Table of Contents
- Weaving in a new floor
- Reusing closet flooring for weaving repair
- Sometimes you just need to start over
Weaving in a new floor
Q: I want to try weaving in a new floor. I have finished hardwood floors throughout our house. I have a kitchen and living room that I am installing hardwood in, on either side of an already finished room. There is a transition strip now, but we’ll place in the new unfinished hardwood floors. I can’t sand down the entire house and stain and seal it.
So I’m guessing on the best way to do it.. should I tape off between 2 boards with a line from 1 room to the other and just refinish where it’s laced in and hope it matches what was done already? Or just be careful when sanding new floors next to floors that are done where it’s laced in, and just stain and poly in between where it is tied in together? Or do you have a better idea?
A: You will get a better match if the old and new floors join along the board edges. If they are knitted together across the floor then it becomes a crapshoot. Do the best you can and accept the results.
Reusing closet flooring for weaving repair
Similar Q: Recently, I pulled up a 50+-year-old carpet from a 3 bdrm ranch. Upon removing the padding, I found the remittance of a front entrance “separator”. What makes this “find” unique is the prior contractor cut out a section of the hardwood and replaced it with a piece of pine board (or two). Making the problem more of an issue is the cuts are not even.
Here’s my question: I’d like to restore, as much as humanly possible, the original hardwood floor “look”. At this point, I do not know if the distance covers 1 or more cross beams of the underfloor. The dimensions are 81.5″ by 6″.
I have read options that include the use of hardwood flooring from a closet, cutting them out for the weaving repair. My concern is cutting the hardwood floor again only leads to yet another point of damage to the original hardwood floor.
A: I assume you will have these floors refinished. You can use new wood. If you stain the floor the new likely would not even be noticeable. If finished naturally the new wood will look a bit lighter most likely.
Follow-up Q: Thank you for the reply. Attached is a picture of the current “dilemma”. I did not completely refinish (sand, etc.) the floor. Just a refurb for now. Yes, new hardwood will stand out.
A: I just did a repair exactly with this scenario. It was a very old maple and was 13 feet across the room. The two sides did not line up perfectly so what I did was to make sure I had a straight edge along the one side and the other side I cut back or staggered every board. It was very tedious but in the end, it actually blended in pretty well. If I had tried to stagger both sides the repair would have just become impossible. I think you might want to take the same approach. See my pictures.
Sometimes you just need to start over
Related Q: When we ripped up carpeting we found 1×6 wood floors. In one section the boards are crooked and don’t meet end to end. How would I go about replacing those so they fit? I can submit photos. Thanks.
Follow-up: Pictures sent.
A: That is exactly what I was expecting to see. It really is a fool’s errand to even think of trying to make the two sides line up. There is significant gapping between each plank on both sides of that joint.
Even to rip up one side and install new, after the first row nailed down you would immediately be out of alignment as the new installation would be fairly tight compared to the old floor. Sorry, it isn’t happening.