How to Replace Strips of Wood on a Swedish Floor
Wood floors, while beautiful, may not hold up well if they're subject to constant abuse, high foot traffic or water damage. If you have Swedish wood floors and a section has become damaged, you can replace just the damaged wood, without having to replace the entire floor. Swedish wood floors are typically made from hardwoods, such as ash, maple, oak and beech. A natural finish is commonly used although some varieties are stained to darker colors. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Pry bar
- Hammer
- Measuring tape
- Circular saw
- Wood stain
- Polyurethane
- Paintbrushes
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Instructions
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Locate the end seam of a damaged board then insert the tip of a pry bar into this seam and carefully lever it up. You may have to loosen the board down its length to get it free of the subfloor. Continue until all of the damaged wood is removed.
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Remove any exposed nails in the subfloor with the back of a claw hammer. Lever out stubborn nails with the pry bar. Discard these nails.
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3
Cut the replacement boards to fit with a circular saw. Use the old boards, if they're still intact, as a guide for the length that you need. Otherwise, measure the space left behind where you pulled out the old wood and use this as your guide. Put the blade guide on the saw down and feed the wood through the saw to trim it.
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4
Sand the replacement wood lightly with a fine-grit sanding block.
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Stain the wood to match the rest of the flooring with wood stain and a paintbrush. Brush the stain on in the direction of the wood grain. If your Swedish floors have a natural finish, you can skip this step.
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Seal the boards with polyurethane. Brush on a clear coat of non-yellowing polyurethane over the wood. Let this dry for eight hours.
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Fit the replacement boards into place on the floor. Line up the new boards with the existing flooring. Leave a gap of less than 1/4-inch to allow for seasonal expansion. Nail each board into place.
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Tips & Warnings
If you're working with tongue and groove flooring, you will need to cut out each damaged section lengthwise with a circular saw set to the depth of the surface material then cut the width of each section with a utility knife. The sections can then be levered up with a hammer and chisel.
