Patching Hardwood Floor (sort of)

9 years ago

We have what you would call a half-wall on our first floor that we want to remove. The floor around it is hardwood. So, two questions. Is it possible to patch the empty space that would be left by removing the half-wall with boards from another part of the first floor hardwood? We have a substantial coat closet that is the same flooring. Board lengths seem random in both locations. Secondly, if it is possible, who do I call to do this? Thanks for any help.

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Comments (5)

User
9 years ago
Solid floor (usually nailed down) or engineered (usually glued down)?
Prefinished or site finished?
Dumb question, but do both floors run the same way?
Is the floor parallel with the half wall or perpendicular?
If it's perpendicular, are the rows of flooring on each side askew or misaligned?
Any decent wood floor installer or carpenter should be able to do the patch work.
weedyacres
9 years ago
You've got the right idea: scavenge matching wood from a closet and feather it in to the existing floor. It's painstaking, but pretty straightforward.

You could also fill it in with an inlay. We did that on a few spots of our floor.

Here is a link that might be useful: patching/feathering wood.
gregmills_gw
9 years ago
that patch job is pretty straight forward for any hardwood floor professional. Most DIY can do it after getting a little bit of education.

If you are not looking to DIY, then you could call a Hardwood Floor refinisher, they will be able to do that patch work and if need be sand and finish to match the rest of the floor.
jjs777
Original Author
9 years ago
To answer questions: Both floors do run the same way, and the floor runs perpendicular to the half wall. It is a solid floor, but I do not know how it was finished. Thank you for the responses, it seems what I want to do should not be that hard.
User
9 years ago
Solid floor is a plus. It's more likely you can remove some and reuse it.
If you're looking to have the floor look like it flowed through the area originally, you'll have to stagger back the end joint. We stagger the ends an average of 2', so some will be 0', some will be 4' with the rest being in between with the end joints spaced at least 9" away from adjacent pieces. After the end joints are staggered back and you've removed the closet floor and pulled the nails, you'll need to fit each piece to be patched and remove the bottom of the groove so it will fit in between the rows of flooring. Where the tongues are exposed you can blind nail. Where they're not, use some carpenters wood glue or construction adhesive and top nail.
Possible pitfalls:
You can't tell if both sides are parallel until you remove the half wall. If it's skewed or misaligned, you'll have gaps after you patch.
You will ruin some wood removing it from the closet. If your half wall is 3' long, you may need as much as 13 to 14 square feet of wood. If it's 8' long you could need 36 square feet. Shortening the stagger on the end joints will reduce the amount of wood needed but will make this look more like patch.