How To Fix Gaps In Old Wood Floors

How to fix old hardwood floors with gaps and cupping.

How to fix gaps in old wood floors.

Why you should avoid putty fillers. Ordinarily you can fill the gaps with wood filler putty or with pieces of rope and then finish with stain to match the floor. Engineered flooring is made with layers of plywood placed in different directions. This allows the layers to shift and move without gaps developing between boards.

The most extensive is to have to completely replace a floor that has too many gaps to repair without losing its beauty. If you haven t chosen flooring yet engineered hardwood is an excellent alternative to solid. There are many different ways to go about correcting this type of issue but we will dive into the most common. Different gap repair methods.

If gaps remain or the floor is old it is possible to make the gaps less noticeable and prevent dirt and debris from building up in them by filling them with rope. Wood fillers are also not meant for use with large gaps. Wood expands and contracts with seasonal differences in humidity and the older a floor gets the greater the chance that these movements will. If you cannot fix the problem by installing a humidifier you may need to take more drastic action when it comes to filling wide gaps.

This leaves your floor looking even worse and requiring you to dig out the old putty and replace it. Over time however the putty hardens chips and flakes. You can fix floor gaps in a number of different ways. Putty fillers were once a mainstay of hardwood floor repair.

Filling large gaps in old wood floors. The problem is magnified when the boards were not tightly laid in the first place. With older tongue and groove hardwood or even wide plank floors gaps inevitably develop between the boards mostly because the wood shrinks over time as it dries out and loses moisture content.