DIYers need advice on fixing damaged flooring
Multiple users are seeking solutions for damage to their floors. One user cut their apartment floor with a rotary cutter, while another has a missing chunk of cement in a wall and is unsure how to repair it. Others seek guidance on transitioning LVP flooring to stairs without molding.
SOURCES (60)
“Hi, I didn’t notice the squeak until after i put floor patch to make the surface flat. Now it showed up after i did all of that, what’s a good fix? Thanks submitted by /u/ninjasinpunjab [link] [comments]”
“Hello! Thank you Reddit community for support with our new home. Not sure if this is the area to post about my issue. I will love and appreciate any advice that can be shared with me! Excuse our mess in pictures, we just moved in this weekend. Long story short, I had a carpet cleaner come in and I realized there was a urine spot that was untreated from the previous owners. Then I found others, ugh! I had low moisture carpet cleaner business come, which I made a mistake because I should’ve hired”
“I am renting a 900 sq. ft. artist studio in a 300 year old building. I assume these are the original floors and they're in terrible shape (even for artist studios). They keep disintegrating and flaking so getting a clean floor is impossible. I work in textiles so anything that gets dropped on the floor gets completely disgusting and at times, snagged. All I need is a floor that can be swept clean. Are they remotely salvageable? Or are there floor paints or other treatments that can work to s”
“Old flooring broke over tons of use and unsure what to do to repair this. Also don’t know where I can find this type of flooring. Thoughts? submitted by /u/loganbrown14 [link] [comments]”
“I live in a rental apartment and I did these heavy deep scratches and I want to know how to fix it and anyone just tell me what is this flooring named? Thanks in advance submitted by /u/masry-geddan [link] [comments]”
“Idk if it's wood or some sort of laminate. Can I put flooring on top of this or...? Any advice is greatly appreciated! submitted by /u/Lumpy_Squash8436 [link] [comments]”
“So, I came home to my mother’s and her carpet has been notably getting worse and worse every time I come. I’d like to just fix it as this is starting to bug me. I’m just wondering what the easier way to go about this would be? Should I pop off my baseboard and install a new tack strip? (Going off my limited knowledge) and basically reinstall ? Any help is greatly appreciated! submitted by /u/TaylorKalsii [link] [comments]”
“Hey yall, we need suggestions on how to fix our floor! We moved our bed which lead to a scratch. Not too deep but anyway, our repair guy came and put some putty on it to fill it. Now we’re left with this. We need to color match it, & this is a rental. As long as it looks good for the walk through, that’s all we care about lolll. SOS🙏🏼 submitted by /u/Due_Round7805 [link] [comments]”
“We ALWAYS put furniture pads on everything, but we somehow missed putting one on the center of our bed frame…and we completely FUCKED the original hardwood floors. Is this fixable? Would wood filler do the trick? Is there a better method? Really striving to get our deposit back! submitted by /u/yellowhearteyes [link] [comments]”
“I’m moving out of this apartment and the floors looked like this under carpet and where our couch was. I don’t know what it is. Is it something we can fix before we move? submitted by /u/Lil_laurenn [link] [comments]”
“Heyo! Just ripped up the carpet in of the spare bedrooms. About to lay some Pergo XP laminate to match the rest of the house. Another room I did was just the concrete subfloor under the carpet. This rooms a bit different. Not sure what this is. Linoleum? Does it need to come up first or can I just lay the laminate planks on top? If it needs to come up, what’s the best approach? It seems to chip up pretty easily. Thanks in advance! submitted by /u/jaxonHoffmanRH [link] [comments”
“Heyo, I recently put down some new vinyl plank flooring, but I'm struggling with how to clean up the gaps around the door frames and jambs. As you can see in the photos, there are some pretty noticeable gaps where the flooring doesn't meet the trim or the transition piece correctly. The door trim was reused and i just didn’t measure the plank to account for that piece correctly, leaving exposed subfloor. What is the best way to fix or cover this up? Tyia! submitted by /u/Due-”
“Hi good folks of reddit, me and the wife recently moved to our new home. The living room had a ramp (2nd pic) which was taking up lot of space. The flooring and the ramp in the living room were installed by the second to last owner 3 years ago. We were able to remove the ramp, and we assumed we'll be able to easily buy the same flooring to replace that portion since the renovation was not too long ago. We tried multiple stores (our handyman tried too) and online and couldn't find the exa”
