How to Repair Hardwood Floors

If you are tired of floor coverings and want to restore the natural warmth and beauty of hardwood under the carpet, the job is difficult, but it can be done. You will have to remove the old finish and strip the floor down to the bare wood. Only then can you apply the new finish.

You'll need a drum sander with a dust bag attachment and a disk sander or edger, available at a tool rental store. The store can supply or recommend sandpaper. Buy open-coat sandpaper in 20, 40 and 100 grits.

Before you start, move everything out of the room. This includes curtains and draperies, pictures -- everything. Floor refinishing is messy, especially during the sanding operation.

Caution: Be sure to wear a safety mask and safety glasses to keep finish and wood particles from eyes and lungs during this process.

Step 1: Seal off all heating and cooling outlets with masking tape, and seal around all doorways except the one you will use (seal that one, too, when you are ready to start). Some sanding dust will get into the rest of the house, but sealing doorways and duct outlets will help reduce the mess.

Step 2: Carefully remove all quarter round, baseboard, and other molding at the floor. Check the entire floor for nails, and countersink any that protrude. Open the windows.

Step 3: For the first sanding, use 20-grit paper in the drum sander. Go back and forth over the entire floor, with the grain, overlapping each pass about three inches. At the end of each pass, you will have to lift the sander and move it over -- but be careful in doing this to avoid digging into the floor. Go slowly. Use the disk sander or a sanding block in areas near the walls where the drum sander cannot reach.

Step 4: Repeat the procedure with 40-grit paper, and then again with 100 grit. When you are satisfied that you have removed the old finishes, you can return the rental equipment.

Step 5: Vacuum the room thoroughly, including the walls and around windows, to remove all the dust. If you do not remove all the dust, you will obtain an inferior finish.

Step 6: If your floor is pine, use a pine floor primer to seal the wood. Give the primer an hour to dry before applying your finish. If your floor is oak, rub some turpentine on a small section to see what the wood would look like with a natural finish. If you like the way the floor looks, you need not stain it. If you decide to stain the wood, apply the stain evenly and let it dry thoroughly according to the directions.

Step 7: Apply the finish. Clear-finish polyurethane varnish is ideal. The first coat will tack-dry in about 15 minutes and will be ready for the second coat in about an hour. When the second coat dries, buff the floor. For a high gloss, wait overnight and apply a third coat using a mixture of one part reducer to four parts finish. Let this coat dry overnight before use. After the third coat, the floor can be shined with a dry mop. If you prefer, natural varnish is a traditional finish coat that requires more care to apply. It is slower drying, and there is more chance for dust to foul the finish. It is subject to checking as it grows older, though when applied properly it dries water-clear for a beautiful finish. Follow it with a coat of wax and buff.

Note: If a prefinished flooring is installed, refer to the manufacturer's instructions for refinishing and maintaining the floors.

Now that we've dealt with the major operations, we can divide and conquer some of the minor floor repairs. In our next section, we will cover squeaky floors and stars and carpet burns.

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How to Replace or Repair a Floor

Do-It-Yourself Flooring Repair for the Common Person
Floors are not infinitely durable. Time and water, even heavy weight, can weaken a sturdy built floor. No matter what the reason, the damaged floor needs replaced before someone gets hurt or bad seasonal weather blows
in. But who has the money to pay a contractor a few hundred, possibly thousands, of dollars for repair work? Is there any need to take another mortgage on the house because the floor needs fixed? There is another alternative besides leaving it alone till ‘someday’.

The floor, in whole or in part, can be replaced by you and all it takes is elbow grease and planning. Anyone that knows how to swing a hammer and run a circular saw, or is willing to learn, can replace or repair a floor. Following simple guidelines takes the guess work out of project planning. Preventing wood waste from occurring through missteps, and the waste of time that goes with it, the time it takes to glance at the diagram is time spent saving money! Hammer, size 8- 10 nails or 2-2 ½ decking screws with drill and drill bit, circular saw with new blade, regular screw driver, measure tape, sufficient ¾ inch plywood and 2x4 boards, chalk line, carpenter square, carpenter pencil or marker and paper is the main equipment needed. Other options include a pry bar, safety glasses, jigsaw or chisel and gloves.

Project note: 1. If your new floor boards have the dove-tailed edge, you should put this edge under the wall.

2. Please remember to prepare for any extra work, such as for drain pipes, water pipes or heating and cooling vents. None of these items are going to cause much fuss to a person that is naturally organized, for the rest of us there is Post-its. Before destroying the original floor, sketch the area and note distance between various points. It is a good idea to square the area that you will be cutting, since it is easier to 1- put a square in a square hole and 2- it is easier to prevent a wrong cut than it is to fix one.

3. You should never hit the flooring board directly. A section of a two by four should be used between the hammer and the floor-board edging. This keeps the board’s edge from breaking, and also gives you a larger target area to catch the force of your swing.

4. The amount of time needed depends on many things, so I recommend planning ahead of time what you are going to do during the floor’s down time. This is mainly a concern when it is the flooring around the toilet that needs repaired or if there is small children to consider.

5. The diagram provided is only a representation of what you should be seeing. It is not made to scale. So please do not think that eight squares by four squares equal a four by eight board. A square is only for thought display, not for measurement display! To begin, the decision of how much flooring material to remove must be made. The part to be removed should include the entire damaged area. If there is two relatively close areas, it should be treated as one area - not two! See Diagram

1. If the damaged section is adjacent to a wall, use the wall as a base line. The base line is where the project mathematically begins. Otherwise, choose and mark your base line, and as a rule, keep it square with the wall. The best way to achieve this is by measuring from the wall to a desired baseline point, then another point a few inches over to the side. Both measurements need to be made using the square, not only for distance but for squaring! Lay the flat edge of the carpenters square between the two points and draw a line running along that edge. See Diagram

2. Using the carpenter’s square, mark the perpendicular lines on the baseline at the desired width, and finish by running the line parallel to the base line at the desired length. Diagram

3. Double check all marks before going on. The circular saw should be set to a straight angle at three-quarters of an inch. Please keep in mind that your floor depth may be slightly different, and should be adjusted as such. Cut along the marked lines, and a wall fault cut (a cut close to the wall) if necessary to begin the extradition of the damaged wood. Pry up the damaged piece and discard. As for inspecting floor integrity, check the support beams for signs of breakage or decay. In most cases, the beam is fine for future use, but beams of less quality should be sandwiched between bracing beams. Diagram

