With hardwood floor repair, you need to first determine what should be removed. Look at the damaged flooring plank and decide how much length to remove. You want the new butt joint to be staggered about 10 in. from the butt joints of any adjacent flooring courses. Draw a line for the cut, then use a sharp chisel (1 in. or wider) to carefully cut the line through the top 1/8 in. of the flooring to create a crisp edge that defines the new butt joint.

With a spade bit, drill three relief holes next to the layout line to remove the bulk of the wood. Complete the cut by using the chisel to trim the full edge of the butt joint completely square and clean.

Replacing damaged or hole-filled hardwood tongue-and-groove floorboards takes a couple of hours, sharp tools and an understanding of how to break the interlocking tongue-and-groove board edges. When removing old flooring, create a new butt joint on just the side of the plank that’s closest to the hole or where the damage ends.

Using the technique shown in Photos 1 – 4 and a carbide-tipped flooring blade that can cut through nails, remove the old hardwood flooring and install a perfect replacement piece. New flooring usually stands “proud” next to older, worn flooring.