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Douglas Fir Facts

Replacing Douglas Fir Floorboards

July 21, 2011 by | Ian | There have been 0 comments

No matter how hard we try to protect our Douglas fir floors, accidents inevitably happen. Over the years, spills, dents, and other types of damage necessitate removing and replacing floorboards. The process involves a few advanced techniques, as well as some power tools. But, if you’re willing to work carefully, you can do it yourself. And on top of saving yourself the price of hiring a carpenter, you’ll find the satisfaction of a working relationship with your home. Follow these steps:

1) Removing a board. You’ll be using a power saw for this step (preferably a circular saw), so this is the part of the process where you should be most careful so as not to damage your floor. To ensure precision, outline the board accurately with painter’s tape. Next, make a series of long parallel cuts into the board, as well as one diagonal cut in the center. You should set the depth of your cuts to ¾” (or the depth of the wood), to ensure you only cut through the floorboard. If you cut too deep, you could slice up either or both of the protective mat underneath the board and the subfloor. After you’ve made your cuts, use a hammer and chisel to remove the broken pieces of the board. Be careful not to damage neighboring boards, especially the tongue and grooves that meet the board you’re trying to replace.

replace wood floorboard

You better replace your wood floorboard if it looks like this!

2) Finding a replacement board. The hallmark of a good fix is that you can’t tell it was broken in the first place. Therefore you’ll want to replace your broken board with close match, to leave your floor looking like it did the day it was installed. Luckily, Douglas fir, like any wood, is a natural product that has natural color and pattern variation making the search for an exact match unnecessary. For common woods and finishes, bring a piece of the broken board to your lumber supplier and ask them to find a match for you. If you do have Douglas fir, we hope you’ll turn to us to replace those historic 3 ¼” flooring boards. Keep in mind you’ll also have to match the stain, finish, and level of sanding. You may already have wood in your own home that will serve as a good replacement. Find a rarely seen or used part of your floor – in a closet or utility room, for a example – and extract a board to use as a replacement. Then, you can replace the wood you took out of the closet with a less-than-perfect match.

3) Replacing the board. First, you’ll have to saw off the lower end of the groove so that you can slip the board in on top of its neighbors. Next, the board should be fastened with glue and flooring nails. After face-nailing, use wood putty to fill in the holes. You may need to do some additional sanding, if the replacement board seems out of place with its neighbors.

These steps should help you to keep your Douglas fir floor, or any wood floor, looking good and built to last.

- Ian Friedman


This post was posted in Douglas Fir Flooring, Care & Maintenance and was tagged with Douglas fir flooring, douglas fir floors, fir flooring, maintaining wood floors, replace floor boards, replacing floor boards

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