4. If you are not working with a walled side, proceed by placing braces half and half under all open edges. As long as you have used the square properly, quick cuts result in a perfect template for dropping into place. Hammer down securely. Diagram 5. If there is a wall fault cut, the floor boarding that remains next to and underneath the wall needs to be removed. Depending on the type of damage the wood has sustained, chiseling and prying at the wood can be soft or rigorous work. Since all space needs to be reclaimed for the new board, you must clean the area under the wall with care. Negligence in this will not only make your measurements off, it will possibly result in a structure integrity problem in the future. To prevent costly mishaps, draw a simple plan that shows every inch and then use this as a reference. Your arithmetic should look something like width x [length + space that can be used under the wall] = True Baseline.

This space under the wall can vary, but usually falls between three/fourths of an inch to one and one-half inches. The new flooring will give support to the walls. A quick inspection of the wall material will dictate if the wall also needs to be repaired or replaced. Depending on the situation’s circumstances, the decision to repair or not rests in your hands. Toenail in the braces which are placed half-and-half under all edges. See Diagram 5 for overview of half-n-half two by fours used to sturdy the seam. You will be hitting the board edges in to slide the piece under the wall and into the hole like a puzzle block. With a square and using the preferred edge of the board as the true baseline, mark the new flooring board according to your specifications.

Check your calculations twice before sawing. For a ‘straight in’ section, slide the board edge under the wall. A few hits with the hammer on the end will force the board into place. If the cut board is slightly off, then you may hit the board until it lays squared in the floor. Nail the corners and down the sides, approximately one nail for every two or three feet. See Diagram 6. When the damaged area is in the corner, you will have to break the area into two parts. The part one piece will be the floor corner. Place the board under the wall and hit it in until the piece is flat. Hitting it on the side will push it into the corner area. The second piece will be a ‘straight hit into place’ board. See Diagram 7. Diagram 8 shows how to put a floor board down in a tricky place like edges under three walls. A single replacement board is bigger than the floor hole is. Splitting the area into two boards would allow only space for one to be installed.


Therefore, breaking the area down into set of three boards is the optimum action. Begin with one corner, then the other. The piece in the middle is the last to go into place. Diagram 9 demonstrates the correct path of rounding a corner. It doesn’t matter what piece is used first, as long as the cuts follow this pattern. The only exception to the rule is if the situation has another corner angle involved. If this is the situation, install the corner then the other corner. This should leave you with a ‘straight-in’ section to finish with. The completion of floor repair doesn’t come when the flooring is laid down. There is a mess to clean up. A magnet hung from a rope and dangled into the piles of sawdust will pick up nails and screws quickly. Hand and power tools need to be safely stored away. The wood waste can be disposed of by regular refuge pick-up or burning.. However, the wood should not be burned in an indoor fireplace. Treated wood smoke is toxic and should not be inhaled. We're all done here so what are you waiting for? Get started on the DIY floor fix!

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Bamboo Flooring - Tips for Minor Repairs

When you decided on bamboo flooring you would probably have considered two factors that tipped the scales in favor of bamboo. And these would be strength and resilience. But the fact remains: however hard a flooring you choose, there is always the possibility that some mishap can damage the floor. And this is true for both hardwood and bamboo flooring.

In fact, if you compare, hardwood and bamboo flooring are actually pretty similar. And that makes them susceptible to similar kind of damages. And they are pretty much repaired in he same way. These damages can be anything. It might be some major structural damage or it can be something very minor as liquid spills.

Since bamboo is on of the most structurally strong floors, possibilities are you will not encounter any major damages in quite a few years. They are made to last decades. It is the minor damages that often play spoilsport. In this article we plan to discuss how to deal with the minor problems. However, before we start we must remind you that for any specific problem it is best to get in touch with the manufacturer for the right answer.

Kids and Pets

Spills, droppings and puddles are part of any family home with kids and pets. You always have to b extra careful with the little ones around as they are not expected to be appreciative of the worth of a bamboo floor. That comes with age.

Children are known to spill and drop and your pets can cause a lot of scratches to the floor. They don't mean to, but they do. And sometimes adults are also guilty of dropping things. The easiest solution is to wipe it off. Only make a note to use cleaners that are formulated specifically for urethane-finished floors. For tougher stains, clean twice.

Also remember to close trim the nails of your pet. That would prevent them from leaving scratch marks on your bamboo flooring.

Burns

Minor burns from cigarettes and matches can be wiped off using a similar cleaner. For major burns though, you might need to replace the entire plank.

Gum and Wax

If somehow gum or wax has dripped on to the floor, don't try to remove it immediately. Instead, put an ice bag over the affected place and in a few hours the gum or the wax will come off on its own and no marks will be left on the floor.

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Repairing Wooden Flooring

These walls, which rest on a concrete slab in the ground, have alternate bricks missing to allow air to circulate freely and prevent the build-up of dampness under the floor. Solid floors in houses built after 1939 rest directly on the ground. They consist of a layer of hardcore covered with concrete, a damp-proof membrane and another layer of concrete, called screed. The floor covering, tiles or floorboards for example are laid on the concrete screed. Upper floors have boards carried on timber joists, which are built into or supported by the walls. The way in which they are fixed depends on the design of the house.

When floor joists are badly damaged for example, by woodworms or by dry rot they must be removed and replaced as soon as possible. It is dangerous to continue using a damaged floor. Although mot joists are built into the brickwork of the house when it is erected, replacement joists can be fitted using metal hangers. Hangers are made of galvanised pressed steel and sometimes are coated with black bitumen. When the joists to be replaced are on the top floor, it may be impossible to make the repair without damaging the ceiling underneath. In most cases, it will be necessary to resurface the ceiling with plasterboard after the new joists have been fitted. If the floorboards in a room cannot be made to lie flat, the joists beneath them may be bowed or twisted. This fault is most often found in upstairs rooms where the ceiling of the room below has crazed or cracked. The reason for the twisting is usually that the joist timber was unseasoned. Remove the flooring and straighten the joists by nailing struts between them. Fix the struts at the centre of the span of the joists.

