Just went and did a walk through on an oak floor that was damaged by water. It is 5″ wide, stained walnut color,that has severe cupping on a section about 6’x4′. The total room is close to 30’x20′. I told the woman that no matter what I do it will look like a patch. If I sand the cupping out I’ll have to restain that section and I’m not even sure that sanding just the face is a good idea. There would be voids on the bottom that no longer sit flat on the floor. My suggestion was to remove a 12’x12′ section from the center of the room,use those prestained and finished boards to replace and match the dammaged area(it’s in a corner of the room), and refloor the center section with something else on a bias, kind of like an inlay or a large plain medallion. Something similar to what you see in old homes where they cover the center of the room with carpet. Any ideas or suggestions?? She doesn’t want to replace the whole floor.
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Sounds like maybe you should replace the damaged area and refinish the entire floor. I wouldn't want to pull up the center and reuse it to fix the damaged flooring because it probably will not match in thickness unless it is prefinished flooring. Also you may not be able to remove the flooring without damaging it too much to reuse. The added work of carefully removing good flooring and then replacing it and the original problem area without maring the existing floor would negate a lot of the savings over a overall refinish.
Jack,
Low cost fix? Tell her to buy a nice oriental rug!