# Tying in hardwood - Weird narrow piece



## mtadams1208 (Mar 6, 2017)

Our first floor is all prestained hardwood, except for the family room, which is carpet. We have a wood border around the edge of it.  We bought more of the same prestained hardwood and plan to remove the border pieces and whatever is necessary to tie in the old with the new. There is this one piece right in the middle that appears more narrow than the rest.  How do we deal with this and why is it like this?


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## slownsteady (Mar 6, 2017)

Looks like an adjustment was needed, possibly for uneven walls. Usually this would be hidden close to one of the walls. But going around the carpeted area, the problem may not have shown up until they reached that spot. I'm not sure exactly how to go about fixing this, as it could ripple through the whole floor layout if it is changed. Are you getting rid of the carpet? If not, what are you trying to do?


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## mtadams1208 (Mar 6, 2017)

yes removing the carpet and tying in more hardwood. since the skinny piece is right smack in the middle we cant take it out without removing have the house's flooring which we obviously arent going to do. i guess i woll need to cut a row lengthwise to match the width for the length of this, but then how do i attach it? obvious the tongue and groove would be sheared off down the length of that row like it prob is for this piece. would I attach nails through the top instead and countersink/fill them to hold down this one row?


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## Mastercarpenty (Mar 7, 2017)

Somebody screwed up massively here with the original installation. With pre-finished materials only the outer edges and interfaces can be cut for width and here they cut part of the running floor or used a differently sized width of material. All you can do is match their screw-up all the way across if you can or remove and re-lay all the flooring to that point.

This would not be an issue with a traditional hardwood floor as there are ways to handle variances with then which finish in well, but those tricks don't work with prefinished materials. Now you see why I say that prefinished flooring is a poor answer to a question that should have never been asked. 

Phil


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## bud16415 (Mar 7, 2017)

I also don&#8217;t think you will like the look of all the new material stopping at the same line it should be woven back in. 

I don&#8217;t think you have just one narrow strip they look to me like they are all a different width starting with the one you are pointing at. If that is the case the mismatch will keep growing as you go across.


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## mtadams1208 (Mar 7, 2017)

Yeah we will be tying it all in, not stopping at a line.  

We will have to match up this one screw up I guess.  It is literally smack dead in the center of the 1,700 s.f. first floor - so, to take out this piece would mean redoing several hundred square feet in either direction - i.e. that's not happening.  It's almost as if two people started at opposite directions and met in the middle. 

they are all the same exact width except this one row. the three you see that are wider are the three "edge" pieces they butted up against the carpeting as a border. But otherwise the entire floor is the same width strips.


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## Sparky617 (Mar 7, 2017)

I guess I'd rip a piece to match the skinny one and then weave the new hardwoods into the existing floor.  The only other alternative would be to tear out a bunch of flooring and redoing it.  

How well does the new stuff match the existing?


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## mtadams1208 (Mar 7, 2017)

Sparky617 said:


> I guess I'd rip a piece to match the skinny one and then weave the new hardwoods into the existing floor.  The only other alternative would be to tear out a bunch of flooring and redoing it.
> 
> How well does the new stuff match the existing?



It matches it very well.  The house is practically new and so the flooring is practically new - we bought more of it from the place where the builder bought it.  It all looks the same and whats there now obviously is in good shape since it is so new. We also have about 15 boxes to sort through to mix it up.


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## mtadams1208 (Mar 7, 2017)

Here is the floorplan.  The yellow is the carpet we are ripping up. everything else is the wood. The little red line is the narrow piece from the wall to where it butts up against the wood bordering the carpet.


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## bud16415 (Mar 7, 2017)

It could be the camera angle but in the picture with your finger in it the piece you point at measures 1 5/8&#8221; the one to the left 2&#8221;above finger 1 ¾&#8221; to the right of finger 1 5/8&#8221; the next one 1 ½&#8221; on my screen of course.


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## nealtw (Mar 7, 2017)

If you have a table saw you can cut a piece and then cut a new tongue.

To do this properly you are going to pull some out so that joint isn't so noticeable or you could just leave it and put the new in the frame on an angle.


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## inspectorD (Mar 7, 2017)

I would  make a transition piece at the stairs hallway opening that is perpendicular.. Then take out the pieces at the staircase landing area. Its going to be a pain in the arse to weave the floor anyway.
This is a worse case scenario.
Otherwise you can rip pieces to fit,  countersink screws and biscuit join the floor together.


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## soparklion11 (Mar 19, 2017)

your diagram has a 135 deg angle, the pic is at a 90... can you clarify?


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## AnthonyAtkins (Mar 27, 2017)

Avoid an unsuitable look with the successful blending of new wood floors with preexisting parts. a hardwood floor can dramatically increase the value of your home, but comparing an existing floor with a new one may pose problems. Thickness, color and layout variations agitate what should be a uniform appearance between two rooms. Measures were taken before, during or after installation of the new floor help depreciate the differences and help create a more seamless look.


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