FUN MORNING PROJECT

Since I have some free time before my next coat of finish, I’d thought I’d show you a neat project I worked on this morning.  As you may have seen in previous pictures, we pulled the carpet off all of the floors and are planning to return them to finished oak- we worked on the bedrooms over the weekend and I need to put on one more coat of poly before the master bedroom is finished.  There were several large cutouts hidden under the carpet that we speculated that they were the original cold air returns.  Here is one of the two large ones in the hallway;

A couple weeks ago I tested out seaming one of the voids with wood pulled from the laundry room floor because it will eventually be tiled.  While this was successful, the process took a long time and I ended up being able to salvage only about 10% of what I extracted.  I sourced the same flooring from a local lumber distributor and made a trip out to pick up a bundle this morning.  Here is a step by step of the patching;

#1- I ripped out the plywood patch and pulled the existing filler pieces- the hole drops about 6' into the basement crawlspace.  Also, FYI, tan dress socks and worn out New Balance running shoes are required by Nashville Building Department code;

 #2- I needed to square the opening so I tacked in some 2x4 guides and rough cut the area with a circular saw.  After the majority of the wood was gone I backed off the guides ½” and cleaned it up with a router and chisel;

#3- I ripped some shims in various thicknesses to help level the new floor against the joists.  Finally I installed the new tongue and groove red oak flooring to fill the area.  Here is a shot after a little sanding to show you the transition;

In a week I will be sanding and staining the hallway floor so I am curious to see how it matches up!