Filling gaps in floorboards is a great way to stopping draughts from coming through your floorboards. Mice can cause serious damage to your home by chewing through dangerous wires. Here’s a couple photos of one of the plugs, which The Floor Guy had attempted to support from underneath with a crumpled up piece of paper and duct tape: Here’s a photo of one of the other plugs looking up from the basement: Yes, that’s an 8 inch tree branch sticking through the subfloor into the basement. Providing modest support from beneath was easy. One of them already has and the rest will fall out as soon as someone sets a chair leg down on them.” For more information, check out our, 20 Considerations that help a project run smoothly, Removing Drywall Anchors And Patching Walls. Would using wood glue or putty work? Your email address will not be published. If your floorboards or staircase are looking a bit the worse for wear, give them a lift with a spot of stenciling. We spent a long time trying to get the Gorilla Glue in there. Relocating an out of alignment strike plate. I can't get under the floor so need to seal from above. on the WoodenBoat forum. Cut your wood with a band saw or jigsaw. Hi there I'm tiling my bathroom floor and will have 2 radiator pipes to tile round. I was curious how he was planning on making sure that the plugs would end up flush with the finished floor. They also affect your health by spreading a wide array of diseases. This method was also great for holes around radiator pipes and other random filling. The floors are antique and I do not want to replace the floor boards if I don’t have to as I may be unlikely to replicate the patina. All you need is some durable floor paint and some pre-made templates. I’m not going to respond directly to Mike’s comment above (because this was over a year ago, we don’t own the house anymore, and I just generally don’t care anymore), only to note that I remember some things differently than he does, and I don’t agree with his characterization that we were unwilling to pay for repairs (see previous comments about how he actually did perform some repairs). Step 4: Open the radiator cap. Get out of my house and don’t come back.”. Filler for ancient wood floors? The first step was to remove all the old plugs, which wasn’t hard at all since they were falling out on their own anyway. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website. Once the adhesive is set and dry, the repair is done and can be screened and finished along with the remainder of the floor. they weren’t just gaping holes straight into the basement), it was easy to cut the 8 inch tree branch plugs down to the right height and glue them into place again. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m a total hack. I do excellent work Every Where I Go, His Kitchen tile with all that mud and everything else The Tile Guy Did, had that floor over an inch above the hardwood, My distributor does’nt have anything for that without a 100 dollar attached to it,Bottom Line The guy did’nt want to sink alot of money into the floor, I did the best i could without taking advantage of the situation, Im an honest man, somebody else would have come in and stuck it to REUBEN for and extra $5-600 easy He wanted to avoid patching in because of the expense, thank you for listening to my side, and here he is trying to slander my good name. Thanks all. This probably won't last long.". If it doesn’t fit, shave off a millimeter fro… Then drain the entire unit by opening up the heating boiler's system valve. Here’s how to go about patching a wood floor in your home. “Well don’t put a chair leg on it.” “Well I’m only charging you $10 to fix the holes… What else do you want? Let the water flow into a drain until empty. I knew something was wrong, however, when he had finished sanding and hadn’t filled the holes, yet. I would never pay all of it up front….pay half, then when you are satisfied with the job, then pay the rest, that is how you do business:) Sorry for your frustration…but your posts are hilarious. They won’t fall out.” “The plugs are too small. The problem became more apparent as work progressed, however. Secondly, this again involves holes in the floor. Introducing "One Thing": A New Video Series, The Spruce Gardening & Plant Care Review Board, The Spruce Renovations and Repair Review Boar That being said, I mentioned that Mike came highly recommended from a friend. I would think that if you wanted a log cabin that you would have requested it upfront. This struck me as unusually cheap, but it was exactly what the friend who recommended him to me told me would happen – that he would offer to perform spot repairs at an extremely low rate. The area I live in has a problem with mice and the holes provide an excellent access point for them. After this conversation, it became clear than he and I had very different ideas about quality. Top brands like Polycell, Ronseal, UniBond, Soudal and many … Filling Radiator Pipe Holes In Hardwood Floors. But a word to the wise. The gap goes straight through the floorboards to joists below. The old floor is full of gaps and cracks, so it’s really not a big deal if the plugs aren’t totally snug. #permacastcolumn, Video live on out #youtube channel, link in BIO #G, The Ryobi Cordless Snow Blower RY40860 on February, Been testing the #TORO Power Max 28” OEM 828 sno, This website uses cookies to improve your experience. “No, they’re fine. All Rights Reserved. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. “You’re an asshat. I didn’t actually mind that the plugs weren’t tight in the holes. The Floor Guy was nice enough, and responded quickly to most of my requests. If he is just a refinisher he shouldn’t have to rip up boards from a closet attic etc. Did he have some reason to think that the holes had to be fixed for $10? The truth is that I had already paid the guy, so he had little reason to care about whether he’d done a good job. Filling Radiator Pipe Holes In Hardwood Floors. You’ll have to decide that on your own. He said it with such confidence. Discover a huge range of fillers for a multitude of uses in and around the home. Mice thrive in dark, secure locations, such as under floorboards, but regularly crawl out in search of food and water. The pipework is normally either run between the joists or across the joists through cut-outs cut in the top of the joists. In particular, there was one thing The Floor Guy did that was completely asinine (to quote The Roof Guy). @InspectorReuben – I'm glad you agree. Doing deadlifts at gym and being watched by this g, Took my parents to Gillette Stadium today for a #C, Three guesses on what our next head-to-head series, The TBB crew has trained the #BuildAmerica team fo, Wood or Fiberglass columns? Using caulk or silicon is often the fastest way to restore some semblance of normal to your gorgeous hardwood floors. Buy filler at B&Q. But those radiators don't last forever, and once they become obsolete and are removed, you are left with large holes in your wood floors. This time it is around the central heating pipes which go through the floorboards. It's the default choice of flooring professionals. Here’s what one of them looked like when I was done: The worst part is that this has left me with a sour taste in my mouth about the whole experience. Apply a fine bead of wood putty to the gap, then work it into the gap with your finger, using circular motions to force the putty down into the gap. The method to fix this type of radiator could be the process of soldering. These cookies do not store any personal information. I don't know much about this kind of stuff, but I literally laughed out loud at the tree branch sticking down into the basement. I'm guessing it's because they are so close to the baseboard and might have required taking that out to replace…. The previous owner had chosen to ignore the small rust holes and just roll a coating of some sort (possibly truck bed coating) over the front half of the floor and called it a day. Regular readers will recall that we hired The Floor Guy to refinish our floors a while back. How to fill gaps in a wood floor? That's a new board he replaced. Filling the gaps between floorboards is of limited use because often they’re so small it’s hard to keep filler in place. Refinishing is a tough job in itself. The radiator cap is a pressurized cap near the top of the radiator at the front of the engine bay. Rugs help. Once all the holes had a bottom on them (i.e. What would fit better your room? With suspended timber floors, this is no great problem as the pipes can be installed below the floorboards with the risers to each radiator passing through holes in the floorboards. Can I just buy a tile bit and attach it to my standard bosch drill? That stuff is no good for filling nail holes … I just didn’t want them falling through the floor into the basement the first time somebody looked at them wrong. There are two sides to every story, right folks? As long as your willing to shell out an additional possible 150-200$ for the guy to hunt down the right boards install cut rip up glue etc and hope your pleased,then its all great. Look left of the plug, and you can see the joint and the slightly-different-color board to the left – 3rd plank from the wall. In this video, we show you how to repair conduit and pipe holes in a hardwood floor using wood plugs. Open the air vent on the radiator to release the pressure. I think the plugs need to be supported from underneath.” Use a small section of the pipe that you removed to create the circle. Instruction and advice on fitting a new radiator. Due to constant wear and tear, doorways and baseboards can often develop gaps or cracks around the edges. Whatever you use to make the circle, you’ll want to ensure that the plug is just a touch larger than the hole. Still, it is unlikely that I would recommend The Floor Guy to a friend in the future. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. So then we had to have an uncomfortable conversation, which I’ll quickly paraphrase: “Gluing them in place isn’t working. The 6 pipes going into my combi boiler have holes cut in the floorboards to let them through. Over the course of a year, your floorboards will shrink and expand because of fluctuations in temperature and humidity. I was skeptical from the beginning about “sticking a tree branch in it.”  But I knew from googling around that it’s common to use tapered plugs that you jam into the hole and then sand until they’re flush with the floor. Shouldn’t you have anticipated that?” This is a space for friendly local discussions. While the rope doesn't look like wood, you can stain it to blend with the floorboards, and the filled gaps will be much less noticeable than the dark, empty gaps. They don’t fit tightly in the holes.” Why he didn't do it in these locations as well is bizarre. Dear: Concord Carpenter, I recently removed several radiators from my 300 year old home. Hi there I'm tiling my bathroom floor and will have 2 radiator pipes to tile round. Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. The holes are rough cut/bigger than the pipes and there are draughts coming through so i want to seal the gaps. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. It's a long story, but I had only paid him half, then he performed the bulk of the work, and then I paid him for everything else at a later date (but still obviously too soon…). Old homes were typically heated by floor radiators. The Floor Guy was proposing to fix them by sticking a tree branch in them, apparently. Patching Radiator Holes In Floors: Antique Floors . If it was you doing this work or a friend of yours doing it for free, hey, no big deal. Can I just buy a tile bit and attach it to my standard bosch drill? If this was representative of The Floor Guy’s hole-fixing skills, I wasn’t sure I wanted him to try again, especially since all he was talking about was “more Gorilla Glue.”  It became clear to me that even if I fought with the guy to make him try to fix it a third time, I wasn’t going to be happy with whatever he came up with. When The Floor Guy came over, I asked him about the holes and how he planned to fix them. I just screwed a piece of plywood onto the underside of the subfloor across the holes. By the end of the test, I had a well draught-proofed floor, albeit using six different methods. Still, I was pretty darn impressed with the sanding he’d done, and he hadn’t yet given me reason to doubt that he knew what he was doing. Your email address will not be published. I was an unhappy customer, and I will never hire Mike again. Learn how to trowel fill properly on a hardwood floor. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. I's appreciate any advice on the normal way to fill such holes. I would have said "It looks like someone tried to repair a hole in the floor with a tree branch. Shining a flash-light into them lets me see down into the floorboards and it looks like they might all be connected, at least to the mice. https://www.diydoctor.org.uk/projects/fillinggapsinfloorboards.htm So I had to fix it myself, which was annoying since I had already paid him to do it. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. A better idea would have been to replace the boards with holes in them. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. Tip: Most newer cars have labeled radiator caps and these caps usually have a more oval shape compared to others in the engine bay. The Floor Guy had attempted to glue them in place, but it didn’t work because the gaps around the edges of the plugs were too big. ", I'm very much a plain English kind of guy. I'm wanting to fill these in as well but don't really know how to do it. @Dez – well, one of the boards he replaced, for example, is visible in the last photo of this post. The holes themselves are decent sized, around an inch on the radiator and 2-4 inches on the toilet and cabinet. Filling Floorboard Gaps With Wood Putty Clean the floorboards on both sides of the gap. Hi, well what I do have to say is its more of a carpentry job. If you're paying someone to do the work, they should do it right. Although, I'm not sure your support will hold up to much either. By clicking on 'Accept' or continuing to use this website, you agree that cookies can be placed. I often get asked about the gaps between the floorboards and how best to minimise the draughts coming up from underneath the floor. Read with caution.I apologize for the passive anger fueling this post. The floors are antique and I do not want to replace the floor boards if I don't have to as I may be unlikely to replicate the patina. These radiators have a pipe that goes through my wood floor (see pic, towards bottom left, youll see 2 pipes that disappear into my floor) Upon removing the rad`s and pipes, Ill have a couple of holes in my wood floors. NOTE: This post was written primarily as a form of therapy to help me cope with what turned out to be an unfortunate business relationship that caused me to flip my lid. I would expect better. Regular readers will recall that we hired The Floor Guy to refinish … Continue reading "Plugging the Radiator