Hard flooring options

[William]

Eh, I've installed hardwood (tongue and groove) and I don't know any other way to repair damage than to pull it all back from the wall. Maybe better installers have a trick, but since they interlock you either have to rip out the structure that holds it together or uninstall the whole floor to get back to the damaged area. I consider that to be a bitch. Tile, you can use anything but an impact drill to cut out just the one piece. Vibtraroty cutters, cutoff wheels on grout, diamond tipped hole saws, diamond edged saws-all (with a pilot) etc. Once you're through to the concrete board you can generally get it to pry up the rest of it pretty well, then just scrape the thinset, mix a small batch of thinset in a paper cup, and reinstall.

I also do grout in very small batches (paper cup) so tbh, fixing damage isn't much more time over the install, save for breaking the f'n tile off. Cutting is a win, pulverizing until a crack develops can work too but it sucks on well installed. (impact drills imo cause premature wear on the surrounding adhesion)

You can cut an individual piece of hardwood out along with any protruding tongues and nail + edge glue a replacement in (cut the offending board down the middle and then pry it up half at a time). Takes a lot of patience and time.

[Irving]

You can cut an individual piece of hardwood out along with any protruding tongues and nail + edge glue a replacement in (cut the offending board down the middle and then pry it up half at a time). Takes a lot of patience and time.

Yeah, I do weaved in repairs for water damage all the time for hardwood floors.

Laminate can't be patched in like that though, so once the floor is damaged, ALL of it gets replaced.

[Wulf202]

Yeah, I do weaved in repairs for water damage all the time for hardwood floors.

Laminate can't be patched in like that though, so once the floor is damaged, ALL of it gets replaced.

Depends on the product

[Irving]

Depends on the product

Even when you can patch, new stuff won't be the same shade as the currently installed stuff, and since you can't refinish it, it'd still likely all be replaced.