“Hi, it’s me again, Earlier this month I pulled up my carpet to find the floors in pretty bad shape from the pathway around the bed. The previous owners did have dogs. I was quoted by a company that they can sand it and replace necessary boards with their included price and still keep it natural. Is that too good to be true? I have many quoting a price plus more per replacement board which is unpredictable. I have another person saying we should do a “test” sand to see what comes out to know what”
“I think this is LVP and this area has started warping/bubbljng. We were concerned w water damage from our AC unit but we got that checked and no leaks. Could it be due to heat? submitted by /u/CheerfulWaffle [link] [comments]”
“Customer cut the treads the wrong length. What could I do to “make them longer”? I’m thinking it’s not doable. I could maybe glue pieces to the end of each tread to bump them out enough but without cutting the treads back to the same length before applying extensions they would look uneven. Any suggestions? submitted by /u/Designer-Welder-1386 [link] [comments]”
“My girlfriend dropped a 4kg dumbbell on the floor and it made this mean looking gouge. Would glueing and pressing be the best fix? It’s about 50 interlocked planks in from the nearest wall so replacing it isn’t really an option. submitted by /u/Sad-Professional564 [link] [comments]”
“I may be completely hooped and losing my deposit. Such is life. Unfortunately, I didn't realize my chair was slicing away at the flooring (I'm not 100% what material it is, to be honest). I have no plans to move any time soon, but eventually (like 2+ years down the line), I would like to upgrade to a bigger suite. I have now put a rug underneath the furniture, but is there any possible way this might be fixable? submitted by /u/DeathByMapleSyrup [link] [comments]”
“Hi so I’ve been in my apartment for 14 years almost and they’ve never replaced the flooring before I moved in. There were stains on it not much but now the carpets Nails have been exposed by the front and also by the kitchen. Also, the carpets lifting and a lot of places. Do you think I could get my Landloard to replace the carpet? Or do you think they won’t? I’m in California by the way Los Angeles to be exact submitted by /u/bellaluv2021 [link] [comments]”
“Hi, I know this was wrong, bad job of a runaway handyman. What can I lay on the floor next to gas fireplace (that i never used). Is it ok to cut cement board and fit? And then to paint it black in a fire proof color? What material to use to close gaps between board and wall tiles? Thank you! submitted by /u/Little-Tooth-8759 [link] [comments]”
“Moving soon and as I’m cleaning things out from under my bed, I noticed these scratch marks my bed frame was making. Apparently, my frame has been tearing up the floor without me noticing. Any ideas for a fix or am I taking the charge? Lol submitted by /u/TheAwsmPossum [link] [comments]”
“Hi all, Had carpet done and pretty happy but one thing I thought I'd live with annoys me to no end. Transition of our bedroom to bath had what appears to be a block under the carpet to raise for transition. Before I fix I wanted to get some opinion on best way to handle the fix and what a good transition option is. submitted by /u/Jander76 [link] [comments]”
“My cat has torn up my new foam kitchen mats. I have pieces of foam all over the house and these huge scratches marring the mats. Any ideas on how to salvage them? Should I cover them with some kind of fabric? I don’t want to throw them away if I can help it but I don’t want the foam to continue littering the house. I tried to get angles where you could see texture and thickness. submitted by /u/em_nora [link] [comments]”
“We bought an old house and would love any advice on whether it’s possible to fill and polish these small holes from knots that have been dislodged over the years. I was thinking colour-matched wood filler and a dremel with a mini polish buffer attachment? submitted by /u/allyerbase [link] [comments]”
“Hello flooring experts, my husband installed our floors and this area where the French doors are located is driving me crazy, idk if maybe it’s the flooring cuts or does there need to be one of those transition strips here? Thanks! submitted by /u/CheesecakeFun9836 [link] [comments]”
“Thinking about getting my 25 yr old floors refinished. Obviously getting the furniture moved is a big part of it. Do the refinishers do the furniture move themselves ( or subcontract it out) or do you have to handle all that yourself? submitted by /u/Artistic_Researcher2 [link] [comments]”
“How do I even go about laying a floating floor around a center drain? submitted by /u/cjhady [link] [comments]”