Holes in the Floor" I pointed that out to the floor guy and indicated that I thought the plugs needed to be supported from underneath, and he assured me he’d fix it. “Yes they will. If your radiator cap is not labeled, check your owner's manual to find it.. Filling large gaps with natural-fiber rope is a traditional method commonly used on wide plank floorboards in very old homes. Learn how to seal floorboards effectively and stop those draughts once and for all. It just has to be strong enough that the plugs don’t have to defy gravity to stay in place. It is pretty obvious how much less effort & time supporting them with a board from underneath would be than glue. Am I an unreasonable customer demanding quality that I don’t want to pay for? Am I the only one that thinks this is asinine? “You told me you’d done this before. Nothing complicated here. Back when we were still trying to figure out if the floor was worthy of restoration, one thing I was particularly worried about was all of the holes in the floor from the old radiator pipes. When I start, the pipes will be unfinished i.e. Once the adhesive is set and dry, the repair is done and can be screened and finished along with the remainder of the floor. Read with caution.I apologize for the passive anger fueling this post. The rules of replying: Be respectful. Only the strong can hack it daily. Ok, I didn’t actually say the last one, but I wanted to. Wow, what a hack job. Test out your plug by trying to tap it into the hole lightly with a rubber mallet. For the most part, we were happy with him and the final product, but there were also several things that we were disappointed with. Filling pipe holes in floorboards a to fill pipe holes in a hardwood floor nail through pipe problems procedures how to tile over floorboards tiles direct Filling Holes In Floorboards Diynot Forums10 S In Hours10 S In HoursFilling Pipe Holes In Floorboards A Pictures Of Hole 2018Filling Radiator Pipe Holes In Floors Concord CarpenterHow To […] By ripping up boards and replacing your creating a lot of work for the guy. With hardly any effort, it was simple to push the plugs straight down through the floor into the basement. How to Fill in Gaps in Wooden Floors. To patch a hole in a wood floor left by the removal of a floor furnace grate – such as we had in the Kuppersmith Project house – start by installing floor joists across the opening, followed by a subfloor, felt paper, and flooring. Stuff stainless steel pads into small holes around pipes and cables, and then seal the holes with caulk. Why? Overall, I think the floors look great. None of the plugs he used fit tightly in the holes. I will be able to slide the tiles over the top once I've cut the holes. I do a half-assed job at a lot of our home improvement projects, but this guy is making me look like Bob Vila! This method fills all the cracks and holes in the flooring. Gaps in floorboards are a result of temperature and moisture variations that caused the wood to shrink. Later, he told me he’d fixed it (“I used tons of Gorilla Glue this time!”), but again, when placing hardly any pressure on the plugs, they fell right through. When I start, the pipes will be unfinished i.e. Any minor repairs are included in the price, from filling radiator holes with wooden dowels to filling small gaps with resin. I am confident that my friend would continue to recommend Mike’s work to other customers. I'm wondering what you would have written in an inspection report if you found a tree branch hanging out the bottom of a floor?? I don't think you're expecting too much. @Codicho – Totally – I spent 2 or 3 hours doing this, and that's probably about the same amount of time The Floor Guy spent trying to figure out how much crumpled paper he needed to fit under that one plug. I've asked in the local home repair store and they gave me a silicone like mass that resembles the color of the wood. These shifts often lead to gaps appearing in your wood floor.[v161475_b01]. In hindsight, this should have been a huge red flag. What is the best way to seal this? “They were tight when I put them in, they shrunk because I used a branch from a live tree.” I use paper over the hole and then use a pencil to lightly trace over the hole. Remove excess putty from the wood surface using a putty knife. Prevent mice from getting inside pipes, vents and … I will be able to slide the tiles over the top once I've cut the holes. When filling nail holes in prefinished hardwood floors becomes necessary, you have many options, ranging from latex and epoxy fillers, to homemade ones made with glue and sawdust. Latex Floor Filler You can find latex floor filler in a range of colors at any store that sells flooring materials. Being a floor refinisher we don’t get holes all the time. You would have had to call a carpenter or a floor installer who most don’t refinish. And he did still have to come back one last time to do one more thing. It’ the accused reuben has really hyped this up, I did’nt jam a 8″ log into his floor, they were’nt even 1 ” with my table saw you