Recovering wood from a bad hardwood installation

[Mark Bolton]

You can buy floor tiles this size SO WHY not use short length of hardwood flooring

A floor tile and hardwood flooring are not even close to the same animal. A floor tile is laid in an adhesive bed giving it 100% bond to the substrate. The tile could be 1/4" square and not matter. Many of these shorts may only have a single or two nails in them holding them down. If the material is very hard you lay likely blow the tongue clear off an 8" long board when you try to put two nails in it.

The joints will be very close together with very few long runs in the field to tie the floor together. With any hardwood floor, the lower the quality (cheaper the floor) the shorter the boards. This is because the longer boards in the floor are much nicer but also make for a much more stable floor. If you imagine a floor of all 8" and 16" boards you may be lucky to have 4"-8" between joints in the majority of the floor with no long runs anywhere. A less than ideal situation. Keeping it straight during install alone may be a chore depending on the room size.

If this were going to be a glued tongue floating floor it may be a bit of a different story in that when complete the floor would act as a single mass. That may be an option if the flooring profile allows.

To me, unless the material is free, and I had copious quantities of free time, I wouldnt be thinking about it but thats just me.

[eugene thomas]

I guess would depend on where using if worth the effort. Big room no thanks dut small space???

[Pat Barry]

I can understand wanting to save money through recycling, but 8" to 16" length flooring would look terrible IMO. I'd tell your friend no-thanks.

I agree with Scott. For a new floor this would be no good at all. On the other hand, if its not pre-finished material you could face glue it up and build your self a nice workbench top. If it pre-finished, which I bet it is, then its completely useless with type of damage thats been inflicted. Some handyman!

[Peter Quinn]

Quietly in the middle of the night bring the flooring back to your coworkers home, stack it neatly in his garage, run, and deny you ever had knowledge of said flooring product. The prefinish finish tends to be a ceramic reenforced UV cure resin, that translates to real tough to sand. I'm all about found treasures....but you have to know when to call junk a loss. You might make some sort of parquet from it, but it will be hard on tools, wreck bits, kill cutters. I wish you luck with it, I'd say burn it but you don't want to breath those fumes.

[scott vroom]

You can buy floor tiles this size SO WHY not use short length of hardwood flooring

IMO small tile is GENERALLY better suited to wall/backsplash/shower trim/feature strip, vanity counter etc. and would not be a good choice for a floor. Just my opinion but I think it's reflective of current tile flooring trends. Exceptions would be e.g. 2" hex tiles in a Victorian bathroom floor, etc.

Of course the OP can do whatever he wants...it's his house, his money, his labor.

[Bill Orbine]

Normally, I 'd not get involved with this stuff feeling that it is determined for the dump.. But I can see where you have a good opportunity to go simple parquet style and save money but invest time and hassle. You probably can do shorter lengths providing you spline the ends (not tongue and groove) and glue the floor pieces down. Using the spline technique, you spline both ends of every board to match the existing groove on the length of those boards. You provide the spline. I'd rather not make a "tongue" cut because it's more trouble avoiding the blow outs..... so stay with spline method. Then there's easing the ends and staining to match. Whoo boy.... you can go cheap but spend a lot of time, just so you know what you getting into!

[sullivan mcgriff]

Miller dowels may make it look acceptable, I think the short pieces will make the room look like a mess plus cutting that prefinished stuff will dull a pile of carbide

[Jim Andrew]

Do you have the flooring already? Are the brads in the boards, so you could possibly pull them through the flooring from the back side? If there is just a tiny hole in the flooring, and the pieces are not ruined, I'd probably just install it correctly and fill the holes with color putty.

[Chris Padilla]

Time to get creative here...shorts will look terrible. Bill is on an interesting path with creating something from the shorts that might look interesting. Either way you slice this, you have a lot of work on your hands....A LOT!

[Myk Rian]

The question to ask is "what do you plan on using it for"? A floor, or boxes, etc.
I noticed that nowhere you indicated you wanted to use it on a floor.

[Bill McNiel]

You could do a nice heringbone pattern that would work with the short lengths. Definately requires T&G or spline ends. Lot of work but....

[Mark Bolton]

The question to ask is "what do you plan on using it for"? A floor, or boxes, etc.
I noticed that nowhere you indicated you wanted to use it on a floor.

I think I the original post he questioning whether the shorts have to be end matched or if he can get away with laying it butt ends no?

[Andy Pratt]

I'm going to divert the conversation and ask who would ever face nail flooring like that? Why was that done?

Was it just near the edges of the floor near the walls or over the whole floor? If they did that to your whole floor I am astounded.


If you are getting the option of 16-24" flooring (which I am guessing) I would pass on it. You can't do much with it short of a few end tables.

[Scott Austin]

Why not buy some flooring at the full length & mix in the shorts. Your still saving money.