If the floor has to be lifted, firstly find out whether they are square-edged or tongued and grooved. Try to push a knife between two boards at several points along the length. If it can be inserted, the boards are square-edged; if the knife cannot be pushed in, they are tongued. Square-edged floorboards can be removed without sawing, provided that both ends are free. Use a tool called a bolster, which resembles a very wide cold chisel. Tongued flooring must be cut free along one side of the board. When the first tongue has been cut, the rest of the floorboards can be removed with a hammer and bolster.

The gaps created by shrinking floorboards cause uneven wear to carpets and linoleum. The most effective repair is to re-lay the board tightly together. Fill the final gap with a length of wood the same thickness as the floorboards. When lifting the floorboards, start close to the skirting at one side, but leave the first board in place under the skirting. If the wood is tongued, plane off the tongue on the edge of the first floorboard when it is removed. To make sure that floorboards butt tightly, cut at least four softwood wedges from wood slightly thicker than the floorboards. They should be at least 18 in. (455mm) long and 2 in. (50mm) deep at their thick end. If the floorboards extend for more than 6 ft (1,8m), cut enough wedges to fit every 3 ft (915mm).

If the gaps between floorboards are wide, say about ¼ in. (6mm) it is possible to fill them with long off-cuts of softwood. With smaller gaps, less than ¼ in. (6mm) a wood pulp made from a mixture of wood shaving and cold glue can be used to fill in the gaps. Bind the shavings to a thick paste and apply to the gaps in the floor using a filler knife.

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Tips on How to Repair Hardwood Floor Scratches

Hardwood floor scratches are inevitable. At some point, scratches will happen. If you have hardwood flooring, it's important that you learn how to do simple scratch repairs yourself. However, before you start fixing any scratches, you'll need to learn how to differentiate between scratches and gouges on your hardwood floor.

A scratch is typically a visible, but not deep, marking on your hardwood floor's surface. Hardwood floor scratches can be caused by dragging furniture across the floor or by glass that has fallen and cut the surface of the floor. A gouge, however, is much deeper than a scratch. Think of a gouge as a "flesh wound" a hardwood floor could sustain.

Dealing with a scratch is much different than dealing with a. For instance, it's useless to apply hardwood floor scratch remover on gouges.

You'll need to be sure that you really are dealing with a scratch instead of a gouge before you can initiate any kind of scratch repair work. Between scratches and gouges, scratches on hardwood floors are much more common. It's near impossible to keep hardwood floors from getting scratches.

Moving pieces of furniture across or dropping sharp objects like glass are not the only things that can cause scratches. You may be causing scratches on your hardwood floor when you sweep it with a broom with not-so-soft bristles or you wipe off spills using a hard piece of cloth.

Again, scratches are nearly impossible to avoid, so the best thing you can do is learn how to deal with the scratches, like learning how to do simple scratch repairs. It's pretty simple; you don't have to hire a professional to do it for you.

Follow these steps:

1. Using a fine steel wool or sandpaper, rough up the scratched area.

2. Rub the whole length of the scratch. Cover both margins.

3. Make sure to rub in the direction of the wood grain, or rub in a circular motion to avoid damaging the wood and floor finish too much.

3. Dampen a soft cloth with mineral spirits. Use the soft cloth to wipe off any wood and dust particles on the scratched area of the floor.

4. Let the solution dry up on the floor. Depending on how big the scratch is, the scratch removal solution and how much of it you use, drying time may take from several minutes up to a few hours.

5. Take a fine paintbrush, dip it in the finish originally used on the floor and brush it across the scratched area. Wipe with a soft cloth.

6. Be careful and gentle when you brush in the finish onto the scratch. Too much or too little and the area will look much different from the rest of the hardwood floor. Brush in just enough finish so that it looks almost the same as the rest.

7. Give the new finish some time to dry. This may take between 30 minutes to a few hours.

If you followed the directions carefully, the scratch on your hardwood floor should be gone.

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Repairing Hardwood Floors - Surveying the Damage

Most hardwood floors are relatively hard, as they are suggested to be by their name. However, some floors will be more prone to damage than others and with time, nothing maintains perfection. Therefore, you need to know how to go about repairing hardwood floors so that you can keep them looking as beautiful as the day that you installed them.

If there are dents or holes in small spots across the floor, doing minor touch ups and repairs might prove to be effective. However, if you have serious damages that need to be replaced or repaired, a complete refinishing project might be required.

You need to survey the damage that has happened to the floor and see how much repairing needs to be done. Once you have determined how bad the damage is, you can begin formulating a plan for repairing hardwood floors in your home.

If you're not sure that you are capable of repairing or refinishing your own floors, you can find many professionals that will do the work for you for a relatively moderate fee. These services are great, because there could be a chance that you will make errors by doing it yourself, and you can trust that your floors will be in great condition for many more years to come.

Repairing hardwood floors can be avoided for the most part, by properly maintaining and caring for your floors in the first place. The more preventative maintenance you do the less repairs you're going to have in the long run.

For example, if you have children and dogs that like to run around on the floor and make messes and scratch things up, you will be much more likely to need repairs than someone who doesn't have children or pets and is able to take better care of their floors.

This is not to say that children and pets cannot live in a house with hardwood floors that are nice, but merely that the floors will be more subject to wear and tear because there is more going on in the home. Choosing whether to take care of repairing hardwood floors on your own or to enlist the help of a professional service is often a very difficult decision for people to make.

You may enjoy the pride and satisfaction that comes with fixing your own floor, but feel that it's better left to the professionals.

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Repairing Laminate Floors

The best way to prevent your laminate floors from damage is to take care of them. By utilizing regular maintenance and care strategies you will be able to remove elements from your floor's surface that could potentially damage their appearance. One way to protect your laminate floors is to sweep them regularly. This will remove abrasive debris that can dull your floor's finish, cause gauges and discolor them. The second thing that you can do to keep your floors in good condition is to wipe up spills immediately after they happen. This will minimize damage to the floor planks and keep your laminate flooring from warping. Finally you can use a mild detergent or cleaning product to remove stuck on grime. Do not scrape your laminate floors as this will damage their finish.


