ADVICE NEEDED- From The Hardwood Pros

PrecisionFloors

No offense, but you would be wiser to start your own thread.

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Heritage

I owe you guys an update. Thanks again for the advice

This was certainly a learning experience on a number of fronts. It was, in the end, my fault...so I sucked it up (as I should) and went for the advice on ripping out the individual plank.

EASIER SAID THAN DONE

I ripped 2 cuts down the middle (5' or 6' piece) with a skillsaw .

I padded down the saw to prevent scratches.

2 center rips done.

I started chiseling away the end pieces, then I managed to chip the adjacent piece's top finish (Next row over btw).

My hands started shaking, kept working, then I scratched another piece 2 rows over with my chisel

Went for a smoke.

Long story short, 8 planks, 5 hrs and a couple of cigs later she was done

I thought I was walking on glass...

BUT hey, all pros were once amateurs ...albeit, maybe not as bad as me.

I wanted to include some final pics but I set my camera resolution high for the finished pics and the manager won't allow me to upload. Thanks folkers!

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PrecisionFloors

That's not too bad for that many planks for a first timer. It is pretty nerve racking the first few ya do. You'll get the hang of it and plank replacements will be no big deal. My SuperCut makes quick work of stuff like that....has saved enormous amounts of time over a chisel. I commend you for jumping in and gettin 'er done.

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TopFloor

Good job. I believe my first plank replacement ended with more than one plank being replaced. Think of it this way: that may have been the most difficult replacement you ever do- knock on wood! (don't knock TOO hard, though!)

You learned a couple valuable lessons, I am guessing. Did you have your vaccuum handy? Thats one I should have suggested. If you dont vaccuum the void REALLY well, there is always one little, microscopic piece of wood in the groove trying to wreck your day!

I like how your story went from 1 to 3 to 8 boards! Hah, I can imagine. Congratulations on getting it behind you.

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72chevy4x4

way to go-can't say enough for learning experiences! next time I bet you'll get it in less than three planks :-)

KG007

Good job. Don't feel bad about damaging and removing a few extra, I've seen people with years of experience do it. I'm not good at it and unless you do it all the time you will never be good at it. (I'd rather leave it to the crews, they at least know what they are doing more than me!) Hopefully, you'll never have the need to do it often enough to be good at it! I have used a router to cut them out and learned that having a shop vac sucking it up held by a helper is a necessity.

Casemill

The pic looks like a pre-finished glue down. Is it? If it is, why are there nail hole? If it's a nail down pre-finished product, the nails you use on the last 3 or 4 rows should have been finish nails and filled right away. I hope you didn't use face nailer nails on a pre-finished product. As for the dent, the HO don't like it, they have your money, you gotta do their bidding. Now for the dent. If it's a glue down floor, it's a piece of cake to fix. Just take out the bad board and glue down a new one after modifying it a little. If this is a nail down deal, the home owner will be really unhappy with a new board that has nail holes in it instead of a dent. So, if you are real careful, you can pull up those 14 or so rows, put a new board in, reinstall everything, FILL THE NAIL HOLES RIGHT AWAY!. Or try the furniture repair guy. Some of them are magicians. This is too bad, because, in six months, if you went back and visited the job, your floor will have a whole bunch of dents, just like that one, from high heels, dropped items, rocks in shoe soles, and the home owner will have caused all of them. That's life in the flooring biz. It always amazes me when I go to remove an old floor that the people that own it want the new one to be perfect, but the one I'm taking up is beat to hell. Get real, people! Been there, done that.

Old Man

Too bad you didn't catch that during installation. You'll want them as a reference later so I would replace the board and make them happy. Make your cut in the middle of the board and then pry the two halves out. Cut the tabs off the splice piece and then glue it in. Its not that hard. The only place for nails is under the baseboards where you cant see them.

Heritage

Visited the site 2 days ago...after they moved in.

Scratches, dents and scrapes galore

They'll get used to it, they have 3 kids

Some pics just before finishing:

http://s593.photobucket.com/albums/tt14/H_H_I/

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Casemill

So what did you do? Did you replace the dented board?

crovello

They put carpet on those nice stairs??????

mattsk8

Lately I've been bidding against guys in MI on flooring (and plenty of others) jobs and my bids are so low I'm nervous about getting the work and I still dont get some of the jobs. I hate bidding that cheap but some work is better than no work. It reeeaaally sucks to be competing against hacks to get the job. It is however fun if I say I wont do it that cheap and follow up w/ the HO to see how the job went and find out about all the problems!! I only post this because profit and overhead margins here seem to be fleeting quickly ...

Floordude

You can thank those that employ illegal aliens for that.
You know, doing jobs Americans can no longer AFFORD to do.

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mattsk8

Right, I'm concidering moving to Mexico to find work. I wonder if I could sneek across the border??

Old Man

This is a very common scenario and its going to get worse. The problem is made worse by the fact that customers know this and are playing along with the bidding war to get the lowest price. Now, its how low can they get, not how reputable is the contractor. They are taking advantage of unemployment and the growing illegal contractor problem to find the hungriest sucker. For us that are legal and have licenses and insurance to pay, and homes and real bills to pay, its impossible to compete with those that live five families to a three BR house fed with food stamps.

Right on

Good luck . Dont you know its a one way gate? The Mexican gov is very good at keeping illegal immigration out of their own country while they hold the door open for their impoverished masses to escape so the US so they become our liability.

pinwheel

You & me both. Not a big prefinish fan either. But sometimes ya gotta do what ya gotta do to pay the bills.

I agree, know you client & how high the bar is.

Replacing a plank or 2 is not a big deal 15-20 minute job. Carefully make 2 rips down the board in question, split the board where the saw doesn't cut all the way through with a chisel & carefully remove the pieces. Next, cut your replacement plank to length. Rip off the tongue & back bevel the tongue side of the plank. Be sure to cut the end tongue off & the bottom side of the grooved end of the plank. Apply some construction adhesive to the sub floor & tap in the replacement plank. Good as new & if they don't watch ya do it, they'll never know where it is.

lawndart

Thats a stained Maple floor. Is it made by Mirage?

westheadfloorin

do you how to take the board out and replace it without disturbing the rest of the floor? i will be glad to help if i can .I have been in that spot too

RhodesHardwood

You will find out that some people just can't be pleased no matter how hard you try. Some people love the power that they have over you for the short amount of time they do. The best thing to do is become a pro at seeking these people out before hand and avoid these jobs.

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finaltouchfloor

We do insurance claims all the time and cut out sections and flll in the new planks like you lay a book down that you are reading. Never top nail your first rows. We bolt down a straight line and use that as our starting point. Use a spline to back fill the rest.