Hardwood flooring professionals can quickly fix minor damage to your hardwood flooring. It’s best to repair the floor as soon as you see signs of deterioration or damage. Timely intervention helps to maintain the condition of the floor and increases the value of your property as well.
Hardwood Floor Repair- What Is Involved?
The hardwood floor repair needed would depend on the type of damage or deterioration. Here we take a look at the common problems that arise in hardwood flooring and the steps necessary to fix them:
1. Cracked/Split Wood
Over the years, most hardwood floorboard surfaces develop minor cracks or splits. These can be easily spot-repaired with angled nails to secure the pieces together carefully. Filling in some wood putty helps to mask the blemishes. If your floor has large cracks, however, the better hardwood floor repair option would be to refinish it. In case of severe cracks, the damaged plank should be replaced entirely.
2. Gaps in the Floorboards
Sometimes, you may notice gaps developing between the floor planks, and this is a natural occurrence. Over time, the hardwood tends to shrinks. In humid and wet weather conditions, it expands. This regular contraction & expansion over time causes gaps, which is also why these gaps are usually seasonal. The best plan of action is to be patient and watch whether the gaps stay that way in all seasons.
As a thumb rule, if the gaps are not wider the thickness of a dime, the flooring is normal, and you don’t need to worry about it. But in case the gaps are wider than that and more persistent, you’d have to call in hardwood floor repair professionals. They will tighten up the floor, so the problem ceases to exist.
3. Floor Board Buckling
Buckled floors happen when the planks warp and begin to lift from the subflooring they attach to. You would need to call in a professional to determine what the root cause of the problem is in case you notice this type of buckling. They will take specific measures to ensure the boards stay attached to the subfloor firmly so that it no longer buckles.
4. Cupping
This problem is also popular as washboarding. It develops over time all across the width of the strips of wood. The hardwood plank edges begin to rise while the central portion sinks. Moisture imbalance causes this problem, and the only way to fix this issue is to maintain better humidity levels in the indoor areas. The surfaces will slowly but surely return to their original state.
5. Warping
Warped hardwood flooring is prevalent on many properties. And this sagging of the floors is quite a severe problem for a property owner and is typically due to significant moisture issues. This is one hardwood floor repair you can’t afford to defer. Fixing the moisture problems is the only way to make sure that your floors don’t warp.
Other Hardwood Repair Issues
Aside from the significant problems, you might find yourself dealing with loose planks or scratches on the hardwood surfaces. If the scratches are minor, they can touched up easily. But in case the scratches are too deep, the hardwood floor repair professionals will recommend that you get the floor refinished altogether.
Loose planks would have to be tied down, and these are a sign of inferior quality installation. In this case, reinstalling the hardwood flooring would be the only permanent solution.
As mentioned at the outset, regardless of the type of problem you are dealing with, you must call in a hardwood floor repair professional without delay.