“Ripped up an old rug and removed the plywood underneath to find wide floorboards in my 1780 home… any advice on filling the gaps between these floorboards? Unfortunately there is also a missing section of floor that needs repair - I can see down into my family room!! I’d love to refinish the floor. Thanks for any advice. submitted by /u/ittybittystardust [link] [comments]”
“Hello everyone, in need of help as I am running out of ideas. Recently I got some scratch marks on my apartment floor while moving a couch into the living room. My mistake for not paying closer attention to the floor, but lesson learned. I did a lot of google searches and watched quite a few YouTube videos. Tried a bunch of methods including stain pen and wood filler but they don’t seem to work. Does anyone know any method that make pair or make these marks less visible? Aside from replacing the”
“Hello everyone, I'm currently trying to clean my floor and nothing seems to get rid of all those marking (disregarding the paint my daughter put on the ground). What should I do to restore it? Thank you! submitted by /u/nodiaque [link] [comments]”
“Everything seemed to go well when I replaced a few planks in my living room floor, then I start packing up and cleaning up and see this: 1/3 of one side of a plank is out. Are there any easy fixes? So far I have tried gently tapping it with a rubber mallet and guiding back in with a small pry bar. TIA submitted by /u/hotbrowndrangus [link] [comments]”
“I think I need to replace to plywood? What tools are needed or anyone know any good videos to watch. I was not expecting this . Any tools that are needed to make it easy? Nail gun? Etc. submitted by /u/Ill-Guitar-9385 [link] [comments]”
“Hi! I have a couple of cracked tiles in my kitchen floor that are very obnoxious and after watching several YouTube videos and looking through this sub, it looks like it shouldn’t be too hard to fix them myself (especially since the prev homeowner left a couple spare tiles in the basement, thank goodness) However, when I went to chip the thinset out from under the tile to make it flat again, it appears that the backer board they put underneath is chipping/disintegrating in spots. How do I make s”
“Hello - I had a small water leak and it led to swelling of my basement wooden flooring. It grew like mini domes. Many pieces came out , most of which I was able to put back together ( after drying glued to concrete with Gorilla heavy duty ) but there are 5 pieces which I am unable to fit in / interlock. Reason - the size of the pieces increased because of the water and didn't return to the original size after drying. I do not have a saw or tool to cut the pieces shorter. What are my options”
“Is this fixable? What is entailed? Need to hire a professional yeah? Any idea on the cost? My wife put down this floor protector at the desk but the darn thing rubbed the floor like this. We rent and are pretty worried about our deposit submitted by /u/CrowRunnerORP [link] [comments]”
“Hi all, I have these scuffs and scrapes on my floor, mostly from when the movers moved in my furniture. I've now placed felt tips on just about every foot and leg of furniture, but these marks remain. I've tried a damp paper towel, but to no effect. I've read somewhere that Magic Eraser might do the trick, but I'd prefer some corroboration before trying anything that might damage it further. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance. submitted by /u/maggyver [link] [co”
“Hey everyone, Ripped up the old carpet on my staircase and ran straight into a wall. Beneath it is this old waffle rubber underlayment with a net/mesh backing (looks like old Parade brand underlay) glued directly to the wooden treads. Every time I try to pull or peel it, it just snaps into tiny, brittle 1-inch chunks because the glue bond is way stronger than the old rubber. Trying to pick it off by hand is going to take weeks. submitted by /u/Hungry_Ability_1529 [link] [comm”
“I had a builder put a water pipe through a bedroom floor. He made very deep cuts in the joists. Wonder if this is safe and if it's possible to repair them somehow. This is a house built in 1955 by the Manchester council, double brick wall. https://snipboard.io/xa4jkO.jpg https://snipboard.io/hlNcGa.jpg https://snipboard.io/UJgNMl.jpg https://snipboard.io/TUyk7h.jpg https://snipboard.io/eyq7dm.jpg submitted by /u/Icy_Yam_9951 [link] [comments]”
“Just moved into a rental where they painted and put new carpet in but this flooring is through out the house and they didn’t fix this spot that is separating. Can I fix it myself easily/cheaply? If so how submitted by /u/cooralinee [link] [comments]”
“Hello. I am posting on behalf of my mother. She has vinyl plank flooring that is peeling in a few different places. Is there a simple way to fix this without having to replace the planks? I am very ignorant when it comes to flooring so I apologize for sounding dumb. Thank you. submitted by /u/discoboot [link] [comments]”
