DIY Doctor UK DIY Forums

Can anyone help,
I've sanded my wooden floor, only to realise it only has a thin top layer of real wood and has chipboard underneath. I've managed to get fine enough sandpaper to sand the rest of the floor, but there is a patch of chipboard visible where I started which is about the size of a football!
I can't afford new wood floor and it's not in too visible a place, so is there any way I can fix it?
Could I put something down on the patch area before varnishing, e.g. a paint that looks like wood or something?
Would a coloured varnish to finish off now be better than clear varnish?
Or is a rug the only answer now?
Any tips would be greatly appreciated.
CraigS

Hi,

Im assuming this is a lamenated wooden floor bought in packs? i once made the same mistake with a coffee table from ikia to discover chipboard in the centre panels. You dont have many options here. Is the floor tounge and groove?, could you replace the area with boards from under the sofa or furniture? The way i went with the coffee table was to use a dark stain applied with a rag on the whole area, until its no longer visible, and then apply a dark (not clear or light oak) varnish to the whole area. If its a floor, you dont ness need to buy yacht or acrlyic floor varnish (acrlyic can react with old pigments in the wood. I have seen it turn blue!), but i recommend sadolin. Remember, your gonna walk on this in bare feet, so its important to lay the varnish on in three coats at least, and sand back with very, very fine sandpaper between coats, and sanding back the final coat.

Its a lot of work, and three days disruption at the least, and without looking at your floor, i cant say for sure if this will cover the football. Do you have some left over flooring you could test it on? could you buy one pack?

If you dont fancy this....its a rug for you fella.
hope this helps
Atb Mash

Masheded wrote:Hi,

Im assuming this is a lamenated wooden floor bought in packs? i once made the same mistake with a coffee table from ikia to discover chipboard in the centre panels. You dont have many options here. Is the floor tounge and groove?, could you replace the area with boards from under the sofa or furniture? The way i went with the coffee table was to use a dark stain applied with a rag on the whole area, until its no longer visible, and then apply a dark (not clear or light oak) varnish to the whole area. If its a floor, you dont ness need to buy yacht or acrlyic floor varnish (acrlyic can react with old pigments in the wood. I have seen it turn blue!), but i recommend sadolin. Remember, your gonna walk on this in bare feet, so its important to lay the varnish on in three coats at least, and sand back with very, very fine sandpaper between coats, and sanding back the final coat.

Its a lot of work, and three days disruption at the least, and without looking at your floor, i cant say for sure if this will cover the football. Do you have some left over flooring you could test it on? could you buy one pack?

If you dont fancy this....its a rug for you fella.
hope this helps
Atb Mash

Sorry bud i would have to disagree, If it is laminate then the top surface is protected like melamine doors in your kitchen and cannot be painted. IE the paint will siss or orange peel. And also if you start and it doesnt work then it a floor wasted for someone who is looking for a cheap fix.

Sandolin varnish is low rate also and i would use nothing less than dulux trade yaught varnish oil/solvent based for a floor as water based does not have the durability of oil base and never will.

Personally i would try moving the damaged section to a more discreet area if its not cut.

Hope this is helpfull and not disrespectful to anyone.

These are my own opinions being a tradesman

Thanks for the help! I have now made some progress.
I've given the floor one coat of Ronseal light oak, and the patch of chipboard which is showing through the real timber layer is much improved.
This was the flooring that was laid in a flat I bought and it fits living room and hall perfectly. There's no spare material and I can't move the bit to a less obvious location (it's in a pretty good place already, although cheers for the advice it's a good idea).
This was always going to be a gamble, we had not idea what the flooring was and were toying with replacing the whole lot, but wondered if we could get a bit more life out of it by sanding it.
It was fingers crossed as we started to sand, and it first it didn't seem it was going to pay off. Now I'm a lot happier with it, and this the gable to sand into the unknown will have been worthwhile.
My only grievance now is that I seem to be spending twice as much money on doing it as I expected (although still considerably cheaper than a new wooden floor).
Given that the floor varnish is about £35 a coat, do I really need to give it three coats? I've fine sanded the first coat and it looks not too bad to me.