If your laminate floors get damaged them you should try to address the problem as soon as possible to protect the integrity of your flooring. Repairing laminate floors can be tricky, especially if the damage makes it necessary to replace a plank. The easiest way to replace a plank is to use a skill saw to cut the plank from the floor. When cutting out the plank be careful not to cut too deeply. To fit the replacement plank you will need to cut off the tongue on the plank. After the tongue has been removed you will need to apply wood glue to the edges of the plank and fit it into place. Wipe any glue that floats to the surface. Finally tape down the plank to keep it in place while the glue sets up.


If your laminate floor is scratched or gauged then you can buy a repair kit to fix the problem. Most laminate flooring manufacturers will offer their own repair kits. These kits will have the right color wood putty to fill in the gauges in your floor seamlessly.

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Repairing Scratches in Hardwood Floors

Repairing scratches in hardwood floors are easier than you may be thinking. Depending on how many scratches there are, sometimes a simple repair kit will make the necessary fix in short time. If the damage is noticeably bad throughout the room, you may have to sand the floors.

Scratches can originate from a variety of items; shoes, moving furniture, dropped items, and other accidents. Many people feel scratches and dings add character to their hardwood floors. One of the main reasons for scratches in hardwood floors comes from moving heavy furniture, with no pads underneath the legs to protect the floor. Even animals with nails can leave their marks.

You should take some preventative steps to prevent yourself from creating the task of repairing scratches in hardwood floors. For example:

* You should consider soft paw caps for dogs or declawing your cats, which will make sure their nails wouldn't scratch the floor.
* Either purchase pads that stick to the bottom of furniture or consider hiring a professional mover to carefully move your furniture.

Thanks to the ever-growing advancements in repairing scratches in hardwood floors you now have better options. A repair kit can help in fixing minor scratches. Repair kits come with different applications for any color of wood flooring from the lightest to the darkest and are generally easy to apply. Complete instructions come with the kit.

If there are multiple scratches, you may need to sand and completely refinish your floors. Repairing scratches in hardwood flooring using this method can be quite labor and time intensive. Sanders can be rented to remove the old finish. Next, you would have to thoroughly clean the floor before you re-apply finish. This is a very important step, as the application of the finish over a dust-laden floor can result in poor quality results.

Once you are ready to apply the finish, be sure to follow the specific directions for the product you've chosen. Most will require multiple applications to ensure a good long-lasting finish.

Repairing scratches in hardwood floors when the entire floor must be refinished can be quite a task for a do-it-yourself project. There are many professional refinishers available. As with any home improvement project, if you choose to hire a professional, get more than one quote and compare services of each company carefully.

Wood floors are a beautiful asset to any home. Taking these few steps to bring the old floors back to life will be very well worth it. After all, hardwood floors can last as long as the home if they are properly maintained.

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Laminate Floor Repair

Laminate floor material that has been damaged or has visible defects should not be installed. The warranty provided by the manufacturer will take care of replacements etc. of uninstalled laminate flooring material provided the installation instructions are complied with.


The routine care of laminate floors - mopping, vacuuming, dusting etc. - is also quite effortless. However, in spite of taking adequate care there may be destruction and damage of the floors due to some reason. Surface and structural damage may develop under certain circumstances due to careless handling.


In case of minor surface damages like scratches cropping up due to large particles of dust, rock etc. or due to careless movement/relocation of heavy furniture on the floors, a touch up stick may be used. Such a stick can be procured from the manufacturer. After repair, the damaged/affected area often becomes invisible and merges with the associated areas quite indifferently.


Spots caused by permanent colors may also be considered as minor damages. Oil, paint and even permanent marker spots can be removed by use of a nail polish remover. Some neutral cleaner or warm water may clean up blood spots or spilt drinks' marks. Careful scraping can help remove candle wax or chewing gum remains on the floor.


Unlikely though, more severe surface and structural damages may also take place. In such cases a trained professional's help may be called for. A replacement of the plank may be needed in such cases. If repairing is carried out in the right manner the new plank becomes one with the rest in all respects and it seems quite indistinguishable from the others.

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Hardwood Floor Repair

Minor damage to hardwood floors can easily be repaired by a hardwood flooring professional, or even a handy do-it-yourselfer. Here are some common hardwood floor problems and solutions if your hardwood floor needs a little extra attention.

Hardwood Floor Repair: Split or Cracked Wood
Over the years, many hardwood floors develop small splits or cracks in the surface of the wood. These can be spot repaired with some angled nails to secure the two pieces together, along with some wood putty to hide the blemishes. If your floor is suffering from large cracks, however, you might want to think about refinishing the floor. And if the split is particularly bad, you should probably replace the damaged plank altogether.

Hardwood Floor Repair: Gaps in the Planks
Another common hardwood floor malady is the development of gaps between planks. The most common causes of gaps between the boards is Mother Nature. Wood shrinks as it dries out, and it expands when it gets wet and humid. That regular expansion and contraction over time is the most common cause of gaps, and is the main reason why most gaps are seasonal in nature. Perhaps your best plan of action is to exercise patience. The natural process of things will tend to close gaps as the weather and humidity changes. As a rule, if the gap is less than the thickness of a dime, your flooring is normal and there's nothing to worry about. If your gaps are more persistent, you might need to call in a professional to tighten up your hardwood floor so that they cease to be a problem.

Hardwood Floor Repair: Buckling
A buckled floor happens when the boards warp and lift up from the subfloor that they are attached to. You'll most likely need to call in a hardwood floor installer to identify the root of the problem if buckling is an issue. Once the cause of your buckling has been identified, you'll need to take the necessary measures to ensure that your hardwood planks are firmly attached to the subfloor so that the problem no longer persists.

Hardwood Floor Repair: Cupped Floors
Cupped floors, also called washboarding, develops gradually across the width of the wood strip where the edges of the hardwood planks raise up and the center of the board sinks down. The cause of cupped floors is a moisture imbalance where there is more water on the bottom side of the wood plank than on the top. The only cure is to balance the humidity levels in your home, and to give the surface time to return back to normal. After the floor has stabilized, you can have a professional sand it flat and re-finish it to perfection.

