How to Patch a Hardwood Floor

In this video, general contractor Tom Silva helps a homeowner patch a hardwood floor to make it look seamless.

Technique Detail: As flooring contractor Pat Hunt notes, staggering the ends of adjacent replacement pieces is essential to disguising a patch: “Cutting all the pieces to the same length is easier to do, but it will look like someone put a trapdoor in the floor.” Stagger your score lines by at least a few inches for a truly invisible repair.

Pro Tip: Tom Silva’s key advice for getting expert results with a dutchman patch: “Match the grain, not the stain.” Choose a patch of the same wood species as the flooring with a similar grain pattern, and always make the mortise fit the patch — not the other way around. It’s the smart way to get a seamless repair.

Steps for patching a hardwood floor:

1. Purchase hardwood flooring about a week before and leave it in the room where it will be installed to let it acclimate.
2. Begin laying boards in the corners and work across the room.
3. Cut the underside of the trim using an oscillating saw. Get the height by holding a piece of the flooring underneath the saw.
4. Place the first line of flooring down to make sure it fits properly. Then nail it in using a nail gun or hammer and nails. Make sure to place nails 8 to 12 inches apart on each board.
5. Lay out the rest of the flooring, but be sure to stagger the joints so they do not line up. Use the nail gun or hammer and nails to secure them.
6. On the last line of boards, you may be able to hammer a few into place using a rubber hammer.
7. If not, you’ll have to use a rabbeted joint and tip the boards into place.
8. To make the rabbeted joint, rip off the groove side with a circular saw.
9. Place a bead of wood glue down on the tongue side of the board already in place.
10. Place another bead of wood glue down on the subfloor and in the groove of the opposite board.
11. Tip the board into place and secure it with a rubber hammer.
12. Repeat steps with the remaining boards.
13. Secure the final row of boards by face-nailing them to the subfloor.
14. Sand down the floor with sander.
15. Finish it to match your floor type.

For the replacement strip to fit in tightly on the last row, the bottom lip of the groove must be removed. Use a chisel or a table saw to trim it off. Then squeeze a thick bead of polyurethane adhesive over the subfloor — the adhesive will hold the piece in place better than fasteners alone and will also help prevent squeaking.

Pro Tip: Joe Scerri, a flooring contractor with 30 years of experience installing and refinishing floors, advises finding the joists beneath the subfloor and nailing into them as well as every 4 to 6 inches into the subfloor for a more stable bond. “If I can nail into the joists as well as every 4 to 6 inches into the subfloor, I’ll have a more stable bond,” he says. He toenails 2-inch barbed cleats through the tongue at a 45-degree angle, which keeps the fastener from protruding on the underside and inhibiting the fit of the next board.

Materials

• 2 1/4-inch hardwood flooring
• Wood glue
• Flooring nails

Tools