Hole in Wood Floor in Hallway - Repair or Cover?

Question

Hello ! Please send me ideas for flooring on second floor hallway -

Im renovating a 2 level apartment with old wood floors everywhere that are in various shape (rough in some parts). I am covering entire first floor with LifeProof vinyl planks from HomeDepot. On 2FL floor I am cutting cost by (A) Bedrooms: cleaning, painting the wood floor chocolate brown, and throwing custom fit area rugs (B) Bathroom and closets: vinyl sheet (C) I am not sure what to do in the hallway -

Ideally I would sand/refinish the hallway floors (a permanent solution). However there is a 1ft x 1ft hole that was cut and covered with plywood.

I'm also thinking about

Install permanent carpet
Sand/refinish and cover with a runner long rug
Clean/paint and cover with a runner long rug

Thanks!

Don Meinke · Answer

If your skills include a proper repair you could try matching surrounding wood and repair same by taking some out so the random length splice joints are like the rest.More than likely this MAY require a pro floor finisher. I would at least call in a few to get estimates. Small repairs are generally hard so I would ask for estimate for refinishing this whole hallway, have them repair and sand/ finish ALL to match. Guess first thing is to determine WHAT you are going to do with the existing stair treads. Either you refinish those at same time to match this hall OR put laminate over stairs and this whole hall. Carpet isn't the answer here since it will always be worn and dirty in a high traffic area as this is. Who would clean and vacuum this small area? Much easier to run a Swiffer sweeper over this same as there regular apartment floor. (Make it a lease requirement)

Aleksey F. · Answer

Thank you @Grant Rothenburger @Steven Wilson @Don Meinke I will go for attempting to replace the square with matching flooring. No I can't do that myself but I will be using a handyman who is much better. It does not need to be perfect. Then we will sand/refinish or just paint. Stairs are in good shape - Im also painting and gluing on new stair threads.Man Im glad I started this thread - otherwise I would have never heard the story about Matthew burning and torturing the floors with chains. Very cool !

John Warren · Answer

@Aleksey F. if you have a company refinish the floors, have them patch it with hard wood but don't require them to weave the boards in and out to match the original design. Just let the patch be a patch. I am dealing with this in an apartment building here in Chicago now. All of the units had radiators in them before the building was converted to gas forced air, so we had to patch a few spots in all 19 units. I was definitely not spending the money on making it look perfect, but once we sanded and polyurethaned the floor the patches looked just fine. We have had literally zero comments about it, and it cost way less for the hard wood guys to do!

Matthew Paul · Answer

I had something similar , but the hole was from a grate from an old furnace . Wood floors with stains , dents etc , I got some hardwood flooring and made a pattern where the hole was . I sanded the whole house , then I broke out my plumbers torch and distressed lots of areas , made burn marks , I then took a heavy chain and beat on the floor . I then used a translucent stain over the whole floor , followed by 3 coats of gloss poly . EVERYONE loved it . The rustic look .Now by the time furniture is added , throw rugs are put down , you dont see that much of the floor anyway .

Theresa Harris · Answer

@Aleksey F.What a great solution!

Aleksey F. · Answer

Hi everyone, wanted to update about what I did in the end. I wanted to patch the floor with new wood, but instead ended up :Going on eBay and finding an old floor grate, with exact dimensions to the one that was in this hole originally. This was the fastest and a pretty good $80 solution. The grate is iron, very sturdy, and is 25 pounds and simply slides into this hole. Originally this was to facilitate warm air flow from 1FL to 2FL I think. It looks pretty good and I will throw a runner carpet on top to hide it.

Jim Adrian · Answer

Remove the plywood and patch the floor with new wood. I would get a hardwood floor guy over your handyman for this job. Let them refinish all the floors even the steps. You want this to all look the same. Paint wont last on the steps. Add some nice rubber tread runners on the steps. This should run you about $3-$4 per sq ft and take about 5 days to do because of dry time. Then every time a tenant moves out have them come look at the floors. Every 5 years or so give the floors a light buff/sand and re clear coat. This is cheaper than carpet. Let the tenant install carpet rugs if they want. If they do make them use a rug pad. I give them a $25 credit toward one after they by it.

Timmi Ryerson · Answer

I am assuming from what you have said that you are rehabbing to tenant and hold. If that is not the case and you intend to sell, you must fix the square with wood as closely matched for width as possible. The color can be either sanded of stained out. You might put an add in Facebook using things for sale or free in "your city name" and ask for people who are doing rehabs and removing old wood floors for scraps. You can also do this in miscellaneous sections of your local paper or contact flooring companies who are doing remodels. Bet you can find some free wood to use. I refinished the whole lower floor in my home. It took me weeks (because it was my home) but the area you are doing should only take a few days...there is time between steps...sanding, tacking, sanding again, tacking and finally finishing. Depending on the finish you choose it would take a day or more to dry.If you plan to tenant, you could get by with not repairing but it would always be a problem. People could stub toes, get slivers etc if it is not covered and putting a rug in front of the door is awkward...Just my 2 cent worth.

Mark Ainley · Answer

@Aleksey F. any vendor that would stain the floor should be able to fix that area as well and the stain will make it all match.

Aleksey F. · Answer

@John Warren Perfect thats what I'll do!