Hardwood Floor Repair: Warped Hardwood Floors
Warped hardwood floors, also known as sagging, is a serious problem for any homeowner. It is often the result of serious moisture problems, and any evidence of warped hardwood floors needs to be addressed immediately. Warped hardwood floors are rarely the result of faulty hardwood or installation, but are a symptom of larger moisture problems in the home itself that need to be taken care of.

Other Hardwood Repair Problems
Besides major problems, you may also experience scratching or loose planks with your hardwood flooring. Scratches can be repaired with touch up kits, or something as simple as a like colored crayon. If you've got serious scratching, however, you may need to hire a contractor to refinish the flooring altogether. And if you've got loose planks, your only solution is to tie them down. Ideally they should be nailed to the subfloor to prevent any more movement, though excessively loose boards can be a sign of improper installation in the first place. Bringing in a professional hardwood installer to re-install your flooring properly is probably the only sure way to permanently solve the problem.

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How to repair a hardwood floor for D.I.Ys and contractors.

This article will teach you how to repair a hardwood floor. Before you start, make sure you know a supplier of this same size and species of wood floor. Take a sample to your hardwood floor supplier that caters to tradesmen. The salesmen in some floor boutiques have limited knowledge, so you'll have to find a hardwood floor specialty shop. Or a carpentry-cabinet making shop that is willing to do a small run of boards, if they turn out to be an odd size or species.

If you are repairing a prefinished floor, go to the dealer of that brand, in your area. If you don't know the brand, look on the back of the board, it will sometimes be stamped there. Hopefully they will have the same size and color available in small quantities if this is a minor fix up of a few boards. You may find that the minimum order is about 20sq. ft. for most prefinished floors, nested in a box.

Unfortunately, I have found that as little as 5-6 years after a new floor is installed, some prefinished wood floor manufacturers will have changed their stain color just a little. Or if you are really unlucky the stain will have been discontinued or the company is now out of business. This may have a dramatic negative effect on the blending in of your repair. The solution in some of these cases is to repair the floor with unfinished wood, then sand and refinish the whole floor.

But the wise homeowner will have saved a box or two of the original material, and of course this will look much the same as the rest of the floor. The only difference may be a lightening of a dyed stained floor (dye stains are not very colorfast, pigment stained wood is better). Or a darkening of the finish or in a case of American Cherry, a darkening of the original wood itself, when exposed to sunlight. In all these cases it's best to do the repair anyway, and let time age the new patch.

Then, take a good look at the run of the rest of the floor. Is it made up of long boards or a bunch of short ones? It will be your task to make the repair invisible. Using a pencil, mark off where you think you should cut the new joints in the hardwood, so that when replaced, the floor will look normal, not patched. I cannot teach you the art of staggering floorboard joints by the written word just use your artistic eye and imagine how much of the old floor you have to cut out for this effect. You may find that if the room is short it may be worth removing some pieces to the wall. But judge for yourself. Try, whenever you can to use the joints already in the floor, this will save you lots of cutting.

Once you have decided where to cut the boards, scribe a line on the face using a flat carpenter's square. I use a sharp utility knife for this and go as deep as I can. Then using a very sharp chisel cut down on the line with the bevel of the chisel facing the waste side of the board; this will keep the line straight. You don't need to strike too deep, as you will be taking out the wood in stages. Using the bevel side of the chisel down remove the first level of wood from you cut by angling a cut to the line. Always use a wooden mallet with a chisel. Repeat the cut and removal until you reach the subfloor. Do the same thing to the opposite end of the board. You can make all your cuts now if you wish and remove the boards later.

Remove the wood by splitting the board in thirds and the middle third should come free. If you got lots of space and courage you can use a circular saw to do this if it's set for barely the depth of the hardwood. You can even saw out the boards by cutting across a few of them and remove all the little pieces. You will have to dig out the left over tongues and grooves with an awl, and use nail pulling pliers (www.leevalley.com #64K02.01) to lever out the nails in all the nooks and crannies without damaging the face of the good floor. Vacuum up all the debris and make sure their or no bits of waste left.

Start the repair as if you are installing the floor with the tongue forward and the groove toward you. Mark off the board by butting one square end to the start of the gap and pencil mark it on the other end. Mark it with a square and then cut, leaving the line on the board. Angle this cut downward ever so slightly so it will fit easier. If you have to remove a bit more wood, this will be easier to sand off, when cut at this angle. But it only needs to be one degree. The new wood will not always fit the way it is because of the groove. You will need to remove some or the entire bottom of the groove to fit the new wood where needed. Just break it off with the pliers.

If it is a prefinished floorboard be sure to bevel the end that you have just cut, using fine sandpaper. You will have to touch these up later, with the touch up kit they provided with this floor (the installers did include a touch up kit, with this rather pricey floor, didn't they?).

It is best to plan the initial repair cuts in a way where the first replacement board is the longest and the rest shorten. This will allow you to leave most of tongue and grooves of the new replacement boards intact. But do what you can. You will have to face nail the last repair board (and others I'm sure) by pre-drilling or try a nail spinner (www.leevalley.com #99K20.01) Whenever you can try to blind nail the hardwood into the tongue, but the for last board, you have break the bottom of the groove off. You can easily do this with a pair of pliers (nail pulling pliers work the best). Then it will slip into place tongue first. Always use spiral-finishing nails, every 6-8", which are set and filled with colored latex filler matching the final color of the finished boards.

I would even suggest this for a prefinished floor. You should be able to get matching putty filler for your type of floor. JUST BE SURE TO WIPE ALL THE EXCESS OFF BEFROE IT DRIES, OR A MESSY FILM WILL APPEAR ON THE FLOOR. When the latex filler dries on a prefinished floor you can see the dull spots of this filler, and these will need a drop of two of finish just in the filled holes. A lot of so called professionals repair prefinished floor by gluing down almost all the pieces to the subfloor, even some using two part epoxy. DON'T be tempted by this quick an easy method, it will create a dead unflexible spot in the floor, causing unnatural seams to form or worse yet a buckled floor during humid weather.

