Wood Flooring Repair Question

[brnhornt]

Hey gang....quick question for you.   My BIL recently bought a house and asked for my advice.  The previous owner was a bit of a shut in and the existing hardwood floor is in pretty rough shape.  If I had to guess, 80% of the floor looks ok and is nice and tight (but needs refinishing.)  The other 20% looks like this in various spots spread around:
[attachment=34620]

Am I crazy to think of picking up some unfinished red oak strip flooring and simply patching all the "bad" areas, and then sand and refinish?  He mentioned that if repairing the existing floor just isn't viable, they would look to add a cheaper/laminate flooring product on top.  I'm of the mind of repairing the floor for him as a house warming gift.

What do you all think?
Thanks!

[MT Woodworker]

I would sand it first and go from there
Get a good look at the flooring

[joe1086]

That would be a nice gift. I wonder about the subfloor....by any chance is it visible from the floor below? 

I had some oak flooring that looked similar to your pic. It was near a sliding glass door and caused by water damage. When I pulled the oak flooring up the project got bigger as the sub floor was also rotted and had to be replaced.

[brnhornt]

That would be a nice gift. I wonder about the subfloor....by any chance is it visible from the floor below? 

I had some oak flooring that looked similar to your pic. It was near a sliding glass door and caused by water damage. When I pulled the oak flooring up the project got bigger as the sub floor was also rotted and had to be replaced.

That's a good point.  Sadly the basement ceiling has been finished so there is no easy way to tell if the subfloor is good or not.  

If it's not....that's just a matter of cutting away the bad material, sister-ing the joists with new 2x6's, and then gluing/screwing down some new subfloor right?

[brianwelch]

How old is the house/flooring? I ask as I have similar situation, tho' not quite as noticeable, in a circa 1880 home. No subfloor...Yellow Pine flooring

[MT Woodworker]

Southern Yellow Pine makes for nice flooring
Yup, don’t keep the water out and you will find damage....

[DogwoodTales]

The first thing I would check is how much wood is left above the tongue and groove of the existing floor. If it gets too thin after sanding it's going to start splitting along the edges.

IMHO unless you are a color expert you will not get new flooring to color the same as the old floor boards. If you can find some used, older flooring you will have better results. I have done that and it worked very well, but at the time I had some supply on hand of older boards. If it's an option, you can relocate some of the existing flooring from closets etc and replace those with the newer flooring.

[MstrCarpenter]

I think closets are a great option if there's only a few boards to replace. In this case I think salvaging an entire room might get you just enough to repair several areas like the pic.

[sleepy hollow]

I agree with MT about first sanding it to see what you are dealing with (assuming there is enough thickness to sand it).  

I have seen ready-made wood fillers used for this purpose.  I also understand that some refinishers use sawdust mixed with wood glue to make a paste that is trowled on to fill gaps.  

Here is an example that I just pulled up on the web. red oak filler

[brnhornt]

I agree with MT about first sanding it to see what you are dealing with (assuming there is enough thickness to sand it).  

I have seen ready-made wood fillers used for this purpose.  I also understand that some refinishers use sawdust mixed with wood glue to make a paste that is trowled on to fill gaps.  

Here is an example that I just pulled up on the web. red oak filler

I was thinking I would sand after so that if there was any difference in the thickness of new flooring and the old that it would all be sanded flush.  Hadn't thought of sanding first.

As for filling the gaps....most of the pieces in these damaged areas move around a little bit....so I don't think a gap filler would survive very long....