Q: I’m trying to find out how to refinish a small area of a hardwood tongue and groove wood floor. I have some pictures. Can you help? I removed the really bad section and an adjoining section to see exactly how much work this is going to be. (I do a lot of handyman work, but I’m not a flooring professional).
Removing Boards
Q&A Detailing removing boards both for small fixes and in a general rip out. It’s rarely as easy as it sounds.
Will replacing a few strips cause the floor to buckle later on?
Q: I recently purchased a newly built home with maple hardwood floors throughout the house. The builder installed the floors and then a few sub-trades came in to install doors and paint. As a result, the floors have some scratches and a few deep nicks throughout the home, as well as paint splashes. The boards are in strips and the builder has offered to replace a few strips here and there and then sand down and refinish other areas. I’ve been told that replacing a few strips will only cause the floor to buckle down the road. Is this true?
Floor blocking dishwasher
Q: I need to pull up a couple of rows of laminate hardwood flooring in my kitchen as the ‘do-it-yourself-er’ who owned my home previously put in the flooring without allowing for the dishwasher to be removed. The dishwasher is now broken and it’s stuck. The tongue and groove flooring in 6′ by 2.5 ft sections seems to be glued down. How do I go about pulling it up without damaging it so that I can put it back down?
How do I replace a single warped slat of hardwood with another?
Q: How do I replace a single warped slat of hardwood with another? Or repair the warp, if that’s possible?
1/4 Inch thick wood floors?
Q: I have a number of damaged areas in my 80 yr. old floor. I pulled up one board section and it is 1/4 inch thick. Can I not get this material any more?
Carefully removing boards
Q: My 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?
Glued laminate removal
Q: We have a 20 X 20 section of 1/4 inch wood laminate flooring. We are trying to remove the entire area to put down new floors in our home. We are having a difficult time removing the flooring as it is a click in place and it has been glued to a particle underlayment. Is there something that can be used to heat the glue to make the removal easier?
Oak floor underneath
Q: I have recently moved into a house which has 1930’s vinyl flooring throughout the ground floor. I had pulled this up and found underneath some sort of board- hammered down with hundreds of nails. I have managed to pry some of this board up with a crows for and a mallet but it is very hard work. Is there an easier way?
Damaged parquet floor
Q: I 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?
Removing boards damaged by termites
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?