On sand-on-site floors you will notice that the new wood is higher than the original floor, so in almost all cases you will have to sand this flush with the old surface. This will be easy if you are sanding the whole floor, but a bit tricky if you are trying to blend in a small spot. Use a floor edger machine, and with the finest paper that will work (80 grit would be best) gently sand the repaired boards down flush. Use a vibrator sander to take the 80 grit sanding marks out, and hand sand with 100 grit until the area is really smooth. You will them have to determine just what your floor finish is (read my article in the Floored News about floor maintenance, the second part) and touch it up with the matching finish. This could prove to be difficult if the floor has been stained. You will have to purchase a few small cans of stain and try to blend in a matching color. If you find that this has formed a halo around the repair area, you have colored some of the old finish. You will need to remove some of the stain form the edge of the repair with solvent, a tricky job even for us pros. Some pros mix the stain with some floor finish to avoid this when staining, but I prefer to use the stain as it should be used.

Or you can avoid the sanding altogether, and use a scraper to level the boards. There is a new tool available at Lee Valley Tools (www.leevalley.com) called a floor scraper. I haven't tried it yet as of this writing, but it looks promising. It's a copy of an old design from 1911, and has a ball swivel adjustment that lets you two handedly scrape at any angle. Go to the web site and type in Prod. #05K21.01. It's a little pricey, but it's based on a cabinet scraper, not a cheap paint scraper. And I cannot remember being disappointed by any of Lenard Lee’s tools yet.

So there you have it I've talked you through (or out of) a repair of a hardwood floor. We hope to have a video (if we can find a sponsor) of this process, as not everybody can follow a written account of such a tricky job, but I hope I've done my job well.


thanks:woodfloordoctor

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Repairing Laminate Flooring - Tips For Minor And Major Repairs

Prevention is Important

Whether laminate or all other kinds of flooring, it is always prudent to prevent damage in the first place than having to deal with the hassle of repairing laminate flooring. Make sure that your flooring has been installed properly in the first place, so as to prevent structural problems that you would have to deal with later on. Included in the steps to maintain laminate flooring is to sweep and vacuum it regularly, as well as mopping with a damp rag or with micro-fiber sprayed with cleaning solution recommended by the manufacturer. Immediately wipe water and other liquids spilling unto your floor so as to prevent discoloration and seepage unto the underlayment. Most professional floor cleaners recommend against using acidic substances such as detergents and vinegar to clean your laminate flooring, as these can dull your floor?s finish.

Minor Repairs

Though most laminate flooring are resistant to wear and tear, expect it to need some minor repairs after several years of use. One of the most visible damages that are sustained by flooring is scratching brought on by dirt, pets, and high heels. Purchase a laminate repair floor kit which is readily available in most flooring and hardware stores. Take a sample of your flooring material so you won?t purchase a kit of totally different shade, to avoid unnecessary trips back to the store. It would also help if you have extra laminate floor planks right when you first purchased your flooring so you can replace any plank anytime you have the time and don?t have to call professionals every time something is wrong with your floor. There are also markers and pencils especially available for hiding marks and filling up small holes on your laminate flooring.

Major Repairs

When a section of your floor gets badly damage and nothing short of putting a rug over it will do, then it?s time for serious attention in repairing laminate flooring. Attend immediately to any major problem so as to prevent the spread of damage. The first step is the removal of molding nearest the damaged part and start loosening laminate flooring, which is easily removed when it was installed through the floating technique. When your laminate is glued down, longer time and more effort are needed to pry it off the underlayer. Make sure to prevent any damage to the surrounding planks and replace all undamaged planks and the molding carefully. Wipe off any excess glue immediately and in some instances wood putty may be needed to cover any visible wood glue.

When Everything Has to Go

Finally, when you feel that repairing laminate flooring is beyond your capability and the damage is too extensive, call in a professional to help. Check your warranty for applicable provisions. The advantage of using laminate flooring is that it is not that difficult to replace, especially when you get a professional installer to do it. Make sure that the mistakes that lead to the damage of your floor does not happen again and you get the laminate flooring you are most satisfied with.

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Easy Steps For Hardwood Floor Repair

Even the most expensive floors can have problems. Woods are prone to scratches than any other flooring. Problems can range to minor problems to the surface or to a major one which damage on the structure. You can seek for a professional who will repair the damage or try to do it yourself.

I would try to tackle normal floor problems and possible ways to repair those.

1. One problem is the hardwood surface scratches which are very hard to avoid since this is natural wear and tear on every wood. If scratches on the floor are unapparent, color sticks or urethane touch-up kits available at most floor retailer stores can be used. If scratches are deep, you will need to change the damaged boards. I

2. Another problem would be buckled hardwood which is when boards rise up from the sub floor due to humidity levels. This should be repaired at once to avoid larger damage and the hazard of tripping. Expert help is sometimes required since the problem is beneath the floor. Fixing a screw into the flooring and the sub floor pulls down the buckled portion of the floor; cement block can also be used to deal with the problem

3. Hardwood plank gaps or separations of gaps are caused naturally by climate or by dryness. Woods will shrink or expand when wet or dry. The problem is seasonal so if the weather is humid, the floor is fine. Just be patient in waiting for the floor to return on its normal shape again, as long as the gaps are not that large, it is definitely okay.

4. Loose planks of wood can be fixed through nail and hammer set. Greatly loose boards can have deeper problems; this can be solved through replacement of the damaged strips on the floor.

5. Broken or split woods on the floor can also be repaired through hammer and special angled nails; larger splits may also need replacements.

6. Stained hardwood floors can be the most devastating problem on the floor since stains can mess up the beauty of the whole floor having dark colors. Refinishing the whole floor can be the only way to deal with stains but you can try this few steps:

a. Sand out the stained wood

b. Apply an acid mixture; this is a mixture of acid crystals (sold at retail flooring stores) and water on a clean white cloth. Let the mixture set on the floor for an hour.

c. Check if the stain is gone; if not repeat the process over again.

d. Once the stain is washed out rinse the area with vinegar and let the area dry completely.

e. Apply an oil-based stain that can match the bleached portion. Additional coats would be necessary to level the color of the floor. Once you have arrived at the color that you want, let the floor dry overnight.

Be sure to wear protection for your eyes when doing the whole process of floor stain removal.

