To patch a hole in a wood floor left by the removal of a floor furnace grate – such as we had in the Kuppersmith Project house – start by installing floor joists across the opening, followed by a subfloor, felt paper, and flooring. Here’s how to go about patching a wood floor in your home.

Once the gas line had been disconnected, and the old gas floor furnace taken out:

• Remove Grate: Remove the metal grate covering the opening.
• Install Floor Joists: Install floor joists across the opening from underneath.
• Cut Plywood Subfloor: Cut a piece of plywood the correct thickness and size to fill the opening, so it’s flush with the bottom of the flooring.
• Attach Subfloor: Place the plywood subfloor into the opening, and attach it to the floor joists using nails and construction adhesive.
• Remove Existing Flooring: Remove any short pieces of flooring, and/or stagger the joints in the flooring by chiseling back every other board.
• Install Felt Paper: Cover the exposed subfloor with felt paper.
• Patch Flooring: Replace the missing floor boards with matching wood flooring of the same species and width. When possible use matching flooring from the house, such as that found in a closet or flooring that may have been removed during renovation
• Sand and Refinish Floor: Sand and refinish the floor so the old and new flooring match.

Watch this video to find out more.

Further Information

• Heart Pine Flooring for the Kuppersmith Project House (video)
• Installing Heart Pine Flooring in Kuppersmith Project (video)
• Heart Pine from the Kuppersmith Project House (video)
• Problems Sanding and Refinishing Heart Pine Floors (article)
• How to Refinish Wood Floors (video/article)
• How to Choose and Install Wood Floors in Your Home (video)

Please Leave a Comment

One Comment on “How to Patch a Hole in a Wood Floor from a Furnace Grate”

You can follow comments to this article by subscribing to the RSS news feed with your favorite feed reader.

1. Susan Diehn Says:
   January 30th, 2012 at 9:42 am

   We have a 120 year old home with Heart pine floors. There are many cracke between the floor boards and at the ends of the boards. I thought I saw an article on how to fill these gaps with some sort of rope, have you any suggestions? The floors are laid in interesting patterns and I really want to preserve them. I would also like to know what is the hardest finish to use on these floors? We had some refinished and I am very diappointed in the lack of durablity. Thanks, Susan

We want to hear from you! In addition to posting comments on articles and videos, you can also send your comments and questions to us on our contact page or at (800) 946-4420. While we can't answer them all, we may use your question on our Homefront radio show, Today’s Homeowner TV show, or online at dannylipford.com.