Replacing Old Hardwood Floor Boards

Hardwood floors take a lot of abuse and over time they can become stained warped chipped or just dull.

Replacing old hardwood floor boards.

To replace hardwood floor start by cutting and prying up the old hardwood planks using a circular saw pry bar and mallet. You can also fix buckled areas of flooring and avoid having to completely refinish your floors. Next buy replacement flooring and let it acclimate in the room for 3 days so it doesn t shrink or expand after you install it. Then remove any nails and staples in the subflooring and sand off any paint or adhesive.

Completely clean out the opened section of flooring. If your hardwood flooring is still in good condition you may decide that it s worth keeping and putting to use elsewhere. Using the chisel and a pry bar remove the strip of flooring between the relief cuts and pull the tongue and groove edges of the old flooring where they interlock with the adjacent flooring courses. Cut a new length of flooring to fit snugly into the space of the old board.

Refinishing old hardwood floors. Hardwood falls in the middle on the comfort scale. Just make sure the cuts are perfectly square. It doesn t matter what kind of saw you use to repair your hardwood floors.

If a floor is scratch sanded or screened not entirely stripped of its old finish then you must use a compatible finish for reapplication. Most likely this will be an oil based varnish or oil based polyurethane. The wood in vintage floors can be harder than in contemporary ones because there is more chance it was obtained from old growth trees and that the boards are quartersawn. To successfully salvage hardwood you ll need to first saw one board straight down the middle along its length.

If your hardwood floor is in generally fine shape with only a damaged spot or two it is easy and economical to make small repairs by replacing a strip or plank of flooring. Chisel out the edges of the old floorboard after prying out the center section being careful to avoid the nails on the groove edge. When your hardwood floor begins to appear worn out you can refinish it to restore its. Cut one board in half lengthwise.