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sisandmom · Apr 13, 2008, 05:13 PM

In our house there is an area of about 4 feet by 1foot of damage that we had to remove. I would like to sand and finish the floors but I am not sure on how to match up a repair job. The floors are original to the house. Old tongue and groove style. Any suggestions would be helpful. Also, any suggestions on sanding and finishing would be appreciated as well. I can send pictures of the problem if that would help at all.

ballengerb1 · Apr 13, 2008, 07:19 PM

OK here is what I would do to get an idea of how to handle this. When I don't know how to do something I get 3 estimates from pros. I listen to what they say they will do and then I can figure out if its really something that fits my skills or not, I'll also know if I can afford the pros. Matching old tongue and groove is tough unless you have a place to "steal" old flooring from an area that won't show like a closet or pantry. Check to see if the flooring goes under any of the cabinets, could be lots of lumber there for the taking.

Scleros · Apr 15, 2008, 04:00 AM

If you are going to refinish the entire floor anyway, inserting new matching flooring lengths of the same species wood (custom milled if necessary) just in the damaged area can be done with a router, custom made plywood guides for cutting only where you need to, and chisels for cleaning corners. The last strip gets the tongue cut off and can be adhesived, face nailed and puttied, face screwed and plugged, or back nailed/screwed from below.

You can also take up a larger section of flooring and mix the old and new strips to make it less obvious there was a patch if the wood tints don't exactly match.

My opinion, sanding/finishing is not a DIY project for the cost, headache, length of time it takes, and quality of final finish.