cut 8 to 10 3/4 to 1″ peices to find the best fit, then you grind the edges to a cone shape, I’ve don’t it once or twice and people liked it better then i pine plug, HE DID”NT WANT TO PAY ME TO TEAR-OUT AND REPLACE W RECLAIMED WOOD TO MATCH PERFECT, patch work can get up there in price, I tried to save him the burden of that expense, I also remember reminding Reuben, that HE needed to figure out how to come from the basement side and screw in pieces of plywood I told him that 4 times,He would have had to pay my more for subfloor prep, He jammed that tree into his own floor and took a picture of it to try to make me look bad. Is that too much to ask? Not being unreasonable at all my friend! If you’re using a jigsaw to cut the circle, you’ll first want to draw the circle on the board so you have a guide to follow with the saw. The first thing you need to do before filling gaps with silicon in old wood floors is to get them as clean as possible.This means taking a vacuum to the floor and using the attachments to get all of the dirt out from between the boards. @Anonymous – lesson learned. If you’ve got a laminate floor and surrounding baseboard, and there’s a small gap where the trim meets the floor, it means either the floor wasn’t even and straight, or the trim contracted after it was installed. No, you're not being at all unreasonable in expecting someone to do it right. WOW! For more information on repairing conduit and pipe holes in hardwood floors, call City Floor Supply at (800) 737-1786 or email [email protected] you’d like more information on the products used in this guide, click the links above or give us a call. Then, make the cut. Any material used to fill the gaps must be able to expand and contract at a similar rate; otherwise, the filler can pop out or fall into the space between the floorboards. Am I an unreasonable customer, or am I getting exactly what I paid for from a guy who proposed to “stick a tree branch in it” for $10? In addition I was quite satisfied with the rest of the work performed by The Floor Guy. Shining a flash-light into them lets me see down into the floorboards and it looks like they might all be connected, at least to the mice. Either way, it’s an easy fix. Though I would also expect to pay more than $10 for a good fix, too. The Floor Guy was recommended by a friend, who has hired him several times in the past and had good experiences each time. Why he didn't make that joint 8 inches further to the right to get rid of that hole is a complete mystery to me…. I’ll fix it when I come back to install the kitchen threshold in a couple days.” And so when The Floor Guy proposed doing virtually the same thing but with a tree branch, well, I just assumed he knew what he was talking about. I have already plugged several holes with expanding foam, but they keep getting in. What do you think, readers? That same friend was shocked that we had a bad experience with Mike, and has since hired Mike again to do additional work, which he was pleased with. That seems to work ok for the nail holes. And he hadn’t even tried to fix several of the other plugs. ( Log Out / Change ) You are commenting using your Twitter account. The most common form of woodworm is easy to identify - your floorboards (or other items of wooden furniture) will be covered in tiny holes caused by the larvae of beetles that feed on the wood. @Dez – well it's certainly not the best way to fill these holes, although it's strong enough to walk on, and I'm confident it's a good 10-year fix at least. That's so bogus. To refill the radiator or flush it, open up the water feed valve and then fill the unit with water. I've heard a mouse can squeeze through a tiny hole, so I'm looking for a way to fill the smallest holes that form where the boards don't line up evenly. How to Fill Cracks in Baseboards & Doorways. We offer lots of different solutions depending on the size of the gaps that you have to fill in your floorboards. If the plugs aren’t going to be snug in the holes, I felt pretty strongly that they needed to be supported from underneath somehow. The steel pad creates an abrasive barrier to keep mice out, and it can easily be cut up with scissors to fit into smaller areas. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. For more information on repairing conduit and pipe holes in hardwood floors, call City Floor Supply at (800) 737-1786 or email [email protected] you’d like more information on the products used in this guide, click the links above or give us a call. HI All, recently retiled my bathroom floor and have these tiny gaps around the radiator pipe, floor and wall - best illustrated in the attached photo. These repairs were just plain comical. And it was, I guess. Hello everyone, Ill be changing my heating system, and will be removing my cast iron radiators. The holes themselves are decent sized, around an inch on the radiator and 2-4 inches on the toilet and cabinet. The strange thing is that The Floor Guy did, in fact, replace a few entire boards in a couple other locations and he did a decent job.