7. Washboarding or cupping hardwood is a hardwood floor problem characterized by wood strips that are high on the edges but lower on the center. Cupping can be caused by moisture imbalance wherein more water is stagnated on the bottom of the wood than on top. The remedy for this problem is to stabilize the humidity levels of the wood surface first. Sand it out and refinish the hardwood.

8. Warped floors are floors that lose its shape. This can pose a serious problem; thus professional help is needed at once.

Cleanliness at home is still the best way to maintain the sturdiness of the hardwood floor. Vacuuming and mopping of the floor at least once a week is a good start. It has also been advice not to wax floors with polyurethane coatings because it will be very hard to recoat or refinish it again without sanding it wholly first.

Do not feel obliged to call the help of experts to make minor repairs on your flooring problems. There are those which are easy to deal with and you can try to solve it on your own. This can save you from a lot of hassle and money which can be used for bigger problems in the long run.

Hardwood floor repair takes a lot of time and patience. With appropriate techniques, tools and products, fixing of the floor will be as easy as 1-2-3.

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Hardwood Floor Repair - How to Patch a Hardwood Floor

It only takes a single damaged area of flooring to ruin the appearance of your entire room, which is why it is so important to understand the basics of hardwood floor repair. The good news is that the procedure is fairly easy; you just have to make sure that you have the proper tools and instructions ahead of time. Before you begin, make sure that you have the following: circular saw, ruler, utility knife, belt sander, hammer & chisel, mallet, table saw, miter saw, nail gun, sand paper, and tack cloth. Now you are ready to begin repairing hardwood floors.

The first step in the hardwood floor repair process is to remove the plank that is damaged. You can begin by drawing a line down the center of the plank to act as a guide because this is where you will be cutting. It is imperative that your saw be on a setting so it will cut through the top layer of the floor only and not the subfloor. Next you will have to make the end cuts with your utility knife and ruler. This will take several cuts all the way down the plank. After you have finished with this step you can carefully remove the damaged board.

The next step of repairing hardwood floors is the sanding. This is fairly simple since you are dealing with such a small area. Just use a belt sander and a rough, 60 grit piece of sandpaper because you will have to remove the damaged material. Once you have finished with that step it is time to replace the plank. This may require you to cut the bottom half of the groove in order to make it fit. Once you do that it should slide right in without giving you any trouble. Once the replacement is inserted, be sure to use your rubber mallet to make sure that it is firmly in place.

Before you finish your hardwood floor repair project, it is also important that you remove the old finish, which can actually be one of the more challenging parts of the job. On the positive side, there are usually differences in shade between the different planks as this is part of having a natural wood finish, so in most cases it is not crucial to match the shades perfectly. You will probably have to replace the finish on the entire board that needed attention however, and sometimes to those surrounding it.

Finally you are ready to move on to the final stage of hardwood floor repair, applying the finish. Beforehand, make sure that you fill in any holes and sand with a very fine paper. Because finish tends to dull overtime, you may have to do the entire floor if you want it to match. Try out just the repaired plank first and see how it goes.

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Basic Hardwood Floor Repair

In spite of the guarantees you see in the store about how many decades a hardwood floor should last, they seldom last anywhere near that long. There are so many ways in which it can become damaged that it is common for owners to begin repairing hardwood floor boards at some point during the first two decades.

It isn't that hardwood floor repair becomes necessary after so few years because of a flaw in the wood itself. It is just that a floor is something you use regularly. You have people with all sorts of debris passing through the rooms. You have days when you decide to move the furniture. If you kept it cordoned off with ropes in an environmentally controlled room, you would never have to learn how to repair it.

Basic hardwood floor repair skills are necessary because it is not cost effective to replace a floor each time it gets dinged up in various places. When you are trying to fix scratches from a dog chasing your cat through the room or a divot from dropping the desk as you passed through the room, it just makes a lot more sense to do some basic repair. The repair begins when you go after each blemish on a case by case basis, finding the best repair method for each blemish. Here are a few ideas to throw into your mental hardwood repair kit:

-Floor Scratches - check your local hardware store for some color putty and instructions on how to apply it. Roughly, this process is just cleaning the hardwood floor and then applying a color putty stick to the damaged area.

-Deep Floor Scratches - these gouges in your floor will require wood filler matched to your hard floor color tones.

-Gaps Between Boards - your floor will naturally shift over time, particularly if you do not have a firm foundation under your house. Most minor gaps should be ignored, but when they become major you'll need a special gap removal tool.

-Buckling Boards - this is the opposite of gaps. Your floor boards will buckle when they are pushed together, exist at high humidity, or receive severe water damage. As the floor boards have nowhere to go but up, dangerous tripping areas will be created. You need a heavy, complete flat weight to place on these buckling boards for a few days to make them even again.

Tackle each problem on a case by case basis and you'll be able to restore your hardwood floor without spending all that much money.

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Do it Yourself Hardwood Floor Repair

If you have a natural wood floor that has become damaged over the years, you do not have to keep it covered up with rugs or carpets, all you have to do is engage in some simple hardwood floor repair. It really only takes a few moments to replace the damaged planks and have your floor looking brand new again. In order to undergo this project you will need the following tools: a circular saw, hammer, chisel, construction adhesive, mallet, flooring nails, scrap wood, and wood filler.

Remove Damaged Planks

The first thing you need to do when repairing hardwood floors is to remove the planks in your floor that have been damaged. In order to remove a plank you must first carve a hole in the middle with your circular saw. Next, simply hammer out this center part with a chisel. Now it should be easy for you to pry out the remainder of the plank. Repeat this process for each of the remaining damaged planks. Also make sure that you remove any nails that remain in the floor. If they are too difficult to remove, you can always just drive them completely into the subfloor.

Replace

The next step of hardwood floor repair is to cut a new plank to replace the one you have removed. Your new plank should be slightly smaller than the one you removed, roughly 1/16 of an inch. This is important to do because the wood will naturally expand a little as time goes by. Next, you will want to place some adhesive on the backside of your new plank. This will help to keep it stationary after it has been installed. Next, you will place the plank into the floor, starting with the tongue side. You may find that you will have to tap it into place with a mallet. If so, make sure you place some old wood over top of your new plank in order to keep it protected.

