What can I do with this floor replacement?

Susan Johnson
by Susan Johnson
When I removed the wall to wall carpet when I bought my home, my bedroom used to be two bedrooms and I didn't expect to see this. Are there any ideas for this? I don't want to put carpet down again because of my dogs. It's about 4 feet across; the width is 10 feet. Otherwise as you can see, the floor is in perfect condition.
  18 answers
  • Adrianne C Adrianne C on Oct 21, 2014
    Looks like it used to be a closet. I'd pull up the 2x4's and replace the flooring. If you take a photo perhaps you can match the stain. There will still be a difference in part of the pattern, but it might not be as noticeable.
  • Sherry Reck Sherry Reck on Oct 21, 2014
    We just had the same thing done to our floor where a closet was removed and then had the entire area refinished. Not expensive and so worth every cent!
  • Susan Johnson Susan Johnson on Oct 21, 2014
    Thank you! You had the flooring replaced where the closet was or the entire floor?
  • Jeanette S Jeanette S on Oct 21, 2014
    I would look to see if you can find a person in your area who restores floors. The first place to look is in a company that does reclaimed wood. There are people who buy up old secondhand wood floors just to have the wood for this kind of need. They might either have a person on site that does this or know of people who specialize in it. I know someone who was looking into this in SC some years ago. Good luck! On line is the best place to start looking. If you cannot find anyone in that field, contact some home renovators. Good luck! The cost may be expensive, but it will be worth it in the long run!
  • Jeanette S Jeanette S on Oct 21, 2014
    P.S. I went on line and put in "wood reclaimers in Springfield, MA" and got lots of hits! Go for it! When they use the word "vintage" they usually have different colors, widths, finishes, etc. of flooring!
  • Susan Johnson Susan Johnson on Oct 21, 2014
    Oh yes! I have been to the store many times! I just have to find someone that does it!
  • Deb Deb on Oct 21, 2014
    My husband and I have renovated a few houses and have run into this problem. In one of the houses, we wanted to keep the vintage look so the whole floor was pulled up, stripped, "matched" with reclaimed wood and re-stained. If you go this route, make sure the contractor mixes the two woods together so there's no noticeable difference in the finished floor. The other option, which is a bit less labor-intensive, is to pull up the flooring, sell the reclaimed wood and put down new hardwood. Both options are about the same price as putting down good quality carpet. Either way, make sure you get at least 3 bids from licensed flooring contractors, not salespeople from a retail outlet--you'll save yourself a lot of heartache! And don't be afraid to ask the contractors for references from past clients. If they are reputable, they'll be happy to provide phone numbers/letters of recommendation and show you photos of their past work...Hope this helped a bit and good luck with your project!
  • Susan Johnson Susan Johnson on Oct 21, 2014
    Thank you!
  • Patti Chell Patti Chell on Oct 21, 2014
    We bought a house two years ago and took out a wall between two bedrooms to make one master bedroom with this same issue. So I found a video on Youtube for my husband to watch. Because the house was built in 1920's it would have been difficult to match the flooring but we had a pantry with the same flooring. My husband removed some of the flooring from underneath some back shelves and filled in the floor. We'd also had some damaged area's and he did the same there. He was hesitate but once he watched the video a couple of times he was game. It turned out beautiful. If you have a closet you could steal the flooring from there as well and replace with something else. For us we found fir flooring and no one has even noticed the difference.
  • Susan Johnson Susan Johnson on Oct 21, 2014
    We have a reclaimed wood place nearby. Can you give me the name of the YouTube? I think I might be able to convince my neighbor to do it when he's bored this winter. Thank you!
  • Centrd Centrd on Oct 21, 2014
    I know it can be done. I'm in california, but have seen the work of a wood floor installer/refinisher who replaced urine stained planks in a friend's house with reclaimed planks and finished them to match the existing wood exactly. You would never in a million years know there had been any work done. He was very reasonable as well. Just need to find someone skilled with wood flooring.
  • Susan Johnson Susan Johnson on Oct 22, 2014
    Thank you.
  • Angela Loker Angela Loker on Oct 22, 2014
    Do you have other closets in the house that have the same flooring? You can rob that from your closets and replace what is in the closets. That way you almost know that you are getting the same type of wood for the replacement and the type of finish should be the same. So when you go to refinish the whole floor you will have a much better match. There are several This Old House how to. It is not a overly hard project just labor intensive. Not a first timers good project with out help.
  • Susan Johnson Susan Johnson on Oct 22, 2014
    Thank you.
  • Barbara Barbara on Oct 22, 2014
    If you don't want the difference in the lengths of the flooring to show, after you pull the 2x4's out remove some of the flooring that would run over the 2x4's and replace them with the new flooring you find. That way the difference in the length of the boards wouldn't show. Good luck.
  • Susan Johnson Susan Johnson on Oct 22, 2014
    Thank you. Because none of the boards match per se, that makes perfect sense.
  • Eroque022810 Eroque022810 on Sep 30, 2016
    Make it look as though you planed it and fill in with glass floor tile or wood flooring in darker color. Since its your room express yourself, do you have a favorite saying maybe stencil on wood flooring if you fill it in that way. I assume it's smack in the middle of room so maybe at foot of bed if in that direction a little bit of bling with a satee just to make you feel luxurious every morning as you put on shoes.