Q: I would like to know how to repair a hardwood floor that has been damaged in places by termites. The floor is over 40 years old and was covered by carpet until recently. There are only a few boards that appear to be damaged. Can individual boards be removed and replaced?
A: Sure, it is no big deal to remove boards from the middle of the room. A mallet and sharp chisel will do in the absence of more sophisticated equipment. When you cut the new boards to fit, you will need to break off the bottom edge of the groove side of the boards so you can drop them in place. Also, you can glue them rather than use nails. I found a terrific adhesive at Home Depot recently. It is in a small squeeze bottle, made by Pro Bond. It’s a moisture cure polyurethane adhesive that gives terrific bond and can even be sanded and stained.
Tough to know in your case how extensive the damage is. Termite usually eat the inside and leave a skin so that my the time you realize they have taken up residence, the damage is done.
Related Questions
Carefully removing boardsMy hardwood floors were installed under the kitchen cabinets and have not held up well. I would like to replace them with wider planks, but how do you remove the old flooring without tearing out the kitchen cabinets?
Carefully removing boardsThis is similar to a previous question, but I want to see if I understand it correctly. I have hardwood in the dining room and now want to put it into the kitchen. Because the hardwood is to be staggered I will need to remove some boards to do this,…
Two termite damaged boardsThere are two lines of what appears to be termite damage, on just two floor boards. Can I just use wood filler for these?
Damaged parquet floorI want to replace some damaged parquet floor (four square feet) in our living room using undamaged flooring from a closet. Is this possible and what process would you suggest?
Crooked boardsWhile installing prefinished hardwood flooring (bellawood 3 1/4 x 3/4) we ended up with some crooked boards and seams too close together (and a subsequent ladder effect in trying to "straighten" things out). Should we try to remove and reinstall or use wood putty to fill gaps/disguise seams if possible?…
Removing tileWe have a tile down the front hallway and wood almost everywhere else. Is it possible to lift the tile and replace it with the hardwood flooring we have left over from the doing the rest of the house?