Mr Skill

A wooden strip floor is a thing of almost ageless beauty if properly maintained, and can add thousands of pounds in value to a period home too. Unfortunately, there was a post-war period when valuable floors were covered over and horribly neglected. If you have the patience a home repair is possible. If not, you can Find a Flooring Contractor nearby you, right here.

The first challenge is to find a matching strip, or strips. There are places in the City where salvage flooring is stored away, although only London Flooring Specialists know of these, and I doubt very much whether they will pass the knowledge on to you. In olden times floor planks were cut from the hearts of trees for extra strength and were close grained. These days, softer outside wood is used with broader grain and a lighter finish. This leaves two choices – either scour the demolition sites yourself, or bite the bullet and shuffle the floor planks in your home as necessary.

Removing a plank is not that difficult, once you discover that the trick is to carefully cut through the tongues and grooves on both sides of the affected plank, taking care not to spread the damage as you do. After that make several long diagonal cuts, and pick away at the remains until you have cleared it away completely, and removed all the nails.

Prepare the replacement board for a precise nudge fit, removing any tongue and groove before you size it. Drill a few holes through it, and attach twine to nails on the bottom side, so you have a way to pull it out again if it gets stuck. When you are quite satisfied, epoxy glue it in position and hold it down with bricks while the glue is drying, definitely no nails required here.

This can be a fun job for the enthusiast on a rainy Saturday afternoon, but the cause of family conflict if things to not work out right. Another alternative could be to get some Flooring Quotes on Mr-Skill, and leave the job, and the frustrations to the experts.