Is It Better Replacing Old Wood Floors In Sections Or In One Go?

How you decide to replace old wood floors will depend, to a large extent, upon the scale and situation of your project.  If you are renovating an old property and planning to replace all of the old wood floors with new, there is a really strong argument for lifting up the floors one by one and replacing each in one go.

The reason for this is that floors are laid by starting at one side of a room and working towards the other.  There are various types of installation, including nail-down, glue-down and floating, but no matter which you choose, if you are laying a floor from scratch, the method will be the same ie.  to work from one side of the room to the other.

Another factor which adds to this “one go” argument is that boards are normally staggered, making a “section” approach more difficult to plan and execute effectively.  So, if it’s practical in any way, to remove your old wood floor and replace it in one go, you’re more likely to get a uniform result.

All of that said, it’s not always practical to replace old wood floors in one go.  For example, if you’re looking to replace only one part of an old wood floor which has been damaged, there’s little sense in removing the whole floor.

If you only need to replace a part of your old wood floor, you should aim to work in sections, allowing you to replace only the boards that need to be replaced, at the same time as preserving the aesthetic appeal of the floor.  If you plan to do this, you’ll need to match up the new board, or boards, with the old floor.  This will either be a simple or complex task depending upon hold old your floor is and whether or not know the detail of its make up.

Either way, once you have bought your new board, you need to set to work to remove the old board.  The most effective way of achieving the best result is to remove the entire board.  Making sure you don’t cut into your sub floor, you should use a circular saw to remove a central section from the board.  In order to do this, make two cuts, about a couple of centimetres apart.  Once you’ve done this, you will be able to chisel out this central section, giving you access to remove the two side sections.  Once the old board has been removed, you’ll have space for the new one.