How to Repair a Tongue-and-Groove Wood Floor | This Old House

Cutting in a perfect-fit patch with This Old House general contractor Tom Silva. (See below for a shopping list and tools.)

Tom helped a pair of homeowners repair part of an oak floor damaged by a leaking steam radiator. With the radiator removed, Tom removed several damaged pieces of flooring using a hammer, chisel, and prybar. Next, he cut several new pieces of strip flooring to fit and installed them using glue and nails. Finally, Tom added a coat of amber-colored shellac to help make the new flooring look like the old flooring surrounding it.

Tools for Repairing a Tongue-and-Groove Wood Floor:
- 1-inch-wide wood chisel
- flat pry bar
- circular saw
- caulk gun
- jigsaw
- table saw
- finish nailer
- random-orbit sander
- 3-inch putty knife
- dust pan and broom or vacuum

Shopping List for Repairing a Tongue-and-Groove Wood Floor:
- wood flooring
- construction adhesive
- 2-inch finishing nails
- 20-grit abrasive sanding disks
- wood filler
- shellac
- oil-based wood stain
- polyurethane varnish
- 4-inch-wide foam brush
- 100-grit sandpaper

Red oak strip flooring is available at many lumber yards and home centers.

About Ask This Old House TV:
Homeowners have a virtual truckload of questions for us on smaller projects, and we're ready to answer. Ask This Old House solves the steady stream of home improvement problems faced by our viewers—and we make house calls! Ask This Old House features some familiar faces from This Old House, including Kevin O'Connor, general contractor Tom Silva, plumbing and heating expert Richard Trethewey, and landscape contractor Roger Cook.

Looking for more step by step guidance on how to complete projects around the house? Join This Old House Insider to stream over 1,000 episodes commercial-free.
 
Plus, download our app for streaming full episodes to your connected TV, phone or tablet:
  

Follow This Old House and Ask This Old House:

How to Repair a Tongue-and-Groove Wood Floor | This Old House

[misskim]

Where would we all be without This Old House? ❤

[ldwithrow]

To get a board out, after chiseling the ends, I set my 5 1/2 inch circular saw for 3/4 in depth of cut. I make two cuts down the middle of the board, well away from the edges to avoid hitting nails. The resulting center strip can be lifted out and the edges pried away from adjoining boards. (I use a reciprocating saw with a thin hacksaw blade to cut back under the side with the nails so the tongue side comes out easily.) This procedure results in a lot less damage to good boards than pounding in a pry bar.

[BaconSniffer]

I love the way America does wood flooring. I stayed in NYC for 2 years and really miss that floor.

[taita_ra]

I was about to over-complicate things w/power tools and noise & dust everywhere. Tom Silva, like a true master craftsman, keeps it simple!

[GumbootZone]

Interesting to see the original install was against the baseboards and not under them. Never seen that before. One tip I have learned, was about those chamfered end cuts. I use to cut it all the way to the top like you did when butting up to a finished edge. But discovered that if that is ever sanded, even a tiny bit, it exposes the chamfer and leaves an open line. Now, I only chamfer the bottom and leave the top 3/16's or so as a regular square cut. This still makes a tight joint, but also leaves enough solid wood to allow for any edge sanding.

[cncwoodworxroc]

As always, Tom Silva shows why he is a top contractor. Well done.

[TravisInCanada]

Such a unique fix and Tommy walks through it like he has done it 100 times.

[bcao]

That was a great repair. Sometimes it's best to let a professional do it, especially if the house is over seventy years old.

[johnhubbard]

For folks that look for this material as it measures finished "2" you will not find it. As Tom says look for 2 1/2" red or white oak T&G flooring, it finishes at 2". In my area of Southern California, they mixed white and red oak, if you do the same it is easier to stain to match. The shellac he used first is key as well if you want that patch to almost disappear.

[Panameno]

Iam from El Salvador I love it watching the program on weekends when is cold outside get my coffee cup and my tv on mpt

[AnnaFunmi]

Very comprehensible video, easy to try on my own with confidence! thank you! Im excited to watch more of your videos!

[MrWhitelightning]

What an ace he makes everything look so easy 😊

[Ronny_Cordova]

I have to say an oscillating tool makes this job a breeze being able to cut off the top of the groove and pop out sections of board.

[xoulis]

"Swing the hammer, don't push the hammer" 😂 Best line ever told to win a date!

[Fester_]

You know what you are doing there. Thanks for the video.

[americanfreedom]

I watched several videos, this helped me the most.

[kronk]

Every time I see one of these fixes where they put glue down where it wasnt before I imagine them having another problem where they need to do a fix, but they cant get the piece out with out destroying the piece its glued to. Its like: no more repairs after this one, unless you want to rip the whole floor out.

[darrenmcintosh]

Take the kick board off on two walls to get floor boards loose and replace new floor boards under kick boards.

[xmassan]

Tom always makes it look easy. A little chiseling and it comes right up. I needed the circular saw, pry bar and persuasion from my masonry hammer. And did fall in place nice and flat. Nope, you need tongue at both ends even with 2 inch staples. Long story short, "Sonny" [I] was beateng, banging and tweaking with every tool I had.

[greensandbeansgaming]

That will be a job for the next person to repair that with that liquid nail. I think things should be put together with future repairs on mind.