Replacing Original Hardwood Floors

Measure the thickness of the current hardwood.

Replacing original hardwood floors.

Here s a look at ways to determine whether you need a simple repair a full refinishing job or to simply start fresh with a new hardwood floor installation. Remove the bottom of the groove from the new floor plank. Ninety five percent of the time if not more you can refinish a hardwood floor replace boards make repairs and have a very nice floor as with just about everything else in remodeling the key issue is expectations. Repairing and refinishing old hardwood floors can be a labor intensive and complex process.

The only option to repair hardwood floors at this point is to cut out the stained floorboards and install new ones. Hardwood floors take a lot of abuse and over time they can become stained warped chipped or just dull. One thing we didn t need permission to do was replace the wood flooring in the living room dining area. Most floors use a tongue and groove design.

Saw off the bottom groove on the new flooring plank. Hardwood thickness will usually be between 5 inches 1 3 cm and 1 inch 2 5 cm but it s important to. Homeowners who have old floors should not expect them to look like brand new floors according to sprigg lynn of universal. A quality hardwood floor can be sanded down and refinished at least six times and up to ten times before you need to replace it.

You need to know the wood thickness before you can start sawing into the floor to prevent your circular saw from damaging the subflooring underneath. Rip cut and remove the bottom groove from the replacement flooring piece using a table saw circular saw or sharp chisel and utility knife. Set the saw fence to cut 5 16 in. Installing pre finished hardwood flooring.

Hardwood properly maintained can last for decades but it may require more maintenance than other flooring options. You can change the color closely match and replace warped stained or termite ingested planks silence squeaky boards and fill gaps or patch knots. And sanding only creates a depression in the floor that s more noticeable than the stain. We replaced a couple of boards from a standard 3 4 in thick x 2 1 4 in wide oak strip floor using a drill circular saw and sharp chisel.

While most people choose hardwood engineered hardwood carpet tile or laminate flooring for their homes some homeowners opt for bamboo linoleum vinyl or concrete. You can also fix buckled areas of flooring and avoid having to completely refinish your floors. 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.