Secure and Hide

The next thing you need to do when repairing hardwood floors is to use your flooring nails to secure the new plank to floor. You may also want to use your nail set to keep the nails hidden; it also won't hurt to use wood filler to keep the screws out of sight. Now, the final step is to apply finish to the new plank, trying to match the tone of the other original planks as best as possible. It is often difficult to do this, so you may have to decide whether you should simply refinish the rest of the floor or have a plank or two of a slightly different shade.

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Repairing Your Wood Floors

Wood floors are beautiful, warm and have become a very popular feature in homes. Ripping out old carpeting and refinishing the wood floors beneath gives a real boost to your home's property value. However, if you're at the stage where you ripped up the old carpet and have found unsightly damaged wood flooring beneath you may be wondering what to do. Here are some tips for handling those damaged areas.

If the problems you found are only surface blemishes you can clear these up by sanding and refinishing the floors. But sometimes the problems go deeper. For instance, if the damage is deeper than the surface but there's no structural problems in the floor then you can cut out the damaged section and replace it. The trickiest part will be finding the replacement pieces. If your floor in tongue in groove, you'll want to take a sample of your existing floor to a flooring store and match it with their stock. If that doesn't pan out, try cutting out a piece from the closet and replace the closet section with a less matched piece. If there is no closet to borrow from you may be forced to refinish the entire floor for an even finish across the room.

You have a choice on how to replace those damaged pieces if the boards are in a random length pattern. You can cut out a square or rectangle encompassing the damaged area and replacing it with matching length pieces. Do this only if you are easily able to cover that spot with a rug or carpet piece as it will look obvious that this square area is cut differently than the rest of the floor. If the damaged areas are in an open part of the room you'll want to make the replacement less obvious by removing the full board that is damaged and do this in the same staggered pattern. You'll be replacing them with matching length wood boards, but they will maintain the same staggered length of the original floor design so it won't be an obvious replacement once you've stained and finished the floor to match.

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Painless Wood Floor Repair

Wood floors can look beautiful in your home, but when they are in need of repair they can make your home look awful. Many people think that maintaining and repairing wood floors that have seen better days is an overwhelming task that is just too much to take on. Luckily, it doesn't have to be. Wood floor repair can be a fairly simple process as long as you proceed with a well thought out plan.

You might be looking at your scratched and dull floor and thinking of all the work involved with moving out all the furniture and then trying to work one of those sanders. The dust all over the house. Thinking that your inexperience with the sander could cause you to ruin the floor altogether. The stress of keeping kids and pets out of the room.

Unless your floor is too far gone, with proper care, your wood floor repair does not have to turn into a major job. In most cases, you can simply fill in the minor scratches or shallow gouges without getting into a major refinishing job. You will need a few tools and supplies to get started, however.

If your floor has a polyurethane finish, but doesn’t look so great because it is all scratched up, you may be able to bring it back to it’s former luster with some polyurethane finish that matches (or as near as you can match) what is on your floor. Use a small paint brush and dab the polyurethane onto the areas that are scratched and any areas where the finish has worn off. Use a clean cloth to buff out the polyurethane before it dries. This can help with small, scratched areas and can make them blend in with the floor.

In your wood floor repair, if your floor has a stain on it, you need to match the color of the stain in order to repair scratches. You should probably test out the stain a bit at a time to be sure. Use a small brush and apply the stain to the scratched area. Let the stain dry overnight or as long as it says on the can which can be up to twenty-four hours. Once the stain is dry, take the brush and lightly apply some polyurethane - buff this out before it dries to match it into the existing floor..

Deeper gouges need a bit more in the wood floor repair department. You will have to fill in the gouge and we recommend you use wood putt that is latex based and stainable to do that. You’ll need a putty knife to spread the putty and a rag for wiping it off other areas it might spill onto. Simply pack the putty into the gouge and smooth it over until it is level with the floor. Wipe any excess off around the area and let it dry thoroughly. Take some sandpaper and lightly buff it out. Stain the putty to match the floor using a small brush and light strokes. Let the stain dry overnight and then apply the polyurethane on top once it is dried.

These wood floor repair tips work on floors where the damage is isolated to a few spots. If you floor is covered in scratches and has hardly any finish left then you may be facing the daunting task of refinishing the floor. Sure, it’s hard work and inconvenient, but once it’s done you’ll have glorious wood floors that you can enjoy for years to come.

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How to Do Basic Wood Floor Repairs

A small issue with a wood floor doesn't necessarily mean that you have to replace or redo the entire floor.

Your existing wood floor is probably in good shape, with just a few imperfect spots. It may be simpler and cost effective to make small repairs than to refinish the entire floor. You don't always have to hire someone to make small repairs. Sometimes you can do it yourself and save money for bigger projects such as floor finishing, floor restoration or floor sanding.

Replacing a strip or single piece of flooring

If a strip or piece of flooring is damaged beyond being sanded and filled, you should replace it.

First, look for nails in the board and drive them as far through the board as you can by using a hammer and nail set. After you've finished driving the nails, it's now time to remove the old board and install a new board:

1. Utilizing a chisel, split the board. Doing so makes removal easier
2. Pry out the old board
3. Remove any left over nails or drive them out of the way
4. Cut a new board to the same size as the one you took out
5. Test-fit the new board to be sure that it will fit in place. If it doesn't fit re-cut the board
6. Apply construction adhesive to the back of the new strip
7. Install and tap the new board into place. Use something to protect the strip while tapping it
8. Nail the board and drive the heads slightly below the surface.


Note: It may not always be possible to match the finish of your floor. You can try using stains or sealers before you re-finish the entire floor to match.

Repairing a buckled board

Sometimes, due to high humidity, a floor can buckle. You will need to fix this for two important reasons:

1. To prevent more damage to the floor in the future
2. More importantly to remove the danger of tripping


Although not easy the best way to remedy this situation is to access the floor from below and drive a screw into the buckled board (without going through the surface) through the sub-floor while applying weight to the board from above. This combination will get rid of the buckled spot and should hold.

Getting rid of nicks and scratches

Usually these can be covered up with color putty sticks. Simply clean the spot and rub the putty stick over the damaged area. Let the color dry and wipe it with a soft cloth. Most people won't be able to tell the damage was there!

If the problem is more of a gouge you are probably better off refinishing the wood floor surface. You will certainly like the results a lot better!

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