Patching Gaps in Floor

[Bakerdog]

Has anyone seen a good way to patch a 4" wide hole in a HW floor that runs perpendicular to the boards? I have removed a wall, and of course, there is not any floor under there.

It's been suggested that we go with a whole new floor, but that is really not to my liking b/c we have some original fir floors that can't be replaced. (at least not without blowing my budget).

The floors now are pretty beat up (part of their charm) but have a nice glossy finish.

Option 1. Blend in new fir boards. I think its going to be pretty tough to stain and finish new fir to blend in. Of course, I will need to remove quite a bit of good floor so the new ends aren't all lined up. If I do this, about how much space shoudl I stagger the ends by?

Option 2. Put in obvious patch. This would be easy, and kind of in keeping with beatup floor. I'm having a tough time envisioning something that would look good though.

Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated.

[Sweep]

Install one continuous fir board where the wall had been and stain it to match or replace all of the floor.

[Tom R]

I would patch it with the same matching fir from another area, - - is there a closet in the room??, - - then patch that area you borrowed it from with new fir or similar.

[tooltroll]

Since the wall ran perpendicular to the flooring, you'd have to patch in a whole whack of short bits, yes? Even if you can scavenge old flooring from a closet or hallway, the patch will be obvious unless you pick up LOTS of old floor to stagger your joints by, say, a foot or three... At which point you might as well pick up the whole floor and re-lay it over the whole area...

That's too much like work, so how about option 2- filling it with an inlay of some sort? You might want to pick up a little more floor, to make the inlaid area 'make sense,' like carrying it around the room as a border or something. (If you have a plan or sketch to upload, I'd have a better idea.) Use something contrasting for the inlay- different wood(s), tiles, carpet, whatever.

[Bakerdog]

thanks for the suggestions. I will let you know how it turns out.

[Tom R]

You're right Tooltroll, - - somehow I missed that durned 'perpendicular' word!! :oops:

[tooltroll]

Heh... Feces occur... :D