I am in the middle of a fixer-upper. The wood floors (the planks are about 1 inch thick, and 2.5 inches wide) have several 1.5 inch holes in it, left-overs from the radiator heating system.
How do I go about fixing these holes?
Any suggestions will be sincerely appreciated.
Thanks.
Demolition Man
Replies
Lee Valley make hole plugs - you drill out the hole to an exact size, then cut a plug of the corresponding size from new (or salvaged) wood. Whether there is a large enogh cutter, I'm not certain. Try their website.
ciao for niao
To those who know - this may be obvious. To those who don't - I hope I've helped.
I have been it the same place and this is what I did--keep in mind that the floors were oak and being totally refinished so adjust where needed to fit your needs.
Find the biggest hole and determine the size--get a fostner bit at least that big--drill a pilot hole in some 5/4 stock--any species as long as it is hardwood.
Once you have your pilot board with guide hole get a cirle cutter and mount it in a drill press and bore out plugs the right size for you forstner bit--test fit with your pilot board. remember you are making plugs from the bottom cause the pilot bit will need to enter the wood to keep the plug round,
Double stick the pilot board over the hole and use it as a guide to clean up all your holes.
Glue up and tap in your plugs, I could leave mine a hair high cause the floor was being sanded so use what ideas you can and modify where nesseccary ,
Mike
" I reject your reality and substitute my own"
Adam Savage---Mythbusters
Lee Valley doesn't just sell plugs... they sell tapered plug cutters upto about 3" diameter... try to match the grain in the same species material--bit of glue...tap in nice and tight, sand and finish.
G-luck with it.
L
GardenStructure.com~Build for the Art of it!
Thanks Lawrence, Mitremike and Piko
VERY much appreciated. I will let you know how it panned out.
G
If your holes are a true 1 1/2" buy a 1 5/8" plug cutter. Sand the sides of the holes to fresh wood and sand a slight taper on the repair plug. Wet the face so you can see the grain well and tap securely into hole, gluing both sides.
The reason for the taper is the larger plugs cutters cut a straight sided plug, I think, unlike the smaller cutters. This will ensure a tight fit.
If you only have a few holes then it's not impractical to hand-carve plugs to fit, after tapering the holes slightly. Otherwise, a plug-cutter arrangement such as others have described is the way to go.
Had almost the same situation but smaller holes. Because the flooring was oak and really came through the refinishing great I was able to glue in maple dowels. I stained the plugs to match the oak and then with a darker stain and an artists brush (round watercolor--throwaway) I continued the grain of the oak on the plug. Followed up with water based floor finish. The subfoor was 1 by and I strapped that with scrap to support the plug in the finished floor. (In the basement it was easy to get to and I screwed a 1X over the hole into the subfloor). Owners wondered where the holes went? From normal eye height (in their case about 5'6") the decorated plugs could not be seen. Details, details--the final finish is what is seen! Tyr
Start by looking in the closets. If you can pull the original wood floor from a closet and replace it with something new, you have a nice supply of matching wood to fix the rest of the house.
For holes that are close enough to walls, you can get away from the round plug and cut and replace the whole board for a foot or two. It depends how concerned you are about the radiator patch look.
-- J.S.