a perpendicular line across the section of the board you intend to remove so you know exactly where your work area will be located.
  • Drill: Use a 1/2-inch or 3/8-inch diameter spade bit on your power drill and drill holes along the marks you just created.
  • Chisel: Use a wood chisel to split the board that’s sustained the damage into two pieces. This will make it easier to remove the board from the floor.
  • Pry: Your next step, then, is to pry out the damaged board. Splitting the board will help here. If you took a strip out of the middle, you can then pry the remaining pieces of the board away from the adjacent board before you pry them up off the floor. Make sure you use the same steps for removing any additional boards, but be sure to cut them so you can keep the end joints staggered.
  • Prep: For the boards that remain in place on the floor, square them up at the ends with a sharp wood chisel, then use a nail puller to remove any exposed nails. If you can’t get them up with the nail puller, use a hammer and nail set to drive them down as far as they’ll go so they’ll be out of the way. The ends of the sections of board that remain in the floor should be as smooth and as square as possible before you install the new boards.
  • Cut: Next, cut your replacement boards to the exact same length as the strips you just removed, and cut off the bottom side of the groove. Removing that bottom groove will allow you to install the board between two others simply by inserting the tongue end first, then lowering the groove into its place. A failure to remove the groove will result in you being unable to get the board past the adjacent board’s tongue. Test the fit of the board before you put it down into place.
  • Install: Remove the replacement strip from its test fit and apply adhesive to its back side. Then you can lay it back down and tap it into place. Then nail it with two-inch-long ring-shank flooring nails. Be sure to drive the heads of the nails with a nail set so they’re just below the surface of the board.

For more information about repairing damaged boards in your hardwood flooring in Santa Cruz, CA, contact The Wholesale House today with any questions.

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