“Hi - I’ve been in the apartment for a couple months now. It’s actually really great and has a lot of intentional updates, but the one thing that never made sense to me was that the flooring is just painted wood (with the exception of the kitchen and bathroom). We had a couple scratches here and there but today I just noticed huge chipping (see photo, mouse for scale) under my work desk. It’s an area that my rolling chair goes over a lot so maybe that played a role? That section just seems really”
“We've taken down a wall in the basement. The whole basement has engineered laminate floor boards, but not under where the wall was. Is it doable (and I mean by a pro - I'm not that good at DIY) to add laminate and sheeting for a vapor barrier to fill in this gap and a small area, without ripping out the rest of the floor boards? Or do we need to rip it all out and start over? submitted by /u/Beck943 [link] [comments]”
“The rug part I understand. What I don't know is what's happening underneath when something soaks through and sits for a day trapped between the pad and the finish. Stain, warp, or nothing? Guessing it varies a lot between hardwood, LVP and laminate. Has anyone pulled up a rug and found real damage?The rug part I understand. What I don't know is what's happening underneath when something soaks through and sits for a day trapped between the pad and the finish. Stain, warp, or nothi”
“Hi all, I got these stains on the wood due to plants leaking, I'm worried about the deposit (it is $3000). Is it fixable for the diy-er? Or else how much would you estimate to have it fixed (Houston area)? The hand is in the photos for the size reference. House built year 2000. Thank you for your responses! submitted by /u/arriva97 [link] [comments]”
“Looks like there was filler at one point but it wasn't blended at all and looked yellow and bad. Are the gaps too big? Definitely cannot afford to replace flooring rn. Place was built 1910 if that's helpful. submitted by /u/LulutoDot [link] [comments]”
“Based on the state of that flange your better off removing the flange, replacing the floor and then putting in a fresh one. Chopping your subfloor to little bits to get it in there is just asking for squeaks and a harder floor finish job.”
“Does this floor look salvageable or would I be better off covering it with something, if i covered it. What would you recommend? Need to pull off the vinyl in kitchen as well, will I be able to sand the glue off? Thanks in advance submitted by /u/Eatspicynoodles [link] [comments]”
“It looks worse off camera lol. But I accidentally had my cat trapped in the closet all night and she tore out this corner of carpet. I trimmed most of the long plastic pieces. Nothing came out in one chunk so I can’t really glue the carpet tufts back down. submitted by /u/mewchiii [link] [comments]”
“This is like an intersection in the home. An area rug wouldn’t work in this spot. No furniture would be put here either, it was blatant neglect by dragging something nearly 10’ across the house”
“I have a 1920s house with a concrete like terazzo floor. Im curious if there is a way to refinish it submitted by /u/Amos_Archon [link] [comments]”
“Here is another one... https://www.homedepot.com/p/Weiman-Wood-Furniture-and-Floors-Repair-Kit-Markers-4-Count-511D/319611694”
“A lot of the surface scuffs will go away with almost any floor cleaning product.. The deep gouges can be hidden with some of the colored wax repair sticks... OR this kit... https://www.homedepot.com/p/ROBERTS-Universal-Repair-Kit-for-Wood-Laminate-and-Vinyl-Flooring-Counter-Cabinet-and-Furniture-Use-10-33/204340548”
“I'm about to move out of my apartment and I want to get my security deposit back so I'm fixing up little things. The one thing I can't seem to figure is this scratch on my floor. I'll be honest I don't know what kind of floor it is specifically but I know its wood or wood adjacent so I tried one of those putty crayons from home depot to fill it in but its not working. I'm not sure if i'm doing something wrong or if i'm using the wrong material or if this is even f”
“Hi, I’m looking for some advice on fixing this small patch of flooring that had something leak on it. I tried sanding it back a bit and using Cabot’s maple stain and varnish on it but it is not blending very well. Should I sand it completely back to the timber and then stain? Any advice would be very welcome thanks. submitted by /u/Almos119 [link] [comments]”
“I'm pretty new to all of this so it would be helpful having another opinion. Trying to help my sister install tile in their laundry room. The overall plan is to fill cracks with Henry 549 feather edge, prime (?), use self levelling compound, then install schluter ditra uncoupling membrane, then tile. Currently, I didn't realize the sealant on the plywood would be an issue until a little bit later, so I told the others that our options were to grind it down or find a primer and SLC that w”