How does a professional remove a short section of damaged floorboard
for replacement - and is it possible to do it with 'ordinary' tools?

jhiker@hotmail.com wrote:

> How does a professional remove a short section of damaged floorboard
> for replacement


With a big hammer, chisel, circular saw, cold chisel, jigsaw,
drills (various), Stanley knife, hacksaw, atomic bomb, etc.



> - and is it possible to do it with 'ordinary' tools?


Yes, easily. What's the situation? Is it a T&G floorboard?

Yes - it's a T&G floorboard in a bathroom. There's been water dripping
on a section of it and it's rotted part through. I've scraped out the
manky wood and dried it thoroughly - it just looks a bit 'thin'. i
could od with replacing about 300mm tho' i realise I'll probably have
to span two joists.
Thanks.

jhiker@hotmail.com wrote:

> Yes - it's a T&G floorboard in a bathroom. There's been water dripping
> on a section of it and it's rotted part through. I've scraped out the
> manky wood and dried it thoroughly - it just looks a bit 'thin'. i
> could od with replacing about 300mm tho' i realise I'll probably have
> to span two joists.
> Thanks.
> 


What I normally do is drill a few holes close to the joists so you can 
chop out the old board easily. Take a padsaw/ plasterboard saw/ jigsaw, 
and cut the edges straight flush with the joists. Screw a couple of 2" x 
1"s   to the joists to support the new board. IME trying to get a 
straight edge in the middle of the joist is more trouble than it's worth.

Stuart Noble wrote:

> jhiker wrote:
>> Yes - it's a T&G floorboard in a bathroom. There's been water dripping
>> on a section of it and it's rotted part through. I've scraped out the
>> manky wood and dried it thoroughly - it just looks a bit 'thin'. i
>> could od with replacing about 300mm tho' i realise I'll probably have
>> to span two joists.

> What I normally do is drill a few holes close to the joists so you can 
> chop out the old board easily. Take a padsaw/ plasterboard saw/ jigsaw, 
> and cut the edges straight flush with the joists. Screw a couple of 2" x 
> 1"s   to the joists to support the new board. IME trying to get a 
> straight edge in the middle of the joist is more trouble than it's worth.


Add: "take care there's nothing underneath that you don't want
to cut into". Ideally look under the floor, else cut a good
sized hole in the middle of the bit you want to remove with a
drill (drill out a circle carefully, not following through
with the drill!), and look through with torch and mirror. As
it's T&G you will need cut through the tongue to lift the
section, remove the lower side of the "groove" on the new
piece to replace).

In article , 
jhiker@hotmail.com says...

> How does a professional remove a short section of damaged floorboard
> for replacement - and is it possible to do it with 'ordinary' tools?
> 
> 

Use a wood chisel and a floorboard saw:
http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/pro.jsp?id=12981&ts=23378
Cut the tongue off (use the back of the saw to start the cut), cut 
across most of the board with the back of the saw and finish off with 
the chisel.  Lever out.  If you can, only cut above the middle of a 
joist, otherwise you'll need to fit a batten to the side of the joist or 
under the two adjacent boards for the end of the new board to rest on.  
Remove the bottom half of the groove from the new piece to fit it, fix 
with nails if it's resting on joists, otherwise screws.
I'd probably use a circular saw (cuts through nails with ease, and 
anything else that happens to get in the way) instead of a floorboard 
saw, but I like brute force  :-)

Stuart Noble  wrote:


> IME trying to get a straight edge in the middle of the joist is more trouble than it's worth.


It's dead easy to do with a Fein Multimaster. At over 100 quid for the
basic tool and 15 quid for the blades